Direct Marketing as a Branding Tool

Every now and then I see an article in DMNews that challenges conventional marketing values. Such an article was co-authored in the February 23rd 2009 issue by Daniel Morel, CEO of Wunderman and John Gerzema, Chief Insights Officer, Young & Rubicam.
What drew me into the article was its title: "Branding and response are the same."
Well now, for many marketers -- in particular brand marketers -- those are fighting words.
The article compares the economic meltdown with another crisis.

"We discovered the value that brands bring to a company's total business value are exaggerated. The financial markets attach more value to brands' worth when compared to the consumers who buy the brands ascribe."

They go on to name it the "brand bubble" that is twice the ascribed value of the entire sub prime mortgage market.

Their impressive research data show that "85% of brands are stagnant or eroding in brand differentiation." And of Interbrands top 100 valuable brands from 2004 through 2007, 45% are declining in consumer perceptions.

The most interesting part of this article was how the authors combined the two different disciplines of branding and direct marketing into a single strategy.

As marketers, many of us bought into the AIDA model of awareness, interest, desire and then action. So branding pushed the demand and direct marketing harvested the desire branding developed into a purchase action.

The authors contend that this linear model no longer works.
In other words, AIDA now occurs during the direct marketing messaging because consumers now act immediately to brand/direct response messages. "Direct response no longer exists at the end of the tunnel."

Direct marketing actually creates the messaging and imagery that contribute to the brand as it always has. Only now, the Internet has given direct response new influence in the marketing community. The Internet and it's live interactivity gave direct response its ultimate medium.

Now most marketing activities are driven by CRM (Customer Relationship Marketing) and response.

In a very real sense, strong direct marketing programs have created the advertiser's reputation and product sell simultaneously from the beginning. But few in those early days were willing to ascribe that kind of mission to direct marketers.

Besides, branding is much bigger than brand advertising or direct marketing.
It is the culmination of the advertisers complete interaction with customers including customer service, phone answering systems, product quality, product warranties, market reputation and finally consistent positioning messages.

Direct marketing reveals much more about a company's true operating procedures and customer friendliness than a brand campaign.

Direct marketing includes offers, warranty information, shipping costs, refund policies, attitudes in the inbound and outbound telemarketing calls, email communications and so forth. All of these actions build or weaken brands. So direct marketing strategies go far beyond pure messaging.

Direct marketing interweaves with the advertiser's delivery of the brand on the ground where all of the action is.

In this new Internet world, companies like Zappos "created an Internet juggernaut with a call center and great product diversity that was at the heart of the brand." Several other examples are enumerated in the article.

The bottom line: direct marketing not only represents a potent branding tool, but it moves product all in a single integrated marketing strategy.

How important do you see direct marketing as a player in the brand arena? Does this article go too far?

creative vehicle designs

Creative toilets signage

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56879&id=515222613&l=37aca784db

Fitness First’s Weighty Advertising Campaign

and simple advertising campaign by Dutch agency N=5 for Fitness First. (Though you have to wonder - how much reality is too much reality?)

Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection

http://vimeo.com/2188162

To tell the story of Japanese sports brand ASICS, Nordpol + Hamburg created this beautiful stop-motion movie showcasing the origami models of Mabona Origami.

British Car, American Camper, and Scandinavian Furniture Meet in Italy

Mini in partnership with Airsteam Inc. have created a one-off Mini Cooper S Clubman coupled with a trailer designed by Copenhagen based furniture brand Republic of Fritz Hansen. It will be displayed at the next Salone del Mobile show in Milan.

Airstream Inc. and MINI have teamed with a one-off MINI Cooper S Clubman and Airstream creation designed by Republic of Fritz Hansen.

The concept will be presented for the first time at the INTERNI DESIGN ENERGIES exhibition in the courtyards of Università degli Studi di Milano during the upcoming world-renowned Salone del Mobile show in Milan.
The exhibition will be open each day from Tuesday 21 to Thursday 30 April from 10:00 a.m. until midnight.

Republic of Fritz Hansen, the Copenhagen based premium furniture brand known for its minimalist and functional design, has spared no details when it came to designing the interior of the MINI Cooper S Clubman and Airstream trailer.

Drawing inspiration from the outdoor lifestyle of surfing, the Airstream interior will feature, amongst others, new interpretations of Arne Jacobsen’s Egg and Swan Chair and a table set up with four unique Series Seven chairs, allowing plenty of room for guests.
Sleek wood panelling will top it off giving it the ultimate “modern surfer” look.
“Here at Republic of Fritz Hansen we are thrilled with the collaboration and really look forward to introducing this unique and eye catching concept,” says Jacob Holm, President and CEO at Republic of Fritz Hansen.

The MINI Cooper S Clubman will also reflect the same adventurous personality and style with clean lines, bold colours such as lightning green and all the interior gadgets you can expect to find in a MINI plus more.
The MINI Cooper SClubman will be predominately jet black with black “wetsuit” neoprene accents along with green trim. The 22ft silver Airstream trailer will also enjoy the same exterior details as the MINI but will have an interior designed for beach goers with features such as a waterproof interior and a sun bathing bed.
“Partnering with MINI was a given,” said Bob Wheeler, CEO of Airstream, Inc. “As one of the oldest manufacturers of recreational vehicles in the U.S. and MINI’s longstanding history producing unmistakable sport cars, we knew that we would make a dynamite team,” said Wheeler.
“It has always been important for us to implement new products and ideas in unconventional ways. The concept MINI and Airstream, designed by Republic of Fritz Hansen, presents a surprisingly different way of using a MINI and an Airstream with a design, which consciously transcends into the world of the surfer. At the same time, we have achieved a successful co-operation with two international cult brands which authentically embodies the MINI attitude to life” said, Andreas-Christoph Hofmann, Head of MINI Brand Communication.

Be proud of your wiener

BRAND :Pogo
BRAND OWNER :ConAgra Foods
CATEGORY :Food
REGION :Canada
DATE :Mar 2008 - Jul 2008

Pogo is a Canadian brand of corn dog – that is to say a frankfurter sausage on a stick, covered in batter. Pogos weren’t considered particularly cool by teenagers, so the challenge was to make a latent brand likeable among teen boys, and remind them to look in the freezer or ask their parents to buy some.

Pogo decided to incite the competitive nature of boys with a unique campaign idea: “Be proud of your wiener”. The somewhat puerile double-entendre clearly resonated with the target audience. Teens were challenged to hold their Pogo high for as long as they could and whoever held it up for the longest was crowned “The Proudest of their Wiener” in an event they named the Mega-Pogothon.

The campaign launched unbranded to create intrigue and excitement, with guerilla activity seeing the Pogo icon seeded in unusual places including on stickers on street signs, on t-shirts and in chalk art in high teen traffic areas. Pogo “sticker” poster pads were wild-posted in popular teen hangouts. The target engaged with the brand by peeling off the stickers and sticking them on everything around them Pogo also infiltrated the airwaves on popular teen programming, flashing the icon throughout after-school shows and planting teens in the audience holding his Pogo high.


The activity culminated with the Mega-Pogothon, held in an amusement park and aired on TV.
Some 63% of teens were aware of the campaign and sales increased by 10%, a market share increase of 29%.

Saffola oil spill

by Preeti Khicha

March 16, 2009 issue

Saffola, a leading brand of commodity products in India, knows that it must pay attention to online customer engagement to ensure that visitors stick around for more than just a few minutes—as they do at a supermarket shelf.

The Saffola brand, owned by Marico Industries, retails a portfolio of products like salt and flour, but the brand name is popularly associated with its core product—cooking oil. In the cooking oil segment, the brand has garnered tremendous trust and is practically a generic name among homemakers.
The brand has been very successful in promoting health as a central theme throughout its messaging—especially on its website, where a diverse selection of products is featured.
On the brand’s homepage, the site’s color scheme is reminiscent of the brand’s bright yellow packaging that stands out in grocery stores. The center of the homepage is dedicated to promoting the brand’s latest offering in the market—a salty baked snack called Saffola Zest.
The imagery of a happy Indian family grabbing a bowl of snacks conveys that the product is a healthy snack meant for everyone. Given the health controversies revolving around the oil and salt content of potato crisps, the launch of this “healthy” option—with its call to “Say No To Fried Snacks. Say Yes To Baked Goodness.”—is well timed, and should garner sales among health-conscious consumers.
Details on the product are displayed in a simple manner—flavor, price and some bullet points on its healthy aspects. There are no overwrought or glitzy descriptions—perhaps to compel visitors to stay curious and take the extra effort to learn about the product.
The rest of the homepage follows a clean layout and is focused on other relevant details about Saffola’s brand—its products and recipes and its commitment to health and wellness. Clicking on the Products section leads to a page that explains how Saffola flour is beneficial for diabetics. Sadly, other products are somewhat hidden—for no apparent reason—on the left menu bar of the page.
In terms of layout, the brand could definitely take a few pointers from Wesson—a brand of vegetable oil produced by ConAgra foods. Rather than scattered content, the Wesson site has a well-structured products page where color and layout blend beautifully together to create a page that is visually appealing.
Sticking to its objective, the site has all the necessary tools to effectively characterize Saffola as a “health-conscious” brand. The Eating Right section educates the reader about nutrition myths, beverages, health benefits from particular plants and other pertinent health topics. Also, accompanying images break any content monotony and make the page more reader friendly.
The Healthy Heart link on the homepage transports the web user to a section that outlines the initiatives the brand has taken in the community. The company has organized several outreach programs, and details on such events are available online. Corporate social responsibility is an important facet of any brand today, and Saffola does an admirable job describing these initiatives on its site. A more prominent header, however, would ensure that visitors don’t miss this section while browsing.


Given that Saffola is in the food business, the Recipes section is important. Saffola keeps its target audience (housewives) happy with an extensive roster of recipes but could exhibit more business savvy by weaving Saffola products into the recipes—similar to what Bertolli has done. Another value addition to the site could be a section on “quotes from the experts,” where leading Indian doctors can give their opinion on the benefits of Saffola products.
From health tips to the Dial-a-Dietician feature, the site successfully conveys the message that Saffola is a health-conscious brand that cares about its consumers. Yet the website could expand its online presence by providing information detailing its parent company's plans to leverage Saffola’s brand equity.
The Saffola website is a wise place to execute this endeavor.


Preeti Khicha currently lives in Mumbai, India. She graduated from the University of Bath, UK, with a master's degree in management, specializing in marketing. She holds an undergraduate degree in economics and psychology from the University of Virginia, USA.

Lufthansa Italia winging it?

By Barry Silverstein

March 16, 2009 issue

There is an air war brewing that is changing the way European airlines operate. Driven by a sputtering economy, airlines in Europe are gradually departing from the one government/one airline model. They are increasingly looking to cross-country mergers, sometimes involving private investors, as a means of survival.

Alitalia is a case in point. The Italian government-owned airline filed for bankruptcy last August, and a group of private Italian investors stepped in. Then, in January 2009, Air France-KLM (itself a merged airline) bought a stake in Alitalia. That action precipitated the creation of another airline’s new brand: German carrier Lufthansa quickly launched a separate operation, christening it Lufthansa Italia.
Lufthansa had an interest in buying a stake in Alitalia but lost out to Air France-KLM. Rather than cede the lucrative Italian routes, Lufthansa took a calculated risk and created its own new brand. It’s the first time Lufthansa has established a carrier outside its home market of Germany.
Granted, Lufthansa is an established worldwide brand. Known for its German punctuality and efficiency, Lufthansa has fared better than most European airlines. Still, the question is, will Lufthansa be able to bring the same magic to Lufthansa Italia?
Lufthansa Italia may have taken off suddenly, but Lufthansa has already shown commitment to the integrity of the new brand. Lufthansa has set up the airline as a separate subsidiary based in Milan, Italy. The airline adorned two Airbus jets with the new airline’s name and designated the planes “Milano” and “Varese” after two Italian cities. Previously, Lufthansa had named its planes only after German cities. Lufthansa Italia started operations in early February 2009, flying out of Malpensa (Milan) Airport to Paris, France, and Barcelona, Spain. More aircraft were scheduled to be added in March, and routes to Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Lisbon, London and Madrid were scheduled to be online by the end of March.
Lufthansa says it will imbue the new Lufthansa Italia with “reliability and high quality blended with Italian flair.” The airline says it has developed “special Italian-style in-flight services” for Lufthansa Italia (although it doesn’t specify what they are). The planes are configured to seat 138 passengers in business and economy class. Lufthansa’s operations at Malpensa Airport will be upgraded to include dedicated check-in counters, more quick check-in terminals, refurbished gate and baggage reclaim areas, and a new and improved Lufthansa lounge.
Also in February, Lufthansa Cargo announced the launch of freighter services between Milan and New York and Chicago, taking advantage of Alitalia’s failed cargo operations. Lufthansa said it will use the freight capacity of its Lufthansa Italia jets to increase the company’s Italian cargo business.
There was another motivation to starting Lufthansa Italia. Lufthansa Executive Vice President Karl Ulrich Garnadt told ATWOnline.com that the airline will seek an Italian Air Operators Certificate so that it can gain the right to fly to Eastern Europe and other non–European Union destinations.
For the present, at least, Lufthansa Italia will need to operate primarily as a budget airline. That’s because there is heavy competition for the Malpensa routes. But according to Der Spiegel, competition could also benefit Lufthansa Italia: “… there's a good chance Lufthansa will obtain flight rights on the lucrative route between Milan and Rome for the first time. Until now, the lucrative route has been largely reserved for Alitalia and Air One, but after their merger there is significant probability that the European Commission will require that the route be opened up to other competitors” (January 13, 2009).
Upstart airline brands have succeeded in Europe before. Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic famously came on the scene in 1984 to challenge British Airways’ monopoly. The two airlines have been fierce rivals ever since. Ryanair, arguably Europe’s most successful low-fare airline, began flying between Ireland and London in 1985. By 2006, Ryanair had carried a record 42.5 million passengers, and became the world’s first airline to carry more than four million international passengers in one month. Today Ryanair owns 30 percent of Aer Lingus, Ireland’s national airline and Ryanair’s former archrival.
Lufthansa Italia may have a different kind of challenge ahead, however. Alitalia is still a formidable brand. It has been in existence since 1946, and it has carried the colors of the Italian flag in its logo, a stylized capital A, since 1969. Italian air travelers could well remain committed to a brand that has been closely tied to their homeland for more than sixty years.
On the other hand, Alitalia has endured union strikes, poor service, management problems and a recent bankruptcy. With private investors and Air France as part owner, Alitalia is moving further away from, not closer to, its Italian roots. That presents a market opportunity for Lufthansa’s new venture. If Lufthansa Italia can show it is well run, competitive and respectful of Italian culture, this upstart airline could quickly make gains with Italian travelers. They will likely pick superior economical service over loyalty to a former national airline that is in serious need of a makeover. This is the new global economy, after all.





Barry Silverstein is a freelance writer/marketing consultant and co-author of the McGraw-Hill book, The Breakaway Brand.

Time for a Brand Stimulus Package

By Kevin Randall
March 16, 2009 issue

Follow the 7Ps of Branding

Every day we are bombarded with numbing news about the economy: bank busts, bailouts and buyouts, rising jobless claims, more home foreclosures, declining consumer confidence, the unfolding “stimulus package” and a national budget in crisis.

In the marketing world, we endure a similar drumbeat regarding the fallout: dismal corporate earnings, company layoffs, marketing budget cuts, advertising going dark, clients and agencies and people coming and going, and a brand budget crisis. There is a sense of turbulence, malaise and a lack of confidence.
Our industry is witnessing a diminishing commitment to long-term brand building. The mission of the moment is driven by the CFO, not the CMO, and calls for cost-cutting and short-term revenue-generating activities represent the only immediate focus.
Lead generation is “in.” Demand stimulus and call to action are the rage—perhaps partly because the term stimulus now enjoys so much currency. Brand strategy and market research are “out” of fashion.
Will the decline of brands and branding follow?
No.
A weighty and consistent body of historical data shows that marketers will do harm in the short- and long-run to their businesses and brands by knee-jerk budget slashing and running scared.
Hundreds of studies of marketing over ten recessions in the 20th century have concluded that not only did sales and profits decline for brands that cut brand-oriented advertising during the recession, but also that performance continued to lag upon the recovery (“Why it is important to invest in communications during an economic downturn,” IVCA.org, 2009).
Today’s brand leaders would be wise to consider and follow these 7Ps of Branding as a guide for the recession and beyond:
1. Profit
“We have a philosophy and a strategy. When times are tough, you build share." - AG Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble
Marketers now have a golden opportunity to profit and establish real competitive advantage by exploiting the current situation. They can increase brand value and market share now relatively more easily and cheaply than during good times. With competitive noise levels reduced it is easier for a brand to stand out in the marketplace. Media costs are more attractive. Interbrand CEO Jez Frampton argues for “protecting and growing a brand…a company’s most valuable asset—and a far less volatile asset than others during a time of economic uncertainty,” (“Interbrand Announces the 2008 Best Global Brands,” Interbrand.com, 2008).
2. Persistence
Corporate brand directors need to stay the course by going against the grain and not following the marketing herd. Even if budgets are trimmed in some areas, there should be a core of strategic and tactical activities that endure (the former initiatives tend to be less budget consuming even in good times). Such brand perseverance will provide reassurance during uncertainty to both the existing customer base, an especially critical target now, and to internal stakeholders. Rosabeth Moss Kanter cites current downturn success stories of IBM and Procter & Gamble as “role models” and examples of “persistence despite obstacles,” (“The Value of Role Models in the Downturn,” HarvardBusiness.org, 2009).
3. Planning
Despite the strong economic headwinds, brand builders should remain committed to pursuing long-term visions and executing plans while selectively and pragmatically improvising marketing tactics. IBM (the second most valuable brand in the world according to Interbrand/BusinessWeek, and a B2B brand) during the recessionary early 1990s and Southwest Airlines after 9/11 are examples of brands that never wavered from their long-range strategic compasses and profited enormously by doing so. These brands did not and do not meander based on quarterly results. The strongest, top-performing brands are built to weather the various storms that come along.
4. Performance
Brands (and their communications) will be judged and rewarded now by delivering on “value” over merely price. Some marketers have and will cut prices. Brand leaders do need to (re)define the value of their offering while not compromising the quality and experience customers expect or need (despite across-the-board corporate cutbacks). Harvard Business School professor John Quelch also recommends investing in opportunistic, focused market research since there is a real need to define “performance” and “value” and gauge what is relevant to customers in the shifting environment (“Marketing Your Way Through a Recession,” HarvardBusiness.org, 2008).
5. Positioning
Brand owners must uphold and defend their core positioning and resist the temptation to sacrifice quality, reduce innovation efforts or cut prices. A study of more than 1,000 companies showed that firms that cut manufacturing and administrative functions in a recession did tend to reap the benefits while those that decreased spending on new product development, quality and marketing suffered (“What strategic investments should you make during a recession to gain competitive advantage in the recovery?,” Strategy & Leadership, Profit Impact of Market Strategy [PIMS], Keith Roberts, 2003). Leading brands will stay there by offering and communicating their enduring relevance and point of difference. Recessions and discounts come and go, but trusted brands and their appeals tend to transcend and outlast these events.
6. People
There needs to be an appreciation of the link between top talent and top-performing brands. Hiring, motivating and keeping the best people (who exemplify the brand) while competitors are pruning overhead is a key source of proprietary advantage. Management guru Jim Collins chronicles the cases of Boeing, Hewlett-Packard and Procter & Gamble, who bucked the trend during tough times by investing in talent (when their rivals were shedding critical human capital) only to thrive and outperform the competition (“Crisis into opportunity,” CNN Money.com, Jim Collins, 2009)
7. Principles
Brand leaders should work with CEOs to make sure their brands and organizations are integrated and that employees internalize and externalize a set of values that don’t change. Both Quelch and Collins emphasize the importance of adopting core brand principles and personality traits, sticking with them and executing on them in the future. According to Kanter, IBM’s and Procter & Gamble’s strong financial results today are partly owed to their focus on corporate brand values, ethics and social mission. Valued customers and employees will be more loyal if they are reassured on principles—by the brand and by its chief executive and sponsor. This is especially critical in the B2B world, with its large transactions and numbers of stakeholders involved in the customer experience.
Long live strong brands whose adherence to the 7Ps of Branding will ensure the best return on investment!
Brands by the numbers
• Southwest Airlines was the best performing stock from 1972 to 2002. (“Crisis into Opportunity,” CNN Money.com, Jim Collins, 2009) • McGraw-Hill analyzed 600 companies from 1980 to 1985. The results showed that B2B firms that maintained or increased their advertising during the 1981-1982 recession averaged significantly higher sales growth—both during the recession and for three years following—than those that eliminated or decreased advertising. By 1985, sales for companies that were aggressive recession advertisers had risen 256 percent over companies that did not maintain their advertising (“US Recession”, McGraw-Hill, 1988).
• A study of 1,000 firms during recessions between 1982 and 1999 identified key differences regarding the strategies of the best and worst performers, with the measure of performance being changes in the company’s market-to-book ratios. Notably, the best performers had increased their marketing and advertising spending not just relative to their competitors, but also compared to their own spending in better times. (“Learning to love recessions,” Richard F. Dobbs, Tomas Karakolev, and Francis Malige, McKinsey & Co., 2002).
• A 2005 survey of 154 senior marketing executives underscored the findings of the McKinsey study (“Turning Adversity into Advantage: Does Proactive Marketing during a Recession Pay off,?” Raji Srinivasan, Gary L. Lilien and Arvind Rangaswamy), International Journal of Research in Marketing [IJRM], 2005.
• IBM reported a 12 percent increase in earnings for 4th quarter 2008 beating analyst expectations. (Google.com, 2009)

Kevin Randall is Director of Brand Strategy & Research at Movéo Integrated Branding, a brand consulting and marketing communications firm based in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. Kevin can be reached at krandall@moveo.com and 630.570.4813.

Lessons from Tropicana’s Fruitless Design

By Jennifer Gidman

March 16, 2009 issue

It’s a revamp-gone-wrong tale that has already secured its place in the annals of packaging: PepsiCo retains Arnell Group to redesign its Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice cartons as part of its new ad campaign. Said cartons make their aisle debut in January, minus the familiar straw-punctured orange and sporting a modernized depiction of—well, fresh-squeezed juice. Consumers revolt and demand the old packaging back. Two months and a reported US$ 35 million later, PepsiCo reverts back to the original Tropicana packaging, straw between its legs (and back on the carton).

There’s nothing unusual about a perennial product revisiting its packaging, labels or logos in an attempt to bring outdated aesthetics up to par with an enduring brand message. Camel cigarettes underwent its first package redesign in 90 years in 2008. Bacardi, which has been distilling spirits since the 1860s, has updated its bottles to “reflect the sophisticated consumer environment.” And then there’s Pepsi, which introduced a new logo last fall (Arnell Group was also responsible for this design do-over, to mixed reviews).

But if the brand is still enjoying hefty market share, why putter around with its packaging? Tropicana has historically dominated number-two Minute Maid (owned by PepsiCo rival Coca-Cola) in the OJ category. “Sometimes [package redesign] has nothing to do with the business at all—it [comes] down to the new personnel working on the brand, hell-bent on making a mark on their career,” says Dyfed “Fred” Richards, executive creative director, North America, for global branding consultancy Interbrand, which also produces brandchannel. “It’s sometimes difficult for brand managers to demonstrate growth of a brand they’re being tasked to manage and grow.

But a new package design associated with those changes demonstrates these changes.”
The agencies commissioned for a redesign may also share some of the blame for failed packaging overhauls—think about if Mad Men creative director Don Draper’s powers of persuasion were magnified by corporate fears of losing market share in a depressed economy. “Design companies should be asking far smarter questions at the outset of the changes to really understand the reasons for the change,” Richards says. “Sadly, many [of these] companies enjoy the design process so much that design for design’s sake takes over, and all reason jumps out of the window for the benefit of a trend or effect they’ve wanted to try.”

Could this be what happened with the Arnell Group redesign strategy for the Pepsi logo that leaked onto the Internet last year? In the 27-page report, simply titled “Breathtaking,” the authors cite such lofty influences as the golden rectangle (that aesthetically pleasing formula found in architectural and artistic masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and the Parthenon); magnetic geodynamics; and Hindu numerical harmonics as all leading up to the design revolution that is the new Pepsi logo.

This is excessive profundity for a visual representation that, at the risk of oversimplifying the process, just took the old logo, rotated it and distorted the white middle wave. And while there’s plenty in the report about brand geometry, perimeter oscillations and color theory, what’s notable is a lack of discussion of either the product itself or the consumer.

Arnell Group still hasn’t verified the report as being authentic. However, Peter Arnell’s somewhat rambling defense of the Tropicana debacle is comprised of similar stream-of-consciousness associations between squeezing oranges, hugging children, and ensuring consistency between the purity of the juice and the carton. Combine this with the grammatically awkward tagline, “Squeeze…It’s a Natural,” and you’re left to wonder: is this branding genius or simply marketing mumbo-jumbo?

Extreme Package Makeover

With properly ascertained research and consumer feedback, however, a brand can, and should, make an informed decision to redesign its packaging or logo. “Any brand should be looking at itself in the mirror 24/7 and measuring itself against all its competitors,” Richards says. “If a brand is in a leadership position, then it should be protecting and leveraging those key equities at all times in an effort to reinforce the reasons why it’s the market leader.”

All parties involved need to carefully tread the redesign waters. “Understand the brand’s history,” Richards explains. “Talk to and listen to loyal consumers. This isn’t about sticking a pretty label on a box and hoping you win a design award. All the assets of the brand need careful evaluation to find out equity stretch points and equities that are sacrosanct to the consumer. More often than not, you’re not designing for your client, and certainly not for yourself—you’re designing for the consumer.”

Even after studying the ins and outs of a brand, there’s still that slippery slope to navigate in contemporizing an iconic brand’s packaging, label or logo while still retaining its most identifiable elements and the equity it’s built up over the years. “There’s a fine line between being relevant and being trendy,” Richards explains. “Updating requires a craft that can only be learned over many years of experience. I always tell my designers that working on the less glamorous brands is character-building [work], not on the boutique brands that essentially come and go and fall prey to the latest tricks and trends.”

While designers should be aware of the new designs around them, they should be careful of what they leverage in their day-to-day dealings with brands they are charged to develop, Richards says. “I ask all of my designers to keep personal scrapbooks that are evaluated on a regular basis in one-on-one sessions,” he says. “I want to see what’s motivating them, what inspires them. It could be a ticket stub from a concert or a great piece of type from an ad—it doesn’t matter, as long as they are curious [about] the world around them and download the information in a book rather than carrying this information as graphic noise in their heads. That noise might then become an impure insert into a brand’s future that won’t resonate with the consumer.”

Pulp Friction

Tropicana’s carton conundrum is a compelling story on a couple of fronts. First, there’s the juicy, schadenfreude-esque media obsession—the panned carton was one of the most blogged topics the week of February 23–27, behind only the machinations of President Obama’s new administration, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s New Media Index.
But even more unusual has been the astonishing backlash from a usually silent, brand-loyal contingent, and PepsiCo’s eventual acquiescence to these vitamin C devotees. Feedback on the design, relayed to PepsiCo via letters, phone calls and e-mails, has ranged from deeming the cartons “ugly” to expressing outright confusion—some customers passed right by Tropicana cartons on store shelves, mistaking the new packaging for private-label offerings. “What’s evident from my experience and perspective is that key equities of the brand were thrown away for a generic offering, and consumers reacted,” Richards says.
Despite such a marketing blunder, however, Tropicana-gate has demonstrated that the brand’s followers cared enough about the brand to effect change. “I think it’s a blessing for Pepsi that the consumers didn’t react by walking away from the brand,” Richards says. “We all remember what happened with New Coke.”
In these troubling economic times, this type of loyalty is an indicator of what roles brands play in our lives. “The rise of private label is clear (64 percent last year), and orange juice is a commodity category,” Richards says. “But consumers need their ‘comfort brands’—eventually the message [of these comfort brands] will get through, and consumers become incredibly powerful brand advocates. So when the message changes in such a dramatic fashion, as it did with Tropicana, the consumer feels betrayed.”
Revolution among the common folk is starting to resonate with the brands they’re revolting against. Facebook users, for instance, recently took issue with certain amendments to the site’s terms of service. As a result, the social-networking platform temporarily reverted back to its old terms. And when CBS canceled the prime-time TV show Jericho, disgruntled fans delivered 20 tons of peanuts to CBS offices (the network cracked and resurrected the show).
There are brands that have taken consumer opinion one step further, involving the public in actual packaging makeovers. Nestlé, for example, is tapping into social media to elicit consumer input for new packaging for its Goobers, Sno-Caps and Oh Henry! candy lines (the package redesign that gets the most votes will be on shelves by the end of 2009). And in celebration of its 150th anniversary, Eight O’Clock Coffee is letting consumers direct its packaging facelift by registering their votes at CoffeeMaker.com (with a chance to win a year’s worth of groceries to boot).
Of course, there’s empowering consumers with some say, and then there’s giving the consumers a laptop loaded with graphic-design software and directing them to redesign the packaging from scratch. “I’m a firm believer in engaging consumers at every level of the design process,” Richards says. “Listen to them first, show them what they know, listen again. Then think about what you’ve heard—put images to the spoken word and play them back. Ensure there’s a clear meaning behind every image and every word. Go on a shopping trip with the consumer from the moment the grocery list is being created to the point of selection at shelf to purchase to use in the home; do the same thing yourself. But don’t let the client or consumer design: brand design is a craft, not a beauty contest.”
So it’s back to the drawing board (or maybe not) for Tropicana. The old cartons are expected to reappear on store shelves this month. The only remnants of the US$ 35 million Arnell experiment will be the cute, orange-shaped plastic caps, which will be retained on cartons of low-calorie Trop50. The advertising campaign that’s currently in place will also continue.
Perhaps this could have all been avoided if PepsiCo had sought out real consumer input in the first place. “Respect the brand and the role it has to play in the hearts and minds of the consumer,” Richards says. “Use the product: How does it taste, smell, sound, feel in your hands—how does it perform? Do you understand it? Can you appreciate why other consumers get excited by it? Go on that consumer journey.”
Once you’ve taken that step, you’ll be able to embark on a successful packaging redesign if that’s what’s needed. “Many brands successfully update their look and feel on a regular basis with very little effect on the loyal consumer—that’s the craft of branding,” Richards says. “When you go back and look at packaging through the ages, especially the power brands that have stood the test of time through decades of changes and consumer trends, they offer a unique insight of how to develop and manage key equities and remain relevant to the consumer of today and tomorrow.”

Jennifer Gidman uses OJ as a breakfast supplement every morning and as an indispensable ingredient in her mixology experiments every Friday night.

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NEW YORK (YouTube.com/AdAge) -- Pepsico's Tropicana brand is junking the new orange juice package design it only just launched weeks ago. The beverage marketer is switching back to its old design whose centerpiece is a orange skewered by a drinking straw. In this video recorded at a press conference five weeks ago, Arnell Group CEO Peter Arnell vigorously defends his agency's carton design that has now been withdrawn from the market.