Tuesday 21st July:
Colour crafting – too simple to ‘own’?
Bold, modern typography, like Chocolat Factory’s packaging, has a super-simple, stripped down approach. But is this its primary flaw? This popular look, if applied without enough of a differentiating element, can end up looking generic. Colour blocking is great for differentiating flavours, but something else has to be going on to create an ‘ownable’ design.
Below are some examples. Some seem to rely too heavily on colour and don’t make their packaging distinctive enough from other brands, while others are doing a better job. Can you tell the difference between the brands well enough? Are the differences memorable enough so you’ll know where to go back for your next chocolate fix?
Ref. http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/06/branding-with-color.html#more
Tagged with: Confectionary, Packaging
Monday 18th May:
How can you get audiences participating in places they usually don’t?
Think like Cadbury’s. They’re setting up video cameras in cinemas and filming the audience waving their arms in time with the music. This ‘motion’ is captured to ‘play’ the Cadbury brother and sister’s eyebrows, Guitar Hero-style. Brilliant.
(Thanks to Chris Teabag for sharing his time at the flicks.)
Ref. http://www.chunk.co.uk/?p=156
Friday 15th May:
When money is tight, how can you help people make small ‘stylish’ statements that provide bite-size pieces of luxury?
Think like chewing gum giant, Wrigley. Wrigley is targeting the premium category in the UK’s competitive gum market with its ‘sense-stimulating, edgy’ 5 gum, out in June. http://www.5gum.com/five/index_normal.do
What’s so premium about this new brand? The 5 range is available in cobalt – cooling peppermint, electro – tingling spearmint and pulse – crisp tropical flavours, complete with ‘embossed black gloss packaging and sharp eye catching bursts of colour’.
Apparently, this new range is Wrigley’s response to the increasing demand of stylish consumers for a wider range of available flavours, or ‘taste sensations’.
Ref. http://www.schmoozyfox.com/
Tuesday 28th April:
Who needs a traditional website anyway?
Not Skittles who binned theirs in favour of spreading their information across various social networks and services. If you point your web browser to Skittles.com, you will be greeted not by the familiar highly ‘experiential’ or branded interactive site complete with games and promotions—instead, you’ll go to a Twitter search result page that shows you what people are saying about them in real time.
The ‘siteless website’ then places a ‘widget’ above the Twitter search result and lets you navigate to other destinations, including Facebook, You Tube, Wikipedia and Flickr. Another reason this is worth watching closely is because we’re seeing a social media reality play out in real time. While you can listen in on, respond to and potentially even influence conversations, you cannot control them.
It’s a risky move though. The similarities between the Skittles site and ad agency Modernista’s http://www.modernista.com/7/index.php were a hot topic on Twitter after the site’s launch, which meant all of the negative comments towards our sugar-coated friends also ended up on their own site.
We will see more of this, not less. Whether you love it, hate it or think it’s a gimmick—right now this tactic is providing a valuable insight into the business world and current marketing challenges. Brands are scrambling to become more relevant in our lives. Traditional websites aren’t enough. Banner ads aren’t enough. Traditional 30-second spots can be ignored and they’re desperately looking for new ways to get talked about.
Ref http://blog.futurelab.net/2009/03/skittles_goes_modernista_with.html
Wednesday 18th March:
How can you take inspiration from a parallel industry?
Think like confectioners, Mars, who’ve taken cues from the wine connoisseur and specialist coffee house with their high-end chocolate store, Pure Dark. Based in New York’s West Village, the staff really know their chocolate and are there to educate as well as cut you samples and help you make your own combinations.
At Pure Dark, it’s all about the purity of the pod. This is the delicious, raw essence of dark chocolate: the precious fruit of the cacao tree at its simple, natural best. The Pure Dark™ collection is chock-full of robust ingredients harvested straight from nature – thick, hand-crafted Slabs, Barks studded with plump, dried fruits and crunchy nuts, Rounds dusted with exotic flavors, and lightly roasted cocoa bean Nibs which all deliver an authentic, earthy chocolate experience. http://puredark.com/
Ref. http://blog.futurelab.net/2009/03/pure_darktm_chocolate_harveste.html
Friday 5th December:
How to backlash against the bland
Think like Fat Pig an organic milk chocolate brand that combine the obvious chocoholics insight with community and fun. The packaging looks like the snout of a pig and the playful website encourages chocolate lovers to become ‘fat pigs’ by posting photos of themselves with the snout images in front of their faces on the website. Available only at select stores in Canada and the US or by ordering online, the chocolates sell for USD 5.95 for 6 pieces.
http://www.fatpigchocolate.com/
Love the sound effects on the pigallery as they encourage us to release our inner pig!
Ref. Trendwatching