These super-hot crisps have been created with the intention of helping beer drinkers work up a thirst. They’re being given away with cases of stubbies. The design is neither here nor there – just the beer branding on a bag, but that’s not the point really. Rather, with the publicity that’s being generated through such playful thinking the brand is better connecting with its audience.

VB seems to be quite on it right now – they are also giving away pop-up pubs (assembled in a minute because “beer tastes better in the pub”) as shown by these able lady-dems…

… to drinkers who send in photos of their wonky home bars to the VB facebook page…

Brainstorms and suchlike typically throw up lots of daft ideas alongside the serious business of the day. Good for VB to be pursuing the silly stuff that has some life rather than having a laugh then forgetting all about it.

Image from kennethlimphotography.com

Coca-Cola Hong Kong have smartly exploited the fact that in Asia red is traditionally a colour of happiness and good fortune to create specially designed wedding cans. Only available for sale for Chinese wedding banquets, the cans have fast become collectors’ items. It’s an interesting example of a super-brand thinking and acting small and local, but in a manner entirely in line with the brand’s global personality.

Similarly the Pepsi cans below were created for a single day event: Halloween. Typically when a brief comes in for, say, a Christmas edition it is described as “seasonal” because stock will still be on sale through January, and this tends to diffuse the potential impact (a general wintry theme rather than one aimed squarely at the 25th of December). But with digital printing opening up the possibilities of shorter production runs perhaps micro editions are becoming the future for any brand with the energy to sustain them?

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence’s account of his adventures in Arabia, has a  complex history of various published versions. But a rare edition recently up for sale comes with a great lesson in how to exploit the sales potential of limited availability: an edition of just 22 copies was printed to secure U.S. copyright in the 1920’s. Half went to the author and the Library of Congress. The remainder were given an exorbitant price tag ($20,000) to ensure they were not sold. But these copies were still put to good use, being exhibited in leading bookstores across America. This in turn drove hefty sales for the (only slightly different) $3 version, which must have appeared to be a fantastic bargain in comparison – though probably none of this sharp thinking would have particularly concerned the idiosyncratic Lawrence.

Limited Editions of brands these days share the same agenda of creating publicity (and in the case of certain sneaker lines for example, with similarly impossible to attain exclusivity). But the smart use of these never-intended-for sale books struck me as a rather pure example of using a design artefact intentionally placed beyond the consumer’s grasp as a vehicle for grabbing attention and promoting desire.

The illustration of Lawrence heading this piece was drawn by Augustus John in a few snatched moments. It makes every line count – proof that a little can be made to go a long way in all sorts of endeavours…

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.

The opportunity to buy accessible, affordable and idiosyncratic prints online has been around for a good few years, via galleries such as Keep Calm, Product of God and many many others. While other creative industries have seen revenue streams turned on their heads by the internet (for example in music, with expensive CD’s promoted by affordable concerts inverted to “free“ file sharing offset by expensive gigs), and others such as writing seemingly facing a bleak future (what’s the equivalent of gigging for most authors?), the art industry has been opened up. Part of the charm of this new source of images has been one of discovery – a sense that what is hanging on your wall is not the same as that on your neighbours. But the book Habitat have produced above – limited to 4000, featuring illustrations by name artists which can be removed to fit neatly into 50×70 Habitat frames, and priced at a reasonable £60 – sees a mainstream adoption of this approach. Talking to Creative Review, project editor and designer Tim Fishlock sounds as enthusiastic about the results as the bright eyed owner of any indie gallery.

So what’s the point here, apart from “nice one Habitat”? Possibly only that the internet is opening up opportunities and helping drive desire for less mass produced design and decoration. And in the wake of this, high-street brands with the required energy and imagination are producing products in a similar vein. While such artworks are not limited enough to quicken pulses on Antiques Roadshow 2050 (a run of 4000 dwarfs a typical Product of God edition of 50), it does perhaps signify that bigger brands might start producing smaller lines which can generate demand outstripping supply. How neat that a 21st century supply chain can bring back an artisinal sensibility.

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At the end of a year which has featured so many brands recycling archive advertising to bolster their status as “one of the family”, these great ad breaks from Schweppes subvert the clichés. The lo-fi production values imbue a charm which lets the actual humour be quite edgy. They really make me smile, but I think they also offer a great example of how plundered vintage communication can be made really contemporary if a little imagination is thrown into the mix. Progressive retro indeed.

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.

“Designers Wanted” touts the new Fiat 500 ad, going on to explain that with the huge spectrum of customisation options available on the car, one is able to personalise it to be yours and yours alone. The line which jarred for me was the claim for “more stickers than you can shake a stick at”. This taps into the big trend for enabling and celebrating everyone’s creativity. And for sure there are  plenty of “amateurs” who have the natural talent to create aesthetically pleasing design. But just as the X-factor gets slammed for being a karaoke version of real music, so such an approach to design, democratic though it is, does tend to make the brand feel less, not more, special.

Now clearly as someone who trained to be a designer and has done it professionally for twenty years, I have a wee axe to grind about the notion that anyone can do it. But that’s not my point. Rather, I wonder if by abdicating responsibility for the ultimate look and feel of the product, as this advertising suggests, the stature of such a cool lifestyle brand (one which is all about stylish design) risks being diminished. It’s a bit like the lazy space-filling journalism which invites us to “have your say – you’re the critic”. No, you’re the critic, that’s why I buy your newspaper! And isn’t such an approach potentially going to result in lots of Fiat 500’s bedecked in “more stickers than you can shake a stick at” – hardly a look which will reflect well on the brand, I’m thinking.

A less chancy approach to unlocking consumers’ latent creativity is seen in initiatives such as Green & Black’s approach, where an online competition to create art out of the new packaging (rather than to change the packaging itself) allows the brand to have the best of both worlds.

One thing that’s really surprising in the Fiat ad – the fact that it has “the lowest average CO2 emissions in Europe” is relegated to what looks like the legal small print. Talk about style over substance.

Getting your note ready for Santa? Upmarket U.S. retailer Neiman Marcus can sell you a £152,000 fold-up plane, should you already have most things (but lack a conscience about your carbon footprint). Parachute optional (seriously). Or perhaps you would prefer the Leica Hermès limited edition? Some exclusive lenses and, of course, a leather carrying strap, “handcrafted by Atelier Hermès”. Comes in a linen-covered, silk-lined box and a snip at £8,500. Evidence here that the luxury market is a well which did not run dry during the past twelve months.

But beyond “cool by association” points, the Leica camera seems slightly unimaginative. More visually engaging is the Chivas Regal 18 Year Old with its limited edition makeover by fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Sold “at a significant premium” from the usual design perhaps, but at least it’s offering something special – a bottle which needs no gift wrapping to engender a sense of seasonal celebration.

Conspicuous consumption seems to be back loud and proud in time for Christmas, but the smarter brands are, as always, using the opportunity to reflect and dramatise the product’s qualities, rather than simply adding an ostentatious price tag or partner. Mind you, would you turn up your nose if the camera appeared under your tree?

“I read it for the articles” went the old joke, to which one might add “I read it for the art direction”. Playboy has a fine track record for design and the forthcoming November cover, celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Simpsons, proves that the brand is certainly not chasing the lowest common denominator of its readership.

But a more interesting collaboration recently saw the Playboy.com homepage being restyled to promote the latest season of Mad Men – it’s an obvious and fantastic fit of two brands – the TV show which recreates the rat pack ring-a-ding-ding styling of the early sixties with the magazine which enjoyed its heyday in that era. There was plenty of material to draw upon in vintage playmate photographs etc, but there was also a witty aspect to the content, such as in a fashion shoot featuring the cast (the ironic gag here being that the leering character portrayed is a closeted art director in the series). With so many co-branding exercises seeming a little arbitrary, this one feels like it must have been great fun to create, and that’s possibly why the site got 150,000 views during the two week period that the promotion ran.