Need Design Inspiration?

Worldwide, private label is most developed in Europe (particularly Western Europe), accounting for $1 of every $3 spent in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market, New York-based Nielsen points out in its November 2014 “The State of Private Label Around the World” report. In fact, store brands’ dollar share in Switzerland, Spain and the UK is more than 40 percent, much higher than the 17.5 percent dollar share Nielsen reports for the United States.

U.S. retailers, therefore, might want to look to the European market for best practices and ideas to grow private brand share. And one area that could benefit from a “peek over the pond” is packaging design.

A different mindset

As Michael Duffy, managing partner and group creative director for global design firm Equator Design, points out, European retailers — particularly those in the UK — differ significantly from U.S. retailers when it comes to the private brand culture, which ultimately impacts the approach to packaging design. They view private brands as true brands and take more ownership of their shelves. Although the tide is beginning to change, many U.S. retailers still take a more generic “private label” view.

“I think we’re really creating in the UK brands that challenge and lead the national brands — they don’t just follow or [serve as] cheap alternatives,” he says. “I think there’s much opportunity and, to some point, responsibility for U.S. retailers to come up with something different and exciting and really stand on their own feet.”

Lee Gobbi, creative director for Galileo Global Branding Group, Stamford, Conn., notes that the top UK retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Morrisons and others, have been building their own brands since right after World War II, so their shoppers naturally view those brands as true brands. Many U.S. retailers fall short because they have approached their own-brand programs over the years from a “sales or merchant perspective” instead of from a consumer perspective.

“So the brands have little or no connection to the consumer,” he says. “Additionally, many retailers may be simply not ready financially to support private brand redesign, so instead of starting, they simply stagnate and fall behind.

But Gobbi also suggests that many U.S. retailers have caught up — or are catching up — in the packaging design arena. What’s more, he thinks many packaging trends have broader global roots than Europe. He does believe, however, that UK brand marketers are more willing to take risks.

“They don’t think twice about an edgy, even slightly shocking approach to design,” he says. “Here in the U.S., we are more reserved and restrained.”

Rethink tier-specific design

One difference between UK retailers and many U.S. retailers can be seen in the approach to tier-specific design. Although premium-tier destinationtype products can draw shoppers into a store, it’s the national-brand-equivalent tier that’s a retailer’s bread and butter. And unlike UK retailers, many U.S. retailers take either a “me-too” approach modeled after the national brands or a category-to-category cookie-cutter approach for the design of that NBE core tier, Duffy says.

Gobbi agrees.

“[Under] the ‘good, better, best’ mentality … retailers resort to a typical line look, put the banner on it and call it a day,” he says. By doing so, they are “strategically falling short and not employing a good brand agency to do a deep dive into the brand to understand its failings/strengths through testing.”

Frozen fish shouldn’t have the same look as ice cream or pizza, Duffy stresses.

“In designing [packaging for] pizza, you might instead tell the story of the pizza and really connect emotionally with your customer to really engage them and make them choose your pizza over the national brand pizza and really make it category-relevant.”

Of course, the NBE brand does need to be connected in some way across categories, Duffy says, but if retailers allow that commonality to take up too much real estate on the package, they won’t have the opportunity to create a category-relevant cohesive design.

Food photography also is a problematic area within the tier for many U.S. retailers, he adds. In many cases, the food products look too staged and too perfect.

“You can photograph things much more editorially that really connect emotionally with consumers and show a little bit of mess, some crumbs here and there, a drip of chocolate, realistic cheese on a pizza — rather than something that’s over-Photoshopped,” he says.

And when it comes to the value tier, packaging design doesn’t scream “cheap” in Europe, and shouldn’t do so in the United States, either.

“You want to design brands that look affordable, are easy to navigate, aren’t overselling — a true depiction of what the product is about — and have some personality,” Duffy says. “If you look at Morrisons, for example, they have a fantastic value range.”

Look to trends, leaders

Whether the product is a premium-, NBE- or value-tier item — or falls into the natural and organic arena or another niche tier — retailers also will want to keep in mind some key current packaging design trends coming out of both Europe and the larger worldwide market. Gobbi points out eight such trends:

• ■ Simplicity in the primary display panel to get the purchase decision focus on only what is most important.
• ■ “Iconic, personality-driven packaging” that takes advantage of interesting and differentiating graphics or imagery that engages consumers.
• ■ The creation of “brand authenticity” by allowing the brand to speak/tell a story to the shopper honestly, like a real person.
• ■ The use of “customization and personalization” to speak to shoppers on a personal level.
• ■ “Multicultural branding” that addresses growing ethnic groups and integrates a sense of culture.
• ■ The creation of “category-specific emotional values” that drive an emotional connection with shoppers.
• ■ The use of “more casual and informal font treatments” that “humanize” the brand and make it appear “real and handmade.”
• ■ The use of “strong, more mature color palettes” and the creation of “more harmonious tones.”

Gobbi points to UK-based Waitrose, with its Love Life family of brands, as one European retailer that stands when it comes to trends tied to color, typography, authenticity, differentiation and more.

Another trend, Duffy says, is that toward the use of nostalgia to tell a story. As an example, he singles out packaging Equator designed for a range of ice cream and frozen novelties offered by Nisa, a UK retailer. The design, under Nisa’s Heritage brand, takes shoppers back to their childhood days spent at the seaside, the fairgrounds and other favorite places.

U.S. retailers will also find current design trends playing out on home soil — and they could look to these forward-thinking retailers for own-brand design inspiration. Gobbi notes that Minneapolis-based Target Corp. is a leader here.

For his part, Duffy singles out Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Inc. and its Simply Roundy’s natural and organic brand.

“It has a look that knits together and has a family feel because it’s a destination brand, so there’s a need for more consistency than what you’d have in your core line and the story of each category,” he explains. “It’s fresh; it’s light.”

Finally, whether leveraging European and global design trends or taking a page from best-in-class U.S. private brand programs, retailers can’t treat their own brands as simply alternatives to the national brands.

“Remember, a brand is a brand,” Gobbi stresses. “It’s not a CPG brand or a big brand or a private brand — it’s a brand!”

Many U.S. retailers fall short because they have approached their own-brand programs over the years from a “sales or merchant perspective” instead of from a consumer perspective.

When it comes to the value tier, packaging design doesn’t scream “cheap” in Europe, and shouldn’t do so in the United States, either.