Battle up! Part 1.
How to win the Battle for Brand+Product!
In our experience, four decisive fields determine whether a brand and product are successful and can dominate the market: Brand + Product, Point of Sale, Consumer Benefit and Technology.
In the first battle, brand and product prepare for the royal game of market success and market dominance, defining their values, taking shape and finding the strategically best position in the field.
In the battle for brand + product, brand and product must be defined and positioned cleanly and unambiguously so that the results can then be transferred holistically to the packaging. As with chess, it’s not about reinventing the game. It is crucial to think in depth from the very first move, to have a strategic plan for the whole, to occupy decisive fields and to consistently carry through the final game.
As the basis for the final game, it is not a question of reinventing the game. The emotional and rational aspects that lead to a positioning must be defined and clarified as the basis for success in the Battle for Brand + Product. All these questions need convincing answers. Those who allow themselves to be seduced by unbelievable, interchangeable or purely promotional claims have already lost the game.
It is no coincidence that discount and private labels are increasingly digging the water out of brand manufacturers. For while the interchangeability of branded goods has become immense, there has also long been convincing quality for discount and private labels. However, if I give the consumer a Reason to Believe as a convincing and sustainable argument, I motivate the consumer’s decision to buy my product.
The decisive factor for success in the battle for brand + product is the orientation of processes, developments and decisions towards the consumer. In order to actually know what moves and occupies the consumer, we at B+P Creality base our decision-making on quantitative studies, focus group analyses and qualitative surveys. They show and prove to us the needs of the consumer, his attitude towards the product, what he does with it and on what occasions the product fulfills his wishes. With regard to the brand, we also determine the image in the consumer’s eye, the characteristics that he associates with the brand and what he expects from it.
The prerequisite for victory in the Battle for Brand + Product is, however, that the design transfer of the Reason to Believe onto the packaging is successful. For many, the analytical-strategic world, the creative world and the technological world collide for the first time in the course of the implementation of the design strategy developed. At Creality we therefore ensure the early integration of all “crafts”, strategy, graphic design and technology. For this, too, we have developed a set of tools with which the design transfer can be very differentiated, credible and efficiently designed.
The holistic approach is crucial here. At Creality, we integrate graphic design, form language, materials, features and technology from the very beginning. All aspects follow the same strategic narrative.
What strongly characterizes us, apart from the holistic approach, is our determined analytical work. You have to develop a match plan that is really thought through from start to finish. All the necessary factors must be consistently questioned and open to the set goal.
With the successful design transfer of the differentiated, authentic and credible Reason to Believe to the packaging, we ensure a high proportion of first-time buyers. The battle for Brand + Product has thus been won.
With this victory behind them, the brand and product can now prove themselves at the P.O.S.
Read more in the next article: Battle up! Part 2 – P.O.S.
CASES
RÜGENFISCH
Determined in the U+A market research: Consumers also rely on authenticity, health and freshness for canned fish. The new packaging accentuates the chalk cliffs as an authentic and positive symbol of the island of Rügen. The picture conveys the striking freshness and quality of air and water as well as the feeling of healthy life by the sea. The elements are picked up by the blue and white striped can rim. The maritime element acts as a frame that reinforces the visual effect. The product itself presents itself brand-compatible, down-to-earth and rustic. The MSC logo is deliberately placed very prominently. The consumer survey had shown that consumers pay a great deal of attention to the seal and regard it as a guarantee of freshness, health and authenticity. The Rügenfisch logo was also pushed to new strength with a facelift. Where the fish previously rested rigidly on a beam, it now jumps fresh and healthy from a moving wave.
ECHT (ORIGINAL) WAGNER
Down-to-earth, honest, craftsmanship: Creality analyses have shown that these values are central to Wagner products for consumers. The creative use of a lot of wood in the background and torn baking paper in the details visualise these values just like the product illustrations, which look perfectly imperfect and therefore not as smooth and generic as the competition and the eye-catching, original typographic signature. The newly created claim and the newly introduced “Echt Wagner” seal of quality bundle the sharpened philosophy of the brand and communicate it effectively via the packaging. In a second step, the established messages were also implemented for Flammkuchen. This was to win new, additional customer groups through a strategic repositioning. Consciously placed details such as the red-white-blue chequered napkin as homage to the French origin of the product and the Flammkuchen-typical presentation as a square piece make the new packaging a convincing and credible communicator.