Osborne Pike

In the last blog we looked at standout on shelf, describing some functional aspects like blocks of colour and the use of faces. But we believe that the most powerful form of standout is a truly engaging story.

The story the pack conjures up in the mind of the consumer triggers an emotional response, overriding rational factors like price and product features. These rational aspects are quickly adopted as ‘reasons to believe’, but the story is already firmly planted.

The following posts share the results of a recent internal ‘show & tell’, where we all presented our favourite storytelling packs. It was truly refreshing to see people’s choices and to hear the reasons behind them. So here they are…

If the Coke bottle promises a little bit of American spirit wherever you are in the world, then Illy does the same for Italy. Simultaneously full of passion and utterly cool, this iconic tin takes you straight to a pavement cafeteria in downtown Milan, your Armani jacket slung over the handlebars of the Vespa. Not a bad return on investment.

I wouldn’t mind betting that the origin of this entire brand began with a light bulb moment, prompted by a comment in a research report along the lines of: “I love chocolate desserts that are thick and gooey…”

There’s another apparently true story that this design was presented to the client as if it was a recently discovered new brand. When the client complained bitterly that this was exactly what he had in mind, the agency revealed it to be their recommended proposal. Respect!

I can’t believe the same agency can be responsible for the recent dumbing down of the design shown in this shelf shot, with all that gorgeous empty space being filled up with large portions of ordinariness.

In this case both. The delightful ‘egg-chicken’ character perched on a friendly, natural typeface
makes a truly effective brand identity. The genius here lies in the name because it tells a bigger story: happy eggs means happy chickens means happy customers.

Not in this shot but the brand offers an extra large size called ‘Biggies’, which demonstrates another benefit of storytelling: it writes its own brand language.

Great big, bold colour blocks with no product photographs or illustrations, everything you need to know about this brand is conveyed through type.

What it actually says of course, but also how it feels: Raw, natural, honest. Not so long ago the packs showed a man stirring a giant pot (or ‘kettle’ in American), but less is now most definitely more.

Danone is expert at turning bacteria into cash, by inventing beneficial strains and marketing them extremely effectively.

Activia’s rapid rise to one of the world’s best known food brands has been helped by the simple but effective story being told by the logo, as well as a concerted bid to own the colour green on the yoghurt fixture.

With brands like Punk IPA and Trashy Blonde, Brew Dog is a company whose aggressive wit leaves you in no doubt about its subversive attitude to the cosy image of brewing.

Standing out like the proverbial dog’s parts, the one colour packaging sticks two fingers up at the gorgeous and intricate crafted labels and bottles all around.

This is one label that forces you to read its manifesto, and I wasn’t disappointed: ‘It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to appreciate the depth, character and quality of this premium craft brewed beer. We don’t care if you don’t like it.’

I don’t like it, I love it.

The power of the Jack Daniels pack lies in its refusal to modernise, thus supporting the legendary status of the unchanging recipe and old-fashioned distilling process.

A careful look at the pack on the right here shows that the jumble of assorted typefaces and shapes has been tidied up a bit, but thankfully not too much. It’s not as if you’re supposed to read it…

Packaging aimed at kids has to strike a tricky balance between appeal to kids and mum’s approval, with
the weighting dependent on the level of treat the product offers.

This recent redesign of The Natural Confectionery Co made a giant stride by making the foil matt white, whilst the illustrations, product names and typography provide oodles of innocent fun.

The ‘old skool’ shelf below looks like napalm in comparison.

A tough call this, because the story of Maldon sea salt is, in a literal sense, better on the old pack (pictured here on my recent holiday, probably the only time an English ingredient has ever been taken to France to improve the food…)

However the new pack does a better branding job, so assuming they are preaching to the converted, then this simple, confident story of ‘here I am, look no further’, delivers in spades (or is it diamonds?)

Our last blog praised the Boddingtons outer packaging (on the left in this picture), but did I speak too soon?

Now instead of mischievously hiding the ‘B’, the new design shows us nothing but the initial letter (and a bee, see what they did there?)

I think they’re supposed to link up, and no doubt the client was reassured that even if they didn’t, it would look great. I’m not convinced, you decide.