Add Personality
At a cocktail party, an interesting personality attracts more people than a dull one. One could say the same about store brand packaging.
Packaging with personality is what helps retailers build unique store brands and set themselves apart from the competition, says Deborah Ginsburg, founder and CEO of Oakton, Va.-based Strategia Design.
“When you can interject the personality of the retailer or interject something into the package that connects with the consumer so that the consumer thinks, ‘Oh, they get me; this is important to me and that retailer understands that,’ you can create some really great packaging and really great repeat sales,” she says.
And personality plays a huge role across various areas of design — from graphics to structure.
Image matters
Whatever is printed on a package, it cannot look cheap if it’s to look like a true brand. David Bartish, vice president of marketing with Ampac, Cincinnati, explains that retailers can create crisp, sharp graphics on packaging via rotogravure printing and/or high-definition flexographic print processes.
“In addition, a retailer can specify a matte finish,” he states.
Spot matte varnish also can create high-quality imagery on packaging, says Tom Tyndall, vice president and general manager with Eagle Flexible Packaging, Batavia, Ill. This process allows retailers to use a combination of matte and gloss finishes to highlight specific text and images, helping the package stand out on shelves.
Photography that creates an emotive connection with consumers, too, helps to enhance a product and even take purchasers to an exotic destination, says Liz Fisher, creative director at Kaleidoscope, Chicago.
“A great example of this is A&P’s Via Roma Italian brand, where they use a photographic plate setting supported by engaging imagery of people [in an Italian village] enjoying the food — a very clever way to take you to the authentic Italian family dinner,” she states.
As for color, different ones are associated with different meanings, Fisher notes, and people have been “hard-wired over the centuries” to make those associations subliminally. For example, clean whites and minimal graphics are being used to communicate quality.
Meanwhile, black and deep muted colors can be used on high-end fragrances and premium products, says Jean-Pierre Lacroix, president of Shikatani Lacroix Design, Toronto.
“Leveraging these colors allows the retailer’s brand to build on how consumers have framed what defines quality. … Our firm applied the same principles when redesigning Shoppers [Drug Mart’s] Life brand for the vitamin category with the introduction of gold as a supporting color,” he says.
Kroger also does a good job using dark colors — along with golds — to communicate the premium nature of its Private Selection brand of artisan foods, Fisher notes. And it keeps the design consistent across a range of products, spanning multiple categories with ease of distinction at the shelf.
“Creating a consistent look across categories is key, especially if this is a store brand that spans multiple products,” she says.
Design continuity is being seen with national-brand-equivalent products, too, says Todd Maute, partner at New York-based CBX. But retailers need to be prepared when they go with such a strategy — design continuity is not an easy feat.
“A lot of people think it’s easier because it becomes ‘logo here, image here, item descriptor there,’” he says. “I think creating one design that works on a non-food item, a fresh item, a perishable item, a beauty item is difficult.”
André Cabrera, director of marketing at Renton, Wash.-based Distant Lands Coffee, believes consistency in design will drive recognition and sales of — as well as loyalty to — store brands.
“What works in coffee can be adapted to cereal and soup,” he states. “Aligning a family of store brand products with a single look and feel will give your store brand a leg up over the national brands, which are typically limited to one or two product categories.”
Say it with feeling
Turning to verbiage, retailers need to be very careful not to oversell or undersell a product, says Michael Duffy, managing partner, Equator Design, Chicago.
“Your tone of voice has to be tiered correctly,” he says.
For example, if a range comprises authentic imported Italian foods, retailers need to make sure they don’t undersell products and instead create verbiage with an “element of romance to it,” communicating authentic ingredients and the products’ appeal to the “taste adventurer.” Such verbiage should work with quality imagery to create a decadent brand image and draw in shoppers.
Fisher recommends simple product names accompanied by the romance copy to provide clear communication.
“For example, a ‘rich chocolate cake’ may communicate, ‘This decadent chocolate cake has been made with love and baked with a moist cake layer and laced with a delightful aromatic almond-and-coffee icing at the center,’” she states, adding that origin statements also help elevate a brand’s credibility when the product is sourced or made with ingredients from an exotic locale.
But if a product is simply an everyday item rather than an “imported Italian flatbread,” Duffy warns, then it’s not necessary to develop romance copy and photography. Creating a consistent look on packaging is key, especially if the brand spans multiple product categories.
Give it a sweet structure
Graphics and text, however, are only part of developing true brands through packaging. Structure, too, is critical. But unfortunately, unlike consumer packaged goods companies, retailers typically aren’t willing to invest in developing unique structures, says Don Childs, executive creative director at Brandimage, Cincinnati.
“An ownable structure can become an icon for the brand and shorthand brand recognition that stands apart at shelf,” he says.
Maute agrees, noting that retailers tend to think about supply chain efficiency, throwing out the chance of designing packaging that, while it might not be the easiest or least expensive to manufacture or transport, truly defines their brand.
Patrick Rodmell, president of Toronto-based Rodmell & Co., notes that ergonomic packaging is critical to establishing a quality image in many categories. For example, he believes resealable packaging is an untapped opportunity in many categories, especially frozen foods and breakfast cereals.
Fisher adds that if the package’s contents are truly premium and look great, then retailers need to show them off at “every given opportunity” by using windows in cartons and bags with clear substrate.
But creating an outside-the-norm package design shouldn’t mean disregarding how well and efficiently the package stores in the truck and on the shelf, Fisher points out.
“Shelf space is [at] a premium, and if the structure can be designed taking into consideration minimum footprint at shelf, all the better. The packs may interlock or stack in a way that conserves space in transit on the trucks and be displayed effectively on the shelf in store — a sure way to be economical and sustainable.”
Retailers also should consider design of secondary packaging when building their own brands through packaging. Todd Ayers, commercial director — consumer packaging with Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corrugated, notes that shoppers often use display cases to identify a product, so the cases must convey the same level of quality as the brand and its primary packaging.
“Conversely,” he notes, “store brand products rely on consumers to locate them on the shelf. With consumers more and more pressed for time, it is crucial for store brands to have retail-ready packaging designed to enhance the shopper’s experience, making it easier to find, choose and access their product in the store.”