JKR

Perhaps it’s just the Christmas wind-down, but I am pretty much out of opinions for this year. So instead I will share a very brief anecdote. Creative Review reports that some of our classic WW2 propaganda posters are now available as an App. Not too sure why, but it’s probably quite handy as a teaching aide. Anyway, amongst them is my favourite for the ATS, to drive recruitment. It was designed by Abram Games.

Mr Games came to lecture us at college and revealed that this was a controversial work, in the eyes of the men from the ministry. Why? Because the woman was too sexy. As sexy as the lady seducing secrets from these gentlemen shown below I guess, and thus setting the wrong tone.

Nonsense argued Games. What do you want, a battleaxe and no recruits, or something that’s an effective and aspirational image? He prevailed. Recruitment went up. The girl was nicknamed ‘the blonde bombshell’. We won the war. Good work then and good work now will always hover over the bin. It just needs the right kind of argument to preserve it.

I think the title above was something Bob Dylan said, and he knows a thing or two. Provenance is clearly a key way for a brand design to show some charisma. The yoghurt above is interesting because it wears its provenance lightly. It has exported its brand vibe to the UK, but on a green level, not the actual product. It’s less about where it’s from, than where it’s at.

For me, provenance should be a springboard to a creative expression. The Hill Station brand (above) aimed to ‘both reminiscence the essence of French Indochina days while standing independently as a contemporary identity’ according to The Dieline.  To my eyes however , this expression of provenance offers a slightly less exciting approach – I can’t quite get where it’s from or where it’s at from the design. But that might just be me.

Then there is Helios. Organic, Norwegian and groovy since 1969. I think these are a near perfect example of marrying where a brand is coming from (they look bright and broadly Scandinavian in design), with where they are at (kind of funky in a contemporary 60s sort of way).

And to come back to Dylan “He not busy being born is busy dying”. Again, Helios plays on its roots, but it seems like it’s looking towards its future.

Sometimes pictures speak louder than words and this POS idea really speaks for itself. What a simple impactful idea, as found by a colleague on a store visit in Toronto.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a great piece about how Grey Poupon mustard became a hit in America by defining itself as the posh one. You can read it here.

In Poupon’s old advertisement, two gents in the back of Rolls-Royces pull up alongside each other to courteously exchange a jar. Not very subtle, but effective.

This Maille design is equally unsubtle in its message, if clearly quite playful. But long after you have binned the bow tie I suspect its message will linger in the back of your mind… this little jar is a little bit special. Nice work. Love the poster below as well!

Every good rule of thumb needs an exception to prove it. In trying to define what properties design requires in order to afford it ‘iconic’ status, I came up with this principle:

Iconic branding involves a distinctive graphical or stylistic property, which symbolises values and creates a charisma that surpasses a brand’s need to explain itself literally.

Bit of a mouthful that, but it was my best attempt! Anyway, in confectionery, Toblerone would be a pretty good example of this ‘rule’. But this is not a universal principle –  I bet you can name the brand shown above, despite its somewhat generic shape and devoid of its graphics. Wrigley’s are a fine exception to the rule, as befits a product long associated (by generations of advertising) with charismatic outsiders and teen rebels.

Last week, Simon Gulliford shared his undeniable truths with us. One was ‘In the long-term, price goes down’. If we accept the reality of free markets, then we have to accept the reality that prices go down in the long run. He illustrated this with the cost of colour TVs which are now a fraction of their original cost. The erosion of margins force us to increase efficiency.

I would humbly propose a counter truth: ‘Very cheap things inevitably get ambitions above their station and pursue more sophisticated markets’.

Gum certainly seems to illustrate this point. We see the success of the Wrigley’s 5 brand. And the more boutique Peppersmith brand with its papers to dispose of your gum socially (an innovation whose leap is a little dampened by the existence of Wrigley’s foil all these years).

We also see it in the new advertising for Orbit with copy that always calls to my mind Mrs. Merton’s sardonic catchphrase “let’s have a heated debate’.

Either way, it’s nice to such a humble product that is also powerful enough to illustrate a couple of principles all of its own. But perhaps humble is the wrong word. If you are ever in Chicago, check out the beautiful and mighty Wrigley’s HQ building. It’s mind blowing to consider how many sticks of gum must have been sold to bankroll such stunning edifice…

Browsing in Lidl Hamburg this week (I go to all the best places), my eye was drawn to this Duplo packaging. The window showing the sticks of chocolate within achieved two things – it told me ‘lots here’ but it also had massive stand-out. The various inner packs, turned at various angles, created a really impactful visual ‘buzz’ and looked like quite a funky abstraction of the basic branding.

The technique was used by other brands, but with much less visual energy (below)  – I guess the less distinctive designs cannot pull off the trick as well.

Returning home, I saw this rather wonderful biscuit musical box that M&S are selling for Christmas. A really good use of windows in display (on the other hand, it’s great to see M&S’s proud promise of ‘no plan B’ when it comes to over-packaging, is still alive and well).

I think my favourite example of the creative use of a window comes from the tights packaging Lewis Moberly produced for Boots some years ago. It’s a trick they played again for Waitrose (below).

The above and Duplo packaging are good examples, I think, of how something that might be briefed as a marketing necessity can be used as a creative opportunity – which tends to be where all the best answers hail from.