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Solo and range
Proprietary and own brands >
Solo and range Packaging designs can be grouped in different ways depending upon the overall sales and marketing strategy that they are part of, as well as to help communicate what it is that they are trying to achieve. Products are typically either individual or solo, or they form part of a wider range. In each case, there are considerations that should be borne in mind. Solo products Solo products are those which are conceived of as standalone products and which primarily aim to compete with other standalone products. A box of chocolates, for example, is often branded in a way that means it does not relate to other products from the same manufacturer and will have no direct relationship with the other products made by that company. The main driver when designing packaging for solo products is relatively simple, in that you are designing something that has to stand out from other products in the segment of the market within which it will be positioned and next to which it will be physically displayed. For example, a box of chocolates may be positioned as a luxury product, but it will be physically placed next to all the other boxes of chocolates in a supermarket. This means that at the moment of making a purchase decision, the buyer will compare this box of chocolates with most of, if not all, the other products that surround it on the shelf. Consequently, the packaging (surface graphics, colour, shape, materials and form) must grab the shopper’s attention and rapidly communicate the product benefits to them more successfully than does that of its competitors. Ranges Designing packaging for a product range can be quite different to designing for a solo product. A branded product range typically involves a brand being applied to various different, yet similar, products, such as the multiple varieties of biscuits produced by McVitie’s. In this instance, the brand instils the same attributes of quality and experience across the range. As McVitie’s produces many different types of biscuit, it can present the consumer with a very strong brand statement on one shelf unit via several different products, thereby enabling it to outshout competing brands.
Other brands are used in similar ways across different product ranges like soup, beans and tomato ketchup, such as by the manufacturer Heinz. These products are different but fall within the same general category of food; they also instil the same attributes of quality and experience across the range. However, in this instance, the products may be dispersed around a store by product segment, where they will be forced to compete with other brands in isolation. This means that the branded packaging needs to not only work in conjunction with products of the same brand range, but that it also has to compete strongly against other brands. Retailer own brands, like Marks & Spencer in the UK or Costco in the US, work differently as they are applied to many different ranges of products, from food to hair care. ‘Own brands are increasingly taking shelf space from national brands and occupy about 20 per cent of shelf space in retail outlets around the world,’ says Kevin Moore, CEO of Crossmark, a North American provider of sales, marketing and merchandising services for manufacturers and retailers in the packaged goods industry. As the retailer ultimately controls the retail space, it can give preference to its own brands and ease pressure from competing brands. In addition, the presence of the own brand throughout the retail environment will continually reinforce it within the mind of the consumer. Own brands may also be varied to reflect different product groups; for example, hair care products or clothing. These are often ‘branded’ by supermarkets under a different name, as seen in the examples in ‘Audiences and sectors’ on page 20.