OWN BRAND PACKAGING
shelves. In this environment they must compete directly with competitor brands and own label products.
And thanks to last year’s ‘patent cliff’, it’s not likely to get better any time soon. In 2012, more than 40 brand-name drugs - valued at $35 billion in annual sales - lost their patent
With the increased competitor set the use of branding devices is vitally important. Examples include the depiction of the brand name itself e.g. Cadbury’s chocolate, a graphical device illustrating the product function e.g. the Finish dishwasher glass or a miscellaneous icon such as the Barcadi Bat, the Apple
“In 2012, more than 40 brand-name drugs - valued at $35 billion in annual sales - lost their patent protection.”
protection, meaning that generic companies were permitted to make their own lower-priced ‘own-brand’ versions and, for the first time, share in the profits that had exclusively belonged to the brands.
Never has branding and particularly packaging had such an important part to play. The reality is that established brands have been concerned with own label products for years and the rise in the power of the retailer and its own label offering means that manufacturers are often searching for packaging innovation that is harder for own label products to copy. Pack design should remain as a key focus for the OTC brand manager to ensure that brands continue to stand out from the competitors on shelf. On shelf, with all the surrounding noise the consumer will only spend a few seconds scanning the fixture, so pack design is vital. For a pack design to truly reflect the personality of the brand and reinforce its positioning, it is vital that it contains visual equities. These are split into form (shape); colour; layout (hierarchy and architecture); iconography (graphical devices) and typestyle (font). Visual equities should be elements that are distinctive (to differentiate your brand), ownable (and not easily copied) and inextricably linked to the brand in the mind of the consumer.
computer logo or McDonalds golden arches.
As the cost of developing new brands, particularly in
pharmaceuticals, is prohibitively expensive, manufacturers are turning to new launches under existing brands. This can be much more cost effective but unless the packaging uses an architecture that allows for easy incorporation of new line extensions, things can get messy. A coherent looking range is very difficult to accomplish but vital if the brand has ambitions to expand its offering, particularly if this is outside its traditional product area. In this case, look to include a consistent branding device across the range that ties it all in together. Heinz and Nestle, amongst others, have employed this very successfully. The key to success is to build a brand experience that goes beyond the function of the product to help create an exclusive, emotional bond with the consumer that encourages loyalty.
My team at White
Communications was recently asked to develop a new packaging design for Sanatogen, a key player in the Vitamins and Supplements market. It’s a brand with genuine customer loyalty and heritage but facing radically increased competition on the shelf. The key task for us here was the development of sub- branding, giving the pack
PackagingGazette.co.uk | Packaging Gazette | 27
architecture a clear hierarchy of information and shelf standout. Having obtained that we also worked with the manufacturer to use a softer touch sealer to give the packs a better feel for the consumer.
For a brand such as Calpol it was vital for us that all the heritage and trust built up over 40+ years was retained in a new packaging design. For the pack in the Republic of Ireland we kept the core colours of Purple (for the infant variants) and Red (for the 6+ SKU’s) and the widely recognised logo. We did however modify the font in the logo slightly to improve the modernity
and added a new liquid swoosh effect to the pack design to create increased shelf stand out and brand blocking in the category.
Earlier I mentioned brand
equity. This equity, or value, is the piece of the branding mix that consumers use to inform their decision, in those vital seconds at the shelf. It’s a precious but fragile asset that can take years to build up and needs constant vigilance to stay ahead of an increasingly sophisticated generic pack.
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