Welcome to Shelf Life Issue 9, devoted to the crazy, colourful, Looney‐Tuned world of packaging for kids.
Given that we’re in the supermarket it’s usually packaging for the mums and dads of kids, who have to decode and decide whether this brand or product is something that is suitable for my beloved offspring.
That’s where the fun really starts!
…or Suckerz or Squeez’mees, but whatever you do don’t call them yoghurt tubes or no self‐respecting kid will want to be seen with them in the playground.
For younger consumers (4‐6) any kind of cartoon looks kinda cool and kinda cute. Older kids and tweens require characters who are edgier, giving you a slightly menacing grin as you tear off the top of their heads and squeeze out their fruit‐flavoured insides.
Frubes (full title: Yoplait Petits Filous Frubes) have cleverly covered off both self‐made characters and licensed ones; with the latter you get two bites of the cherry, so to speak, when the film, and later the DVD, are released. Having eaten my way through the cast and crew of Shrek Forever After (all in Far Far Away Strawberry flavour), I couldn’t help wondering if I’d have enjoyed Shrek himself more in a nice green colour and swamp-flavoured. On the back of pack I also got a nice cut-out‐and‐keep door hanger with the message: Keep Out or Hear my Roar! ‐ which comes in handy at home.
So much entertainment in one small box; and I nearly forgot: some pretty healthy food.
… no it’s Easter, but almost like a second Christmas for the lucky recipients of these Easter eggs, which come with TV character-endorsed toys and games.
Packaging for kids’ food takes inspiration from the toy market, especially so when the same licensed characters are in play. The difference is that in food the packaging is usually smaller and always cost‐optimised, so this level of storytelling and fun is harder to achieve.
But not impossible.
Persuading young boys to wash their hands when you need them to, let alone their hair, is quite a challenge. There’s no doubt that mums are grateful for the assistance of BEN 10, who has great hair thanks to ‘hero’ shampoo, and never forgets to ‘decontaminate’ his hands either (because you never know where those slimy aliens have been).
The extra level of engagement that comes from the product name is an important one, something the license holders for that ‘Super Soft Facecloth’ might do well to consider.
Kids’ appetite for chocolate flavoured cereals continues to grow, to the point where Coco Pops is now an umbrella brand offering several product types (based on the shape of the choccie-flavoured extrusion). Mums will be pleased that the newer forms also come with ‘Choc Fibre Fun!’, which is a fascinating prospect when you think about it.
The brand’s baseball‐capped mascot Coco smiles from the box at XXXL size, making him bigger than some of his customers. The logo is almost the smallest thing on the pack, but the branding is total.
Nestlé have clearly joined in the character size war too, whereas Weetos have opted for plan B, characterising the product itself.
This feels slightly older because nobbly brown shapes with arms and legs aren’t that cute. The design promises a lot of action in the bowl, and I’m especially pleased to see that green slime colour coding on the Alien invaders. Come on Shrek, get your act together!
Two stories here: Firstly I loved this line up of Weetos, Krave and Weetabix Chocolate ‐ it was like watching chocolate cereals grow up in one metre of shelf space (even though they’re all happily eaten by 8 year‐olds).
The Kellogg’s sub‐brand known as Krave in the UK (and Trésor in most of the world) is targeted at ‘young adults’, but looking at the ads around the world it’s clear that younger consumers are also going to love this story. The product’s snacking potential (it’s like a tiny Nutella tortilla), hasn’t been lost on Kellogg’s ‐ Countline formats also exist.
But the relatively consistent marketing of today masks a fascinating back story of how exactly the same product is/was/could have been branded. Judging by these packs, collated by a US‐based Trésor fanatic, the target group and brand story is a very moveable feast.
I find this an illuminating example of the choices faced by Marketing and Innovation teams, and the power of packaging to articulate those choices. Not sure if ‘articulate’ is the right way to describe ‘Trésor Grrr’ however!
We all know the rational argument: ‘A healthy intake of Calcium is important at all stages of life, but it’s especially good for kids. Eating a piece of cheese each day as a snack or meal is one of the easiest ways to get your recommended daily amount (RDA).’
But the RDA that interests kids is not Calcium but the one called ‘play’, and the ideal quantity is ‘no limit’.
Brilliantly marrying these two needs, the invention of a cheese stick that kids can play with is a true win‐win. But how to tell the story best?
Here are two excellent examples: Kraft’s dairylea is more Mum‐focused with its evocation of sunny meadows, but the suitably ‘mad’ cow provides just enough fun.
Cheesestrings goes further, defining the category with ‘say what you see’ characters and a unique colour code. Also important in my view is the remarkable economy of words on the front face. All good clean fun.
First of all I should point out that Kidibul is a sparkling apple juice drink, and nothing to do with Red Bull or energy drinks. At least that’s what I understand from the manufacturer’s website.
So I have to admit that I simply can’t explain the tray in this image, which had me sensing a major exposé for a minute.
However the main packaging format of the champagne bottle (and promo‐bucket) strikes me as an example of bold and differentiating marketing.
Graphically the fun volume has been turned to MAX and is making my ears bleed, so I think a better balance with product values and benefits is needed. Where’s the contact page on that website?
So you’ve managed to persuade your kids to top up with Calcium and dietary fibre, now what else can you worry about? I know ‐ hydration!
We’ve long since had an army of low/no sugar soft drinks, but now kids have their own flavoured water brands too.
Mums have been drinking this stuff for years, though making water less boring by giving it a trace of flavour doesn’t seem to be quite as fashionable as it once was.
Whilst I don’t think these products can be as much fun to drink as the Tartrazine‐coloured fizzy pop I grew up with, at least the packaging adds some excitement.
Without a backwards‐facing baseball cap in sight, Fruit Shoot hydro manages to tell an all-action story of a rough and ready drink for your little tough guy. Girls, you take the panda with the yin‐yang tattoo…
Crusha is a milk‐shake syrup, so don’t drink it neat or you’ll look like the cat on the old pack (in the middle).
The new cat looks a lot more chic on her fully-sleeved new bottle design, but has the brand lost a bit of its edge? Can we see her fitting in as well to the quirky ads that got the brand noticed?
Following on from the success of ‘Oat so Simple’ (convenient porridge), Quaker has dipped into the same rich pool of wordplay to come up with ‘Paw Ridge’.
As soon as you say it, the inhabitants of this rural American backwater practically invent themselves. Now it’s up to the agency to keep enough stuff happenin’ with them there varmints to keep the kids interested. Pointing at the sign’s a start, but luckily there’s a lot more online.
Marketing isn’t meant to be this easy, but when it is, why try harder?