Our Beliefs
Brand Building
Every year the people at Molton Brown ask
us for a Christmas box.
They give us a totally free hand so long as:
1. This year’s box is at least as cool, witty
and must-have as last year’s (and hopefully
even more so).
2. We make it too good to bin so it can be
used to keep your knick-knacks and whatnots (while Molton Brown has a year long advertisement under your nose).
3. Their name looks absolutely right on it
(and anyone else’s would look absolutely wrong).
The people at Molton Brown know a brand isn’t built in a day. That’s why every Christmas
they add another storey.
And it’s why we believe that it's part of our
job as designers to create a foundation of
strong equities in the first place that can then
be built upon.
Brand or Commodity
When John West came to us they were dangerously close to being a commodity.
Their picture of tuna chunks looked like everyone else’s tuna chunks and their logo was so tiny you’d think it was trying to hide.
We ditched the chunks and redesigned
the pack around the name.
Now you can’t hide it and you can’t miss it from ten paces in a crowded store.
According to Information Resources sales went up 10.3% in the first year and 16% in
the second. John West soon overtook
Princes as brand leader.
We believe the most effective designs also demonstrate the essential difference between commodities and brands: A commodity looks like everyone else.
A brand looks like itself.Doing Nothing
‘I came, I saw, I changed nothing’ is not what any young firebrand wants on their c.v.
Nor is it what you might expect to hear from
a leading pack design agency.
But the truth is, what some brands need
is leaving alone. They are doing very nicely
thank you.
The pack we designed for Boddingtons
is still going strong after years of use. As are
those for Mars, John West, Molton Brown,
Bass and Hammerite.
If what your brand needs is quietly nudging along you won’t find us inciting revolution.
Arguably that’s the answer to a successful brand’s prayers.Price Wars
You know the most powerful weapon,
of course.
It’s the thing that makes your brand distinctive, desirable and, if you’re truly blessed, essential: Its core values.
If you and your pack designers have kept them fresh, modern and relevant you may avoid a price-war altogether.
If not, you may have to cut prices just to maintain share. Then cut and cut again.
Before you know it you’ll be down with the cheapo brands not far off being a commodity, and there’s no way back from there.
The importance of investing in pack design
is even more true in turbulent times. When big institutions tremble people need brands they
can trust.
We know this because we started up in 1990 at the height of the last financial crisis.(Some of the things we designed, Boddingtons Draught, Tetley and Marstons, are still going strong today.)
Since then we’ve specialised in making our clients’ packs chime with changes in taste, healthy eating and responsible drinking. In a word, keeping them premium.
Because we believe brands which pull rather than push have a far stronger chance of winning the day.
Reinvention
Designing a new pack for a much loved
brand needs special care. And we ask
special questions:
1. How to make it new and fresh while staying old and trusted.
2. How to express what’s inside outside.
(We mean inside the brand not just inside
the pack.)
And, 3. How to do so so no one can flatter it sincerely. Think about that.
Before our new pack for Bassetts Allsorts hit the shelves we tested it on focus groups.
One man said, ‘What’s new? I bought this
last week.’ We didn’t argue. Because in a sense he was right.
Reinvention is not about what you elect to
get rid of – it’s the art of choosing what you wish
to amplify.
ROI
What should we do? Charge a deposit
on each glass? Attach them to long lengths
of elastic?
At the last count 400,000 of the chalices we designed for Stella Artois have gone missing. Some reputedly sold on eBay for a tenner each.
Is it their understated style that tempts
the light-fingered?
Or their ability to keep lager 23% colder than the average glass?
Whichever, they seem irresistible to drinkers. In bars where Stella is served in the new glass sales rose 3-6% (a cool £15m worth).
Many publicans say customers happily pay
a premium for Stella in the new chalice.
All this in a category which had declined
by 5%.
You expect excellent return on investment. We achieve it by creating designs which consumers truly value.
The downturn
In hard times there seem only two possible options:
1. Cut your costs.
2. Cut your throat.
That is, with offers and deals that devalue
a brand.
But there is an alternative many successful products are taking:
3. Be up-beat.
Forward-looking clients are reminding customers of good times with their brands.
Expressing their visual history in new packdesigns which are engaging, relevant and optimistic but still familiar, like old friends
in new outfits.
Not a bad shape to be in after a recession.
Or come to think of it, during one.
The mind's eye
At focus groups people often swear they’ve seen our new packs before.
“Bought it this morning” they say. Good. It means our philosophy is working in practice.
We believe that packs should evolve and that what is essentially relevant and desirable
in a brand should never grow extinct.
(By being copied, looking dull and samey.)
So in our designs we always try to
unlock happy memories of your brand and
customers’ lives.
Phileas Fogg is just one of many tapping into their rich visual history.
Birds Eye Arctic Roll and Courage Directors Bitter are also making rewarding come-backs.
We don’t expect customers will say, ‘Wow, look at those new packs’.
We simply expect to see them back in their shopping baskets.
The Moment of Truth
It’s that intensely private moment when desire argues with price.
When a little voice asks, is a brand worth the extra any more?
And another voice says, if it looks the same maybe it is the same.
And yet another voice says, better save money.
You have around five seconds to make your pitch. Except that you won’t be there, your pack has to do the talking.
If it says ‘Here I am’ loud and clear you may get the nod.
If it speaks in a voice that triggers happy memories in customers (of your brand and their lives) the odds turn in your favour.
And if it also says, ‘I’m as relevant today as I’ve always been’, you’ve as good as pressed
the buy button. We’ve noticed more and more companies seeking to realise the latent visual equity in their brands.
They know what a big difference a pack can make in a tiny moment.
Visibility
In fact, some two thirds of your customers need help with their seeing.
But amazingly half of them don’t wear glasses or contact lenses when shopping.
According to ‘Shopping Behaviour Xplained Ltd’ they have more than usual trouble in
finding your product on the shelves.
And then distinguishing it from rival brands which may (through accident or sincere flattery) appear remarkably like yours.
This means packs have to be different
but relevant, bold but sensitive to a
brand’s visual history.
These days it isn’t enough to win the
approval of focus groups.
It’s the out-of-focus groups we have
to help, too.
