One of my favorite pastimes is to read all the different lists that are generated across the industry that predict hot brand prospects and consumer trends over the next several months or so. I really love seeing so many people busy divining the future and trying to uncover new opportunities. Everyone wants to be the first to gaze into that magical crystal ball and be the first to reveal the new hot idea. It just goes to show the desire and value the industry has for new trends and innovation!
I have already seen predictions for the food and beverage industry that speak to the continued rapid growth of organics, the rise of celebrity farms (rather than celebrity chefs), and the explosion and ubiquity of energy drinks. The nice thing about these predictions is that no one ever remembers them so you will rarely be targeted for being off base. Then again do we ever credit these prognosticators when they are on-target?
So now it’s my turn.
But my crystal ball gazing has not uncovered a “Top 5 or Top 10” trends list. Rather, I see one key focus for the foreseeable. And actually it is not a new trend. Honestly, it has been around ever since brands began to be marketed.
It’s the consumer.
So your immediate response might be, “tell me something I didn’t know.”
Well what is different here are some of the new ways consumers now think. Through the work I have done for many years on understanding consumer behavior, I now see a much stronger consumer conscience taking hold. Consumers want to know where their products come from and what they are made of. And it’s not just the ingredients - it’s the whole look and feel and tone of the packaging too.
Consumers now possess a much stronger internal sense of what is right or wrong which drives their thoughts, actions and decision-making, especially at point of purchase. When it comes to food and beverage, certainly they want assurance that products are wholesome and healthy so descriptors such as low sodium, caffeine free, all natural, trans-fat free or no toxins are still important. And when it comes to packaging they want it to be stylish, easy to access and have some feeling that what they dispose of will not sit forever in a landfill. But these are not enough on their own.
Consumers want to know what companies and brands stand for and believe in.
They want to understand the origins of everything they take home in their grocery bags, and they want to align themselves with brands that match their own values. If you do not believe me then please explain why there is a growing list of big-time global companies that are asking consumers to design commercials for them.
So it appears we are entering new period in consumer marketing that will be know as “Guess Who is Coming to the Boardroom.”
And for once I can say this one is not Brand NonSense…it actually makes a lot of Brand Sense!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!
The introduction of upside-down plastic bottles by Heinz in the late 1990s was a milestone moment in the history of CPG packaging. I mean what consumer had not felt the frustration of trying to get ketchup out of a right side up bottle? Certainly consumers had concocted their own personal rituals on how to solve this sticky situation - from the “downward thrust” method of violently jerking the bottle down to the famous “stick the knife in the bottle” trick.
No matter what ritual you adopted, the problem of getting ketchup out of the bottle was universal. That’s why the upside-down squeeze bottle was such a great piece of innovation. It created a solution for a real consumer need.
This great piece of structural innovation did not come overnight. And its roots stretch outside of the food category—to the Health and Beauty industry. It took learnings from HBA “tottle” packaging (the first child of the tube and bottle) relative to the dispensing of viscous fluids such as shampoos, conditioners or lotions and applied them to the development of an inverted squeeze plastic bottle for dispensing ketchup.
But what happens when a great solution for one consumer need creates a new problem that, to this day, no one has effectively addressed? And why would other manufacturers continue down the same path without addressing it while promising consumers that their upside-down pack is more convenient and easier to use than its right side up predecessor? As I look across the alphabet of consumer products, I see virtually every letter offering up at least one upside-down product from BBQ sauce, to dish detergents, to mayonnaise, to scrubs, to Vaseline. All these packs have the same problem.
I look at this new array of upside-down brands I often find myself saying - why? When will someone address the problem?
So what is the problem I’m referring to? It’s like this.
Since the top of these upside-down packs are wider than the cap at the base they tend to be top heavy and therefore very unstable. So unstable that they tend to fall over quite easily. In fact every time I open my refrigerator I see one lying down on the shelf. At first I thought maybe it was taking a nap, but I have come to realize it simply fell over.
So I have come up with my own term for these top-heavy creations. I call them “wottles” which I describe as a wobbly alternative to a stable pack. Or if the pack could talk, it would say, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
Excuse me but I have to go now. I just heard something fall over in my refrigerator – again!
It makes no Brand Sense; it’s really…Brand NonSense.
No matter what ritual you adopted, the problem of getting ketchup out of the bottle was universal. That’s why the upside-down squeeze bottle was such a great piece of innovation. It created a solution for a real consumer need.
This great piece of structural innovation did not come overnight. And its roots stretch outside of the food category—to the Health and Beauty industry. It took learnings from HBA “tottle” packaging (the first child of the tube and bottle) relative to the dispensing of viscous fluids such as shampoos, conditioners or lotions and applied them to the development of an inverted squeeze plastic bottle for dispensing ketchup.
But what happens when a great solution for one consumer need creates a new problem that, to this day, no one has effectively addressed? And why would other manufacturers continue down the same path without addressing it while promising consumers that their upside-down pack is more convenient and easier to use than its right side up predecessor? As I look across the alphabet of consumer products, I see virtually every letter offering up at least one upside-down product from BBQ sauce, to dish detergents, to mayonnaise, to scrubs, to Vaseline. All these packs have the same problem.
I look at this new array of upside-down brands I often find myself saying - why? When will someone address the problem?
So what is the problem I’m referring to? It’s like this.
Since the top of these upside-down packs are wider than the cap at the base they tend to be top heavy and therefore very unstable. So unstable that they tend to fall over quite easily. In fact every time I open my refrigerator I see one lying down on the shelf. At first I thought maybe it was taking a nap, but I have come to realize it simply fell over.
So I have come up with my own term for these top-heavy creations. I call them “wottles” which I describe as a wobbly alternative to a stable pack. Or if the pack could talk, it would say, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
Excuse me but I have to go now. I just heard something fall over in my refrigerator – again!
It makes no Brand Sense; it’s really…Brand NonSense.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Phone A Friend
I got a call from my friend Karl the other day. He’s a mathematician by trade and one on the smartest people I know. An Ivy Leaguer, tops in his class – a real center of knowledge. When ever I need to “phone a friend” for some help or information, Karl is the one I call. No doubt.
So guess what happened yesterday. My cell rang. It was Karl.
“Hey Ed I need your help.”
Boy, this was a first! I couldn’t believe Karl was calling me for advice. Before he talked further, my mind stated to wander. Did he need some assistance with a complex mathematical equation? Maybe he needed to consult with me before purchasing some new super computer. I listened closely.
“I’m at the drugstore shopping for some cold tablets. I just felt a little nasal congestion and I wanted something so I wouldn’t be stuffed up while trying to sleep. I don’t normally do the shopping – and I trying to figure out what to get. I can’t believe the choices. I mean I just want something for my nose. You’re the marketing guy. Can you help?”
He went on.
“Gee, this box says quick acting and the other box says long lasting. Are they asking me when do I want to feel good – now or later? Why can’t they just put in clear, simple terms what this stuff does Ed? I thought this would be easy. And why are there so many choices? They all seem the same with not real distinction among them. I’m no marketing guy, but if you can’t figure out what brand does what and why it’s better than the next one on shelf, it doesn’t make much sense.”
“Hey Karl, as usual, you’re right,” I said.
It makes no Brand Sense; it’s really…Brand NonSense.
p.s. - Karl said he was next headed to the toothpaste aisle. Wait until he sees those 43 versions of Crest!
So guess what happened yesterday. My cell rang. It was Karl.
“Hey Ed I need your help.”
Boy, this was a first! I couldn’t believe Karl was calling me for advice. Before he talked further, my mind stated to wander. Did he need some assistance with a complex mathematical equation? Maybe he needed to consult with me before purchasing some new super computer. I listened closely.
“I’m at the drugstore shopping for some cold tablets. I just felt a little nasal congestion and I wanted something so I wouldn’t be stuffed up while trying to sleep. I don’t normally do the shopping – and I trying to figure out what to get. I can’t believe the choices. I mean I just want something for my nose. You’re the marketing guy. Can you help?”
He went on.
“Gee, this box says quick acting and the other box says long lasting. Are they asking me when do I want to feel good – now or later? Why can’t they just put in clear, simple terms what this stuff does Ed? I thought this would be easy. And why are there so many choices? They all seem the same with not real distinction among them. I’m no marketing guy, but if you can’t figure out what brand does what and why it’s better than the next one on shelf, it doesn’t make much sense.”
“Hey Karl, as usual, you’re right,” I said.
It makes no Brand Sense; it’s really…Brand NonSense.
p.s. - Karl said he was next headed to the toothpaste aisle. Wait until he sees those 43 versions of Crest!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Shop 'Til You Drop
We’ve all heard this expression, but recently, I have found a new meaning for it!
Simple said, it refers to the cluttered shelves that have been created in virtually every product category in your favorite retail store. You now, the clutter that makes it downright difficult to find what you want on shelf.
And by time you find what you want, you’re ready to drop.
It doesn’t even matter where you shop - grocery, mass merchants, drug stores – it’s all the same. Yet marketing teams never seem to learn. They continue to invent more products, concoct new flavors and conceive new forms all that look and feel similar to what already is on shelf.
I mean, do we really new 43 varieties of Crest toothpaste or 18 types of Oreos?
I often wonder if the great marketing minds that create all this shelf clutter have ever gone into a store and tried to make a selection – or better yet, watched how consumers shop their category.
Today the shopping experience is akin to going to the eye doctor. Locating what you want on the retail shelf is like reading an eye chart. After a while your develop eye strain. Perhaps consumers should ask their local store manager to set up places to sit in each aisle to allow them to recover from the shopping experience. Because no matter what aisle you shop, by time you find what you want, you’re ready to drop.
And it keeps getting worse!
Across all the marketing briefs I have seen over the last few years, from marketing teams in well-known companies representing brands we all buy, there is always embedded the same design objective. Can you guess what it is???
Make shopping the category easier!
Like that free spot on a bingo card, it’s always there – in every marketing brief. Hey fellas, you want to know the best way to improve shopability. Get rid of stuff!
But if you don’t believe my why don’t you ask consumers. I’m sure they will tell you how they feel, assuming they have fully recovered from their last shopping journey. – when they too found a new meaning for shop 'til you drop.
It makes no Brand Sense; it’s really…Brand NonSense.
Simple said, it refers to the cluttered shelves that have been created in virtually every product category in your favorite retail store. You now, the clutter that makes it downright difficult to find what you want on shelf.
And by time you find what you want, you’re ready to drop.
It doesn’t even matter where you shop - grocery, mass merchants, drug stores – it’s all the same. Yet marketing teams never seem to learn. They continue to invent more products, concoct new flavors and conceive new forms all that look and feel similar to what already is on shelf.
I mean, do we really new 43 varieties of Crest toothpaste or 18 types of Oreos?
I often wonder if the great marketing minds that create all this shelf clutter have ever gone into a store and tried to make a selection – or better yet, watched how consumers shop their category.
Today the shopping experience is akin to going to the eye doctor. Locating what you want on the retail shelf is like reading an eye chart. After a while your develop eye strain. Perhaps consumers should ask their local store manager to set up places to sit in each aisle to allow them to recover from the shopping experience. Because no matter what aisle you shop, by time you find what you want, you’re ready to drop.
And it keeps getting worse!
Across all the marketing briefs I have seen over the last few years, from marketing teams in well-known companies representing brands we all buy, there is always embedded the same design objective. Can you guess what it is???
Make shopping the category easier!
Like that free spot on a bingo card, it’s always there – in every marketing brief. Hey fellas, you want to know the best way to improve shopability. Get rid of stuff!
But if you don’t believe my why don’t you ask consumers. I’m sure they will tell you how they feel, assuming they have fully recovered from their last shopping journey. – when they too found a new meaning for shop 'til you drop.
It makes no Brand Sense; it’s really…Brand NonSense.
Brand NonSense
If brand means to engrave an identity, then why do so many consumer product companies try so hard to destroy their identities in the marketplace?
What do I mean?
Well today it is quite common to see brands with distinct identities come out with new product variants served up in packaging that looks nothing like the established image of the brand. To me this actually serves to weaken the distinct and memorable brand associations that companies have tried to engrave in our minds. As someone who has been in the strategic branding and package design world of consumer products for 20 years, I wonder this myself. I don’t get it.
It was once so simple.
Red stood for Coke. Hershey’s was chocolate brown. Kodak was yellow. Clorox was blue, red and white. Tide was orangey red. And Windex was that aquamarine blue/green. It was easy to find these brands in the marketplace. They were constant, easily identified and yes, engraved in our minds.
Oh how things have changed. Finding these iconic brands in a grocery or mass channels these days has become an adventure. And even once you locate one; it is a challenge to sort out what variant you want.
Sure I get that line extensions and proliferation of product portfolios make the introduction of new colors and imagery necessary, but why would you give away an equity that you have owned and that has an emotional connection with consumers.
It makes no Brand Sense; it’s really…Brand NonSense.
What do I mean?
Well today it is quite common to see brands with distinct identities come out with new product variants served up in packaging that looks nothing like the established image of the brand. To me this actually serves to weaken the distinct and memorable brand associations that companies have tried to engrave in our minds. As someone who has been in the strategic branding and package design world of consumer products for 20 years, I wonder this myself. I don’t get it.
It was once so simple.
Red stood for Coke. Hershey’s was chocolate brown. Kodak was yellow. Clorox was blue, red and white. Tide was orangey red. And Windex was that aquamarine blue/green. It was easy to find these brands in the marketplace. They were constant, easily identified and yes, engraved in our minds.
Oh how things have changed. Finding these iconic brands in a grocery or mass channels these days has become an adventure. And even once you locate one; it is a challenge to sort out what variant you want.
Sure I get that line extensions and proliferation of product portfolios make the introduction of new colors and imagery necessary, but why would you give away an equity that you have owned and that has an emotional connection with consumers.
It makes no Brand Sense; it’s really…Brand NonSense.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
