The days when own-label brands were the cheaper, “copy cat” alternatives to established brands, seem to be over. Own-label offerings have become much more sophisticated. These brands are an everyday feature of consumers’ lives and, as a result, have earned loyalty. Take the much hyped Boots own-label “No.7.” It’s Protect & Perfect Serum, caused nationwide hysteria when it was featured in the BBC2 Horizon programme, stating that the anti-ageing cream was one of the best on the market - also dismissing the myth that own brands can’t lead through innovation.
Olay’s recent launch of Olay “Total Effects”, with emphasis on the 7 benefits, is remarkably similar to Boots’ No.7. Rather than devising a unique identity and feel, Olay has played the role of ‘own label’ and created a “me-too” version in the hope of a better market share. 

The new decoder hardware for French television brand Canal+ follows Apple’s lead in styling technology in distinctive and appealing ways. It’s inspiring because it refuses to settle for conventional answers, and goes the extra mile for the brand. The use of the “+” icon also draws on an approach established by the Apple icon and the Nike tick to drop the brand name. The only problem, however, is that this ends up looking rather like the Philippe Starck iconography (which, as another designer French brand, had me initially assuming the decoder was a Stark designed piece of equipment). This illustrates the fact that if you are going to boil your branding down to a symbol, it had better be unique.

Proving that absolutely everything comes round in cycles, prog rock is rumoured to be becoming cool once again.  A recent interview with The Word magazine found Roger Dean explaining how his artwork defined the band Yes in a really engaging way: “Yes were the first generation of musicians who weren’t there because they were pretty. For that reason you didn’t need to have them on the cover – suddenly you could do anything”. This less literal approach to selling music really captured both the music’s “vibe” and the fans imagination. Dean’s fantastical vistas have probably endured in the popular consciousness better than the music they packaged.

Even today, the benefits of devising more imaginative alternatives to slapping a product shot on the box is a lesson much FMCG packaging has yet to adopt. But against stiff competition, Bernard Matthews “Big Green Tick” range takes bluntly communicating the strategy on a pack to a new level. The crass obviousness of the communication, ironically, leaves the packaging lacking any intrinsic appeal as food.

Amazon has had some flack for its wasteful approach to (over) packaging. Its new “Frustration-Free” option allows you to buy toys in protective recyclable packaging sans clamshells, big glossy boxes and those maddening wire-ties that take ages to remove (while your child wanders off having lost interest). It’s great from the perspective of making a virtue of what Amazon’s distribution model can exploit, but one thought occurs: what about the old adage that “the kids loved the boxes more than the present!” Doesn’t this packaging negate the visual fun and theatre that is part and parcel of getting a new toy?

Campo Viejo has launched a campaign featuring a new mascot “Pablo”. It’s dramatic, cool and impactful. Even better, it follows a proud Iberian tradition for alcohol brands with mascots. The Tio Pepe man dominates Madrid’s central square. The Sandeman Sherry man has evoked mystery since 1928. But the daddy of them all is surely the bull logo for Osbourne’s wine which, with enormous roadside signs, has become an unofficial mascot for Spain. Pablo is walking in giant footsteps, but he’s breathing life and vitality into the brand, and he demonstrates a good balance of authenticity and verve. A great example of off-pack branding imbuing a fairly conventional pack with new spirit.

The launch of Pepsi’s new design has created the predictable wave of negative feedback: “Millions wasted for this?” blah blah blah. At least Pepsi can take comfort in the passionate response that their brand commands. “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about” as Oscar Wilde had it.

Pepsi has long strived to be a positive alternative to Coke, and their contemporary new look, while jettisoning some great heritage, takes the brand in a distinctly different and more modern direction to their old rival. The new variable nature of the marque, with the white space expanding and contracting from variant to variant to offer different “smiles” (see left and right logos above), is the one aspect of the new design which feels a little tricksy. Making the central badge flexible risks creating an inherently less single-minded and iconic feel for the brand, although it is certainly a different way to treat a super-brand’s “crown jewels”. Overall, the design as it stands feels like a bit of a blank canvas, which over time might allow for some truly inspiring design interpretations.

…Gotham - the font which the Obama campaign has used so single-mindedly across all channels of communication. His campaign has surely been one of the most visually elegant and coherently branded ever for a Presidential race. Gotham; simple, assured, authoritative and contemporary, yet also warm and reflective of a timeless American typographic vernacular, hits the spot. McCain’s campaign used Optima, presumably, and slightly crassly, chosen because it is also the font featured on the Vietnam war memorial in Washington (top right).

With Obama wining, his campaign will go down as a textbook example of the power of branding. If he had lost, the same identity would have been held up as an example of the candidate’s overly slick branding which suggested a lack of grit and substance.

One thing is certain: 2008 marks the first time that candidates’ branding came under such close scrutiny in the media.

Mr Muscle has re-branded, replacing the advertising’s quirky wimp with a superhero. It’s a much more conventional take on the brand’s archetype; heroic cleaning brands are ten a penny. But the move should be a gift for a re-design brief: to create a pack which looks like it belongs on a Superhero’s utility belt is a great opportunity to be distinctive with structure and graphics. Toilet Duck shows how name and physical pack can be married to create something quite idiosyncratic. Kellogg’s Corn Flakes rooster shows how a brand mascot can be a unique graphical equity. Sadly Mr Muscle has missed its chance, plumping instead for shoehorning the character onto the label in the most generic and copy-able way possible.   

The retro “trend” heralded by Wispa and Monster Munch already feels so September ‘08 doesn’t it? A few weeks on, the “I  1980” approach seems a little tarnished. Of course this is indicative of retro branding’s problem. “Retro” exploits our nostalgia for youthful memories, but such yearnings are quickly sated when the brand is brought back. Initial interest quickly gives way to a law of diminishing returns and the novelty fades. “You have delighted us long enough”- as (allegedly) a record company once told Van Morrison when declining the chance to renew his contract.

Plenty has been written noting the potentially short-term outlook that the retro trend suggests, its lack of innovative fire and the sense that initially impressive sales figures might be as short-lived as deely boppers’ time in the sun. Which is all perhaps a case of thinking too hard about the topic. After all, if a good profit can be turned from raiding the archives (and Wispa has significantly lifted Cadbury’s chocolate sales, with the firm expecting growth of 4-6%), where is the problem? What follows however, are a few thoughts on brands and categories which are playing the retro card well…

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While in Singapore, it was interesting to see that Tiger Beer have bucked the trend of sport sponsorship to capture the young male beer consumer. Their “Tiger Translate” initiative - which commissions young “urban” artists in an East meets West meltdown - distances them from the rest of the “lager = football” crowd and utilises outside space and unconventional advertising media, such as this semi-permanent ad-shell gallery to get their message across.