JKR

Studies suggest that redesigning any pack will make things harder for the loyal shopper and, as such, 80% of pack changes result in a decline in sales in the first 1-3 months. So one can understand why any brand would want to smooth the transition from one design to another. My missus was chuckling at the new Kleenex pack, suggesting that she would never have known it had been redesigned if she had not been told. But then she doesn’t share the responsibilities of the brand manager, and her reaction might actually suggest that Kleenex have succeeded in not throwing the design baby out with the bathwater.

Nevertheless, rebranding changes are often (and often quite sensibly) a discreet design massage rather than the kind of seismic shift which would require a screaming reassurance for consumers. Sometimes I wonder if flashes such as Kleenex’s negate any potential wow factor the redesign might have created: when a woman takes the trouble to experiment with a new look at the hairdressers, she’d be unlikely to rob the results of any pizzazz by then wearing an ugly hat upon which a banner proclaims her new look whilst simultaneously concealing it. Sometimes design evolution is better served by allowing it to speak for itself, and that requires a little leap of faith.