Shown above are a music album and a car tyre. Monday’s Guardian newspaper carried two stories which demonstrate how brands are adapting to the challenges and exploiting the opportunities of online purchasing. Firstly, in a world of declining CD sales artists are having to offer something a bit extra if they are to compete with the intangible world of iTunes and sell (presumably more profitable) physical artefacts. One smart solution comes from Mos Def who sold his recent album “The Ecstatic” as a t-shirt with a code to download the album on the hang tag.

The second story concerned Ethiopian shoe brand soleRebels, which sells funky shoes made from recycled truck tyres and local produced textiles. Distribution via Amazon and suchlike means they can be based in Addis Ababa but “act American”, and profits are such that they are investing in a solar powered factory. The piece concludes “While it will better showcase the company’s eco-friendly methods, that’s not the main reason customers like the shoes” Alema (the founder) says. “People buy soleRebels because they are good, not because they are green or from Ethiopia. Our product speaks for itself”.

Perhaps, but I would suggest both these stories share a common theme – that online marketing is a great platform for limber thinking, and alternative design approaches which appeal because they feel less production line in feel. Doing things differently is engaging for consumers - the challenge for bigger brands will be to match the imagination demanded of smaller players for whom necessity is the mother of invention.

It’s the month many of us begin with fresh good intentions. For some, this means a purging of all but the purest foods and behaviours, so there are plenty of brands dealing in weight loss and suchlike itching to sign us up. This can add up to a rather dreary landscape of functional messaging and “reasons to believe”. Evian stands out from this with a witty feel-good approach that has plenty of executional depth. While the roller skating babies seem to be either loved or loathed, the on-theme quotes from the website loading page…

…to groovy widgets and daft facebook presence…

…all convey an impression of a brand enjoying playing with the idea. And in design terms Evian has been putting out a new year limited edition for several years (the mountain is from 2005, and the Paul Smith bottle from this year).

This adds up to a brand not presuming to lecture or aide us on healthier living, but rather bringing a bit of entertainment and engagement to what (according to psychologists) is the month we are most likely to feel down (presumably when we stop believing all those “reasons to believe” from the functional brands and let the new diet lapse).

Earlier this year we used the redesign of the core UK Kleenex pack to illustrate an observation about packaging changes which are arguably so conservative, that they miss the opportunity to move on that a redesign offers (see original post here). It’s been quite another story in the States, where the brand first created these great summer packs for Target (above), and has now created a winter version – lots of playful homespun charm, playing on the kind of box covers nana used to create to hide tissues back in the day.

Kleenex also produced this slightly more sophisticated Christmas pack, again playing on the concept that something sitting in the corner of our rooms might as well look nicely decorated.

I guess the point these boxes make is that branding can be achieved via a decorative approach rather than a logo, and repeating the trick just builds on this. I think Kleenex are to be applauded not for any one of these packs in particular, but rather for taking a good idea and not settling for just trying it once.

Above: The rather less inspiring UK redesign this year.

Leafing through my wife’s Grazia, filled with page after page of generic advertising for seemingly interchangeable designer jewellery (celeb-model, hands, ring), this advertisement for Tiffany struck me. Firstly because having taken the trouble to build a distinctive brand they can now show just the pack not the product, which is itself much more engaging, and secondly for the retro Americana of the ads. To my eye they conjure up the classic storytelling style of Norman Rockwell, and will probably hang around in the memory for much longer than another close up photograph of a nice ring would. Great translation of the packaging to the square corner branding also.

Speaking of Rockwell, a book has just been published of the photographs he used to base his famous images on. Below are a couple of examples of these, shown to illustrate my point about the Tiffany ad, and because they are just such a pleasure to look at.

While the change of Lucky Strike Silver happened back in April, I only noticed it this week on shelf. What caught my eye? The simple but visually arresting vignette passing through the blue, which just goes to show that design nuance can have great impact. The picture above was from the re-branding’s introduction, making clever use of the cellophane overlay. In retrospect, while one admires the brand’s original belief that the icon should always be red, and the name could manage the varianting, the new design loses non of the brand’s power, but is a darn site clearer.

In pure design terms the pack architecture is a classic, and colour change was key to its iconic status. Legend has it that designer Raymond Lowey told the client he could double the pack’s impact and save them money. He achieved this by the simple measure of taking away the green ink (which was also seen as a patriotic gesture saving materials for WW2). Little things can make a big difference, which takes me back to the observation about the vignette.

The original Silver pack before it went blue

Sometimes the package is the present. For £395 and a trip to Heathrow one can pick up a limited edition tin of “Love” Prunier caviar in a vintage design by Yves Saint Laurent. The theme comes from the new year’s cards Saint Laurent used to send out prominently featuring the word love. Each year is seeing a new variation on the theme (another is shown below). Whether such a “collectable” represents good value, I will leave for you and gourmands to decide. But in design terms it signifies a return to opulence, and the resurgent trend for vibrant decoration with a folk feel. It’s another example of how lifestyle and luxury goods are moving away from understated minimalism and classicism towards something more visually rich and artisanal in style - charm is back in fashion. The content of the design also has, I suppose, an aspect of social commentary, featuring as it does a lady wearing a burka. The message here I guess is one of tolerance and the universal sentiment of love. While the design might reflect Laurent’s Algerian roots, it is an interesting choice of design in the year Sarkozy has made rumblings about banning the garment.

If you have ever tried to choose a new pair of earphones without too much knowledge of what’s good and what isn’t, you probably glazed over as quickly as I did. In the end one picks out a product within budget in the same random way that wine is chosen – not the cheapest, not the most expensive and, oh, they look the part, they’ll do.

The “EarBudeez” shown here won a Pentaward for packaging this year, and rightly so. Cringe-worthy name aside, not only are they eye catching (they do, after all, literally make eye contact), but they also exploit an obvious but underused truth of the category: earphones are a lifestyle product rather than a technical one, but the convention is for serious and techy looking design. Breathing a bit of fun into the category makes a generic product really engaging. “Reason to believe” focussed communication has its place, but this design shows that it can be just as valid to lighten up and not explain too much.

Could Aristide Bruant be the father of shelf-blocking? He was a just another chansonnier in a crowded market, but he obviously had an eye for design. It was he who personally insisted on having his poster for a residence at the Ambassadeurs designed by Toulouse Lautrec (one of the artist’s first poster commissions). Lautrec stripped things to their essentials, and played up the singer’s dramatic red scarf. When the posters went up on the theatre, the less visionary owner described them as “pigwash” and ordered their removal. In a lovely piece of client/designer solidarity, Bruant countered “You leave it there. What’s more, stick it up on the stage on both sides. And if it’s not done by quarter-to-eight – eight’s no good  - I’ll chuck in my number and disappear”. Surrounded by his image, the reaction to his performance was an overwhelming success. The poster went up all over Paris, making his name and that of the poster designer.

Now, keeping things simple and striking might sound obvious. And that such an approach lends itself to fantastic results when shown in multiples equally obvious. But sometimes the obvious is easy to forget. The new design for Coco Pops might not be hanging in the Louvre in a century, but it has benefited from following this approach. While the old design was OK, its even arrangement of key elements did not add up to the power of the new one. The design focusses full bloodedly on the monkey, and so catches the eye brilliantly when blocked on shelf. The monkey might be no chansonnier, but a simple design gives him the room to be the star.

(Photo: Flickr.com by Neato Coolville)

Gunther Kilsheimer passed away this August aged 86. Like many in the world of branding, he wasn’t exactly a household name himself, but his work was. He was integral in the design of the Toys ‘R’ Us logo and sign. According to the website of the company he founded, Kilsheimer “designed a sign for one of the founders of the company, Mr. Bill Bederman when the company was still called “Children’s Supermart Toys”. Along with a new image, Mr. Bederman wanted a more upscale sign, one with individual channel letters. When Gunther showed Mr. Bederman the cost to have that many letters in the title Mr. Bederman asked for a name change. The result was “Toys ‘R’ US”. Only the “R” had to be backwards as if a child had written it.

A good example of pragmatic thinking begetting a creative solution. And of a savvy client. In our straitened times I think it points to the notion that cutting back can actually deliver more, not less, if one is smart enough to see the opportunity.

It’s common these days to hear of design which considers “360 degree consumer touchpoints” (what used to simply be known as a comprehensive design programme), and innovation is often one of the prongs of such work. Less common is an innovation initiative which, in itself, seems to have thought about every possible brand element from soup to nuts.

This month sees Nike launch new outfits, equipment and merchandising for the U.S. weekend College Gridiron (I think that means college football in layman terms). Nike Pro Combat: ultra light, even when wet, and super strong innovative fabrics. Even the D-ring belt clasps have been switched from steel to titanium to be 66 percent lighter. Team gloves form two halves of the school logos. The full image emerges when the palms are squeezed together (e.g. when catching a touchdown pass). Inside the garments are team specific slogans (my favourites: “finish the job” and “tradition”) - fancy hanging out with the dudes who wear these things?

While the super tight outfits obviously need a little letting out for the average fan’s physique, this feels like an outstanding job by Nike. I know nothing about the sport, but such attention to detail and technological know-how, coupled to some imaginative ideas, convinces me as a consumer that the brand isn’t just an expert on sport, but also a passionate fan, which is always compelling when buying one of Nike’s more mainstream products. For those who want to read more, most of these facts were cribbed from here.