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“Long gone are the days of no-frills packaging intended only for those on a tight budget—private labels, also known as store brands, are no longer viewed simply as low-cost alternatives to name brands. They’re increasingly high-quality products that fulfill consumer needs across a variety of price points.” – Nielsen
Once the occasional choice of the cost-savvy shopper, the private label marketplace has undergone an enormous shift in the past 10 years. And while private label performance has always been strongly linked to economic conditions – private label market share generally goes up when the economy is down and down when the economy is up – the impact of private label is growing at an outpaced rate, surging private label success year after year.
Performance: There are quite a few factors that have fed this success, and product performance, aka quality, is at the top of the list. Where there was once a distinct gap in quality between private label and name brand products, today there is little to no differentiation. Private label quality is at an all time high, and in many cases, brand name products and private label are being manufactured in the same facilities using the same processes, making it easier and easier for consumers to make the switch to private label brands.
Premiumization: If there was ever a case study on the impact of design, it would be private label. Whereas private label used to merely mimic the look and feel of name brand products – thereby earning them the moniker “me-too” brands – private label brands have invested heavily in in-house and design agency talent, providing consumers with well-designed, premium looking product offerings that easily compete with the aesthetic of name brands.
Price: Lastly, low prices have and always will be a driving force for private label success. Coupled with beautiful design and parallel product integrity, private label is here to stay. In response, many name brands have begun to rely on promotion, value or short term innovation to compete with their private label counter parts. And while effective short term strategies, these are band-aids and can actually negatively affect brands over time. Instead, name brands need to think longer term. T he continued success of private label brands actually provides a huge opportunity for name brands to tap into what differentiates them from their store-brand competitors – equity, brand heritage and compelling brand truths. We foresee the bravest of brands leaning into this shift, maximizing their own potential and securing their legacy for years to come.
u0022In order ‘to win a man to your cause’ you must first reach his heart, ‘the great high road to his reason’u0022 – Abraham Lincoln
The last twenty years have afforded us a much greater understanding of how consumers really make decisions. We now know that humans are primarily driven by subconscious, intuitive, emotionally-based decision making. And it’s precisely this truth that brands need to tap into, as it has the power to adjust consumer spending patterns on the spot. Brands who successfully identify and channel their most evocative and relevant brand truths are the ones that will ultimately win consumers’ hearts (and wallets.)
Here are 3 guiding principles (that store brands often lack) for long lasting name brands:
Often overlooked, brand truths are like North Stars for brands. And make no mistake, these truths can not be manufactured; they are the DNA of a brand and define what makes them enduring and desirable. So before undertaking any phase of work, it’s imperative for brands to first explore their heritage, understand their legacy, and identify their point of difference.
Strategic direction is the glue that holds a brand together for the long haul. It’s an understanding of the marketplace, the competitive landscape, and where a brands sits amidst it all. By identifying a brand strategy early on, brands can set themselves a compass for years to come, making it easy to guide external partners, future innovations and brand evolutions. Like a litmus test for change, brand strategy combines both what makes it special and its role in consumer’s lives, allowing brands to consider both in tandem at any given time.
Cultivating consumer desire is essential. No matter the product integrity, the meaning in a brand story or the depth of a brand’s heritage, consumers must want what is being offered. Design is the most powerful tool in cultivating desire, and is the catalyst for emotional resonance and brand love. Using design to capture equities, make connections with heritage and captivate with brand truths is a surefire way to light up a consumer’s internal decision making process. And by doing so thoughtfully, brands can cultivate consumer connections that lasts for generations.
So while private label brands will continue to grow, the savviest of brands will take respectful note and embrace the change to better their own offerings. By doubling down on their brand development – monitoring consumer buying behavior, dusting off their equities, setting a clear path forward – brands can employ the power of design to shore up the love of their consumers. Emotion-driven branding is challenging to use effectively and requires great discipline and commitment, but ultimately, it is the one approach that gives brands the means to retain control of their futures, to innovate mindfully and to compete effectively in an ever-changing market.
Authored by CBA Founder & CEO, Jean-Marc Rinaldi for The Dieline.
Originally published here.
Header image via Tomatdesign
To create a constructive relationship between the agency and the client, the fundamental factor is openness to welcoming other people. From my experience, I’ve learned that the most successful projects are those based on open and sincere interpersonal relationships. The people involved in the project must be willing to make this dialogue lively and constructive.
To ensure that dialogue can bring about a result, one must keep an open mind, let go of any prejudices and know how to listen. Putting yourself in a position to listen means being open to being on the same page as your interlocutor, creating empathy, and making the other party’s needs your own. By listening attentively, you can discern the real needs that lie at the heart of every request.
After a first meeting, one often goes away with an immediate first impression of the client, the brand and the problem. Just as often, the client already has a clear idea of the kind of response they’re expecting. The continued dialogue that comes out of the dynamic of the project gives us the opportunity to change our minds and arrive at unexpected solutions that arise from the use of lateral thinking, from another point of view.
Authored by CBA Italy Partner & CEO, Gianfranco Siano
But designing with heart is not an easy thing to do. It requires raw belief in oneself and one’s subject, the ability to take risk without assured reward, and a willingness to abandon a clear path in favor of a dark alley. In short, it can be an uncomfortable place to design from. Many designers shirk this route in favor of trend or pattern, and some create beautiful design this way…but these designs quickly lose favor in a sea of sameness. Truly great design forges a new way forward, ensuring its relevance for years to come and evoking emotions from consumers to form lasting bonds. So how does one go about striking design gold, creating work with the potential to shake up the marketplace and become iconic in its own right?
At CBA, “ask bravely, answer boldly” is the core principle that guides the way we create work for ourselves and for our clients. Whether it’s a small packaging design project for a local San Francisco client, the creation of a new retail concept for a massive global brand, or the rejuvenation of a well trusted CPG brand, we do not strive to create good work. We strive to ask brave questions that evoke bold answers, helping us to create excellent work. This approach is challenging but we have found it to be far more rewarding, providing our clients and ourselves with results that are meaty, intellectual and poignant, evoking emotional responses in audiences for years to come.
Here are a few guiding principles that we use at CBA to help us ask bravely and answer boldly:
Step outside
For a few hours or days, ignore the immediate task at hand and step outside yourself and your studio to widen your horizons. Go to a museum, abandon your computer and allow yourself only to sketch, investigate categories outside of where your task lies. Rarely does the best answer exist in plain sight so it can help to loosen the confines of your perspective.
Dig deep
And that doesn’t mean by digging into your inspiration folders or through your sketchbook for good ideas past. It means setting time aside to inspire new ideas by asking the hardest questions; to get uncomfortable and to look at your subject from all angles. Because make no mistake, a pretty technique or crafted palette will only take you so far and can be quickly imitated by the masses. It’s the core intellect of an idea expressed boldly that can sustain a business or a brand for the long haul, improving the lives of consumers in the process.
Embrace the fear
One of the most important and underused tools in a designer’s toolkit is fear. By embracing our fears and tackling the unknown we unleash ourselves from common category conceptions, but we also free ourselves up to fail. Failure is an enormous tool within the creative process, allowing us to improve, to strive for better and to get used to feeling challenged. Most of us do not find personal empowerment and success in the comfort of our own home, and the same applies to design: we must strike out and seek challenges in order to become our best selves.
Get uncomfortable
Once you hit gold, keep digging. We can’t count the number of times when we’ve clung to a sketch or an idea, too afraid to mar it, to muddy it or to push it further. But being uncomfortable pushes us to do work that is consistently better and frees us from the idea of failing. All great artists have been taught the importance of letting go. It is practically lethal to be overly precious about work and much more fruitful to forgo the notion of a “final product” in exchange for an appreciation of the process. You will and should fail often, it’s how you learn.
Take risks
On occasion, asking bravely and answering boldly can mean returning to a client to reshape a brief, respectfully pushing back should you feel a client is asking the wrong questions, or even refusing a project all together. And while that might seem like a frightening prospect, it can be incredibly effective for both you and your clients. By constantly asking the hard questions, you push yourself and the limits of your creativity forward, allowing you to take pride in work that fuels your portfolio, your client’s business…and maybe even another designer’s Pinterest board.
Part of a CBA content series for AIGA and SF Design Week. Originally published, here.
Authored by CBA Founder & CEO, Jean-Marc Rinaldi.
No toxins: no parabens, no artificial fragrance, no artificial flavors, no gluten, no animal testing, no bullshit. In one of the most progressive cities in the U.S., saying no means that consumers can have a say when it comes to their own dietary or ethical aspirations. And the result of this free-from movement is the emergence of a new type of category that questions a brand’s production methods or moral compass.
Unlike France and Europe where u0022nou0022 and u0022withoutu0022 are synonymous with deprivation, the U.S. is leading the charge on design that embodies a positive pairing back, helping consumers reclaim control in the face of a world that is constantly evolving its conscience.
These uses of ‘NO’ resonate like the affirmation of a potential new order. Whereas in the 2000s, we were bombarded with all kinds of superlatives and additives, today it’s the less-is-more approach that is feeding the aspirations of modern consumers. These proclamations mark the start of a more responsible, transparent and involved attitude agenda for savvy brands. In a landscape where consumers value trust and integrity above all else, this movement means tangible and concrete commitments to help win back mistrustful consumers.
So what does San Francisco have to do with all this you ask? This city, once the centre of the hippie movement, is now an open-air laboratory, where not a day goes by without the launch of a new start-up or brand. This city is open-minded and unprejudiced, opening the doors to smart brands who are ready to tap into a demographic willing to pay more for brands that do less. May the bravest brands join these ranks, say no and prevail.
As we approach summer, I’m still on a ski high that ended 6 weeks ago. Amazing what fresh mountain air and light, deep powder snow can do to reinvigorate the mind, body and spirit. It was a fantastic ski season for me: I skied more days this year than the past three years combined; found a ski buddy in my oldest daughter, who is now officially a teenager – I think she loves tree skiing more than me; bought not one, but two new pairs of skis; and experienced the best powder day ever while skiing in Italy.
Two new pairs of skis – a first in seven years. Technically, only one pair was new, the other was a used pair of demo skis. The new pair – Salomon 2V Racing, 178cm – was a challenge to find. I rented a pair the year before while skiing at Madonna de Campiglio in the Dolomites. On the steep, hard packed and groomed conditions these were a dream. Put them on edge and zoom! The Italians do like to ski fast. Since these snow conditions were comparable to my ski resorts back home at Lake Tahoe, I knew these would be a great replacement for my current skis – Volkl 724 EXP, 184cm.
Yet finding a pair of the 2V Racing was a treasure hunt. Only after much on-line searching and phone calling did I find a knowledgeable ski dealer who informed me that Salomon only sold their racing line of skis in Europe. I subsequently found an Italian website that still had them in stock and the size I wanted. And with a little help from my Italian friend Giacomo – who completed the transaction for me–I had new skis waiting for me for my ski trip to the Italian Alps – Madesimo to be exact, this past Spring. With Giacomo as my guide, I had the best powder day ever.
While the Salomon 2V Racing was a more traditional piste ski, my second “new” pair – Volkl RTM 84, 171cm – was an eye-opening experience. These were the widest and shortest pair of skis I’ve owned as an adult. A little background; I learned to ski as a child in the mid-70’s and was a ski instructor in the early 80’s (Park City and Deer Valley) when I attended college at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. My class schedule for winter quarter was planned around getting in as many ski days as possible. Skis back then were straight and narrow. You measured your skill level by how graceful you skied (Stein Eriksen – a Norwegian, of course – was my role model) and how long your skis were (I think I got up to 205cm, about 20cm above my head). I recall some mogul runs at Park City where you could only enter if you had 200cm or longer skis.
Now fast forward to the future. Everything has changed about skiing. It’s no longer about maintaining proper form and technique. It’s about bringing your own style and personality to the mountain. Skis are shaped, wider, shorter and with multiple cambers. It was like trying to compare a 60’s F1 race car to those of the present day – anything after the 90’s. Or the difference between the first handheld mobile phone (the brick) and today’s Smartphone. So with 30 years of ski knowledge (baggage?) telling me, “Don’t do it, Will,” I broke with tradition and tested the RTM 84 for three days. They did not disappoint. It did require a slight change to my skiing stance, yet after a few runs, they passed every challenge I presented on or off piste. However, my “old school” mindset of what a ski should looked like and how you skied was clouding my judgment. How could it be that these wider and shorter skis were outperforming my traditional ski?! The truth was there; I just needed to open my eyes to the new reality. I needed to get unstuck to old and outdated “rules of thumb.” And I did.
How does this ski tale relate to branding? While the fundamentals of skiing have not changed, everything else has evolved dramatically. Branding is no different. We still need to start with the basics – who am I, what am I and why am I. Yet, like ski technology, the environment and audience for brands has evolved and become more complex. So how we brand, how we talk to our audience, how we design our packages and environments – real, online or augmented, must advance. The old “rules of thumb” about how you brand must be put aside. Like my fixation on ski size kept me from accessing a new skiing experience, adhering to “tried and true” branding approaches limits your brand engagement potential.
The successful brands of the future understand this new reality and will unburden themselves of old and outdated “rules of thumb.” They realize that context is as important as content. Are you ready for the future of branding? – Will Burke
It’s fitting that at the end of February I would be concluding my story of this January. I ended Part One with a simple reminder to find your WHY – for your business and your brand. WHY is such an important concept that I’ve made it my personal mission to use WHY in every strategy and design conversation, both with my team and my clients. WHY keeps everyone focused on the big idea. I’ve found that when the conversation stays focused on the WHY, that the strategy and design concepts are also very focused with solutions that are immediately apparent and appropriate. Yes, it really does not take showing up with a dozen or more design concepts to choose from when you fully understand and embrace your WHY.
If we’ve done our homework properly, we find that no more than 3-4 design concepts are required to solve The Burning Question (that phrase again!). And just deciding among the 3-4 can be a (good) challenge itself. No longer are we arguing about the size of the logo. Instead we are debating how each concept captures the essence of your WHY and communicates that to your consumer. Now those are fun (and meaningful) conversations!
WHY is such a powerful tool and yet most clients fail to embrace it’s magic. As a lifetime observer of design, it is easy to spot those brands that have failed to fully understand and embrace their WHY. They’re the followers. The me-to brands. The cheaper alternative. The spec. driven. The irrelevant. Some of these brands are always in constant rebranding, redesigning mode just to keep in the conversation. Others just seem to fade away – no longer part of the conversation or in business for that matter.
CES. I used to go almost every year during the late 90’s and early 00‘s, when technology really was breakthrough and accessible to consumers. In more recent years when it was technology for technology sake vs. empowering the consumer, I started to go less and less – every other year or longer. This year we decided it was time to go again to CES as we had just completed the branding and design for a new breakthrough product for our clients Ryan and Pete Santangelo. Yes they are brothers. From Detroit. Their product is the worlds first (and best) sleeping and breathing monitor system for babies. It really is an amazing product that empowers consumers. I’m proud that we helped them with their WHY and as a result of our collaboration, they are off and running with great success. We’ll post the full Case Study in our Portfolio section soon. In the meantime you can learn more about the product and see our work at SafeToSleep.
So, it was me, Jean-Marc, Anna and Elainne for two days in Las Vegas. Our first day was at the main exhibition place at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Even splitting up, we only saw about 25% of the show. There were some interesting brands and even new product ideas. Yet, overall I was not that impressed. The big news was 4K television. Ho-hum. It reminds me when printers were touting 1200dpi. No matter that the human eye cannot see the difference after 600dpi. I was having a hard time finding the WHY at CES. Time for a break.
After day one, we met up with Ryan and Peter and two additional members of their team, Levi and Jay, in Nobhill Tavern by Michael Minna (highly recommended) at the MGM Grand. They had just arrived and were ready to get into the Las Vegas spirit! As Ryan and I chatted about my disappointment of the first day, he mentioned to me that the place to really check out was the exhibit pavilion called “Eureka Park” located at the Venetian. I’ve always wanted to check out the Venetian and Eureka Park sounded promising.
On day two, Anna went back to the Las Vegas Convention Center to follow up on leads, while Jean-Marc, Elainne, and I headed to the Venetian and Eureka Park. We were not disappointed. We found some amazing breakthrough innovations and more importantly businesses (many of whom were startups) that really understood their WHY. Their branding and design could use help, but I digress. The three that really stood out to me, were simple products that had profound positive impact to humanity. (Wow, did I just write that?)
VIVOplay is a child size wrist-watch communicator and location monitor. Dick Tracy we’ve finally arrived. If you have small children (pre-teen and younger) you’ll love this product. It empowers both the child and parent. They’re slated to launch in June and I can’t wait. GeckoCap treats taking your asthma medicine like a game and makes you healthier in the long run. Again another product that empowers the user. It gained a lot of press at CES and was on several top 10 lists. Unfortunately they seem to be struggling for investors. Their indiegogo crowdfunding page only managed to get $5,000 in pledges from a goal of $90,000. With 9 million people suffering from asthma just in the US, this does not make sense. I believe they understand their true WHY, and it is their branding, design and communications that is letting them down. This last one is my most favorite of all. Luci. Fast Company just posted an article on this product, so I’ll leave it to them to fill in the details. The short – it’s an inflatable solar powered light. So basic in it’s shape and appearance and yet it’s impact on humanity will be enormous. Think fire 2.0. They knows their WHY : to provide safe access to bright light to everyone. I’ve order my Get a Luci, Give a Luci on the MPOWERD website. Will you?
So as we bring January – and February for that matter – to a close, I’m sending out the call to innovators who know their WHY. If you believe you (or someone you know) have a groundbreaking, innovative product in need of branding and design to help you get successfully launched or expand your business, we want to hear from you. We’re looking to collaborate with only 5-10 innovative consumer product brands this year. The criteria for consideration is tough – do we believe in your WHY? Do you think you have what it takes to join us in designing brands with heart? If so, send me an email. In the subject line write : I know my WHY!
– Will Burke
Happy St. Valentines Day! What a wonderful day filled with love and great expectations for the future. This happens to be a very special day for CB’a Brand Engine as we officially introduce our new branding. I really love (yes, LOVE) our new brand as it truly reflects the people and personalities behind the name CB’a. If you’d rather go directly to the CB’a Identity Case Study and take a peek behind the curtain please be my guest.
The project took about six months, with collaboration from all the offices. It was just one of several internal initiatives being done in Paris at the time including the consolidation, renovation and move to the new Paris office, and the planning and execution for the 30 year anniversary party of CB’a – nothing really important! Yet it is moments like this that brings out the best in everyone, especially when you are working on the floor or out of a closet for two weeks as we’ve run out of tables, chairs and space. These are the stories you will recall fondly 10-20 years from now.
I came midway into the project to support the core team in the strategic storytelling and design work; once the upfront discovery and general positioning framework was established. Basically getting to work on the FUN part! A key challenge with any international branding program is the language differences and cultural meaning of words. This project was no exception. We had a good laugh (or more correctly, a scare) with the word “blooming.” The French expression was wonderful, it just didn’t work on Oxford Street. Cooler heads prevailed and we moved forward.
Our core goal was to express who we were as a company – our beliefs, our personality, our story – and not sound like every other branding and design agency. That can be hard to do when your audience fits a narrow segment and has specific ideas of what an agency should sound and look like. We had to break from convention, yet still be believable. Something we prescribe to our clients, we now had to take ourselves.
The first couple iterations of our positioning didn’t meet our goal. While relevant to WHAT we did and would have been positively received from our clients, it lacked our personality or simply put “the French touch.” With the 30 year party upon us, I joined the core team in Paris along with my counterparts from Milan and Dubai, Gianfranco and Paul, to discuss the work to date and lend assistance if necessary. Little did I know that my 3-day holiday in Paris would now becoming a working trip.
In Paris how you work is a bit different from our daily routine in Sausalito, at least it has been my experience. With my partner at CB’a BE, Jean-Marc now leading the team behind the new brand initiative, our working style is unconventional to say the least. After much discussion and brainstorming over a working lunch in the studio – the details while very engaging would take another ten minutes to properly write down, that I’ll leave for cocktail conversation – we had a positioning statement that was unanimously agreed to by everyone in the room, even Louis! This was unheard of. I think I took a few photos to just mark the occasion. Our statement – “Designing brands with heart” – was true on many levels, and everyone in the room had their own personal connection to it. It wasn’t just words on paper, it was us.
Yet the work was not done. We needed to stress test our positioning and define our guiding principles and underlying story of our brand – our WHY. Having been volunteered by Jean-Marc, Paul and I (I can only assume we were the right choice given our un-Frenchness!) were given 24 hours (really 12 hours) to come back and present our WHY. What happened to just coming over for a party? Taking advantage of our location, Paul and I left the office for a local cafe. Paul with his laptop, me with a few scrapes of paper and a pen. A few glasses of wine, a little bread and brie, some people watching, and a few hours later we had something we could be proud to share with the team. That night we made it to the party, hosted at the Musée d’art Moderne located just off the Trocadéro. CB’a designed their new identity and the museum was gracious to allow us to celebrate our 30 year anniversary and have full access to the art on display. Unfortunately we could not take any art home.
After the official party was over, a few of us banded together and headed out to find a suitable location to continue the festivities. The first stop was a bit stuffy and cold, although we managed to empty a couple bottles of Champagne before moving on. As it was a cold October evening we ventured just across the street and settled into Le Marie Susy. The staff greeted us with open arms as the night was slow and they were thinking about closing early. With about a dozen of us, we took over the place including their music system, dancing, drinking and eating (the dim sum was excellent!) the night away. After some time I was staring at the red wall and noticed the pictures hanging. Looking more intensely, I realized they formed the shape of a heart (see picture above)! I took that as a sign we were on the right direction. I think we finally left around 3am or so, and 500 Euros lighter. Great evening. Oh, yes, I was still presenting that morning!
The morning came quickly – no hangover (probably no time for one) – Paul and I presented our work and … well, this is Paris and love was in the air…
Bon Baisers de Paris et Joyeuse St Valentin! – Will Burke
It’s Chinese New Year, the year of the Snake – my birth sign. I’ll let you guess what age that makes me this year. And no, I am not 24. Back on topic, what happened to January? It’s all a blur and yet so much has happened with CB’a. First I should mention that this is my first posting in a very long time – since beginning my partnership with CB’a and forming CB’a Brand Engine in 2010. It was like a new startup and while the culture was a fit, the business side of transforming our design agency took most of my time such as focusing on the basics, growing new relationships, and accepting change. Yes, change – this would be the biggest change to the agency that I started out of my one bedroom apartment back in 1997. We were now part of a larger family, with a new purpose, a new personality, a new perspective when it comes to branding and design.
It wasn’t all work – there were a few trips every year to visit colleagues in Paris or Milan or Barcelona to recharge the spirit and know that this was the right move for the future of Brand Engine. As we enter the third year of CB’a Brand Engine, we have much to celebrate. We can hardly hold in our enthusiasm and soon you will know why. More on that in a future post.
Now back to January. It started with a 5 day strategic summit in Sausalito (our first outside of Europe) with key brand and creative strategists from our Paris, Milan, Dubai and Sausalito offices focused on developing a common structure for how we design. Sounds simple. We all use the same or similar design tools, share similar design backgrounds, and create design primarily for consumer brands. Yet, while we value our multi-cultural diversity we often fell back into our provincial norms and failed to take full advantage of our talent and resources around the globe. To build the agency we wanted, we knew we had to do better, and we could.
Our first step was to ask the one question we ask our clients at the start of any engagement, “Why?” Why is a difficult question. We are not use to being asked “Why” we do something – unless you have child under 5 years of age following your every move. From our experience to get to the “true Why” takes asking “Why” at least 5-7 times. Really, it does. A “true Why” goes beyond a logical, fact-based statement, it has a humanistic, emotional element to it. The latter being the most difficult to capture as it requires one to look deeper and inward, then having the courage to express that emotional Why. Yes, it is scary to put yourself out like that. Yet, once you’ve done it a few times, you find it liberating and rewarding. When it comes to us solving branding and design issues, we call finding this “true Why” The Burning Question (I’ll cover this topic more in a future post).
It took most of the first day to get to our “Why.” Some people were nervous that we would not get to the “real” work that we were here for. The reality is that this was the real work, the most important work. Finding your “Why” makes understanding and articulating “How” and “What” you do so much easier. The remaining four days were very productive and we accomplished what we set out to do and more.
As you plan for your next strategic initiative either for your business or your brand, take the time to find your “Why.”
I’ll leave it there for today and continue with part 2 in a future post. And for those that are curious, the inspiration for the image above comes from our CB’a Asia office and their animated 2013 Chinese New Year greeting card. The saying in Chinese reads: soar to great heights. Gung Hay Fat Choy! — Will Burke
Today, every CPG brand is struggling to stand out on shelf, to break through the noise of the thousands of products vying for shoppers’ ever-dividing attention. As designers, we know that package structure can be an obvious way to differentiate. Look what it’s done for Method, Apple or Jawbone… structure can be a telegraphic signal that a company is unique, innovative and knows the consumer better.
The thing is, elaborate structure design explorations, creation of unique structures, and implementation of new production equipment can be prohibitive. For brands with limited resources, these types of innovation might not be in the cards, at least in the short term. This doesn’t mean they need to get left in the dust.
Often, innovation is simple and its simplicity can make it all the more striking. Case in point: we love seeing brands take readily available structures and do something unexpected with them. When we created Essn, it was long before the mini-can had become popular, and this eye-catching structure gave the brand a serious leg-up in market. And when CB’a Paris revolutionized the Daddy Sugar brand, they were able to leverage a series of existing structures and bring a new face to the brand.
Today we’re looking at just a few brands who are capitalizing on some of this structural low hanging fruit by taking existing structures and simply turning them on their heads:
Heinz took a functional issue (the last of the ketchup getting stuck in the bottom of the bottle) and used gravity in their favor… creating a new iconic bottle profile in the process. Head & Shoulders created a harmonious pair with their shampoo and conditioner. Nutzo peanut butter embraced the fact that consumers often store natural peanut butter upside down before mixing to incorporate the naturally separating oils. And Wonka channeled their playful personality to package ice cream upside down, thus standing out in a crowded freezer.
We see so many products every day, and we tune out most of them. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle difference, a delightful surprise, to get our attention.
art serving packaging
If it seems that collaborations between artists and brands are the preserve of luxury brands – such as Louis Vuitton and Japanese artist Takashi Murakami in 2004 – the mass market has began using ‘art packaging’ too. This is notably the case of Evian, which each year partners with a big name from the fashion industry to create its limited edition bottles, or Compagnie de Provence, which for its 20th anniversary, commissioned the Marseille designer Stéphan Muntaner, to celebrate the origins of the Marseille soap brand.
Consumer brands are not the only ones interested in using artists, retail stores are too. At Christmas, Barneys department store invited Lady Gaga to take the reins of a spectacular pop-up store on the 5th floor of the department store, where fans of the singer could find unique items, ranging from fashion to confectionery, created by ‘Mother Monster’ and the Haus of Gaga creative team.
Each month, the Dudes Factory shop in Berlin invites an artist or designer to redesign the shop and its range of products, a great way for the store to surprise customers, renew itself and also discover new talent… But the democratization of art also takes place through distribution and pricing, and there are emerging concepts that make art more accessible, either financially or physically. This is the case for the network of Yellow Korner photographic galleries in Paris, which publishes and distributes limited and numbered editions, framed or mounted, by established and promising artists from €20 to €2,000. The Frère Indépendant association offers works by underground artists, exhibited at the Pool Art Fair, or, more surprisingly, in hotel rooms in New York.
giving the amateur artist more value
Patron brands are numerous and include for example L’Espace Pierre Cardin and the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art. However, they focus more and more on their community of fans and give more value to amateur artists through unique partnerships with young artists, creativity being all the more stronger when such initatives are numerous. As such collaborations also generate more sharing and thus more visibility and impact, brands now encourage their customers to participate in the creative process, thus making them not only commercial players but also real contributors to the cultural scene. Take for example Brisk iced tea, a PepsiCo brand, which partnered with the photo sharing application Instagram for the SXSW festival. Users were invited to send their pictures with the hashtag #briskpic to decorate 4,000 limited edition cans.
Brands are also more and more interested in young artists, who represent an opportunity for them to renew themselves in an engaging way, while also being a showcase for the artists themselves. This was the case for Virgin which rewarded amateur filmmakers in the Media Shorts Festival, or H&M, which launched the first Design Awards in February 2012 as part of the Stockholm Fashion Week. The winner, Stine Riis, a graduate of the London College of Fashion, will have her collection sold in selected H&M stores, gaining recognition throughout the world while winning a €50,000 prize.
Art is therefore a great way for brands to engage with jaded consumers, speaking their own language, thereby creating complicity. They invest more and more in this area, to the point of organising artistic events in an engaging and subtle way, such as BT, which will launch BT River of Music, a music festival on the banks of the Thames during the 2012 Olympic Games. This new form of storytelling allows brands to engage with their consumers, provided that these campaigns bring more meaning to the brand and are not purely gratuitous.
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