By Dian Hasan | March 1, 2010
Brand Logos and Corporate Identity always fascinate me, especially during the timely event of MAKEOVERS, when companies decide to re-design their brand identity.
The ironic reality is (yes, not many companies will admit this!), that the made over Logo and Corporate Identity, which includes Packaging, often lack the one thing they should be doing more of in a re-branding exercise: RE-THINK everything. The absence of an in-depth thinking often means that the redesign is less communicable, or even worse… sends an entirely wrong brand message to the original brand message that has taken years to send out.
An article in Woman’s Day caught my eye in presenting five US beverage brands that had a recent packaging makeover; Gatorade, Coors Light Beer, Snapple Iced Tea, Pepsi and Tropicana Orange Juice. Here’s a fascinating insight about redesigned packaging. What came out of this exercise was not only the “new look and feel”, but more importantly, customers’ personal relationship with brands.
A case in point, Tropicana Orange Juice’s redesigned packaging, customers were so unenamoured with the new design, saying that is looked too much like a supermarket generic product and lost all its former Brand DNA, that Tropicana reverted back to the original design. Ample proof that Brands should NEVER forget the FUNDAMENTAL BASIC FACT, that everything they do must BEGIN AND END WITH THE CUSTOMER.
And that the basic philosophy of brand-building never changes: A brand is what’s in YOUR CUSTOMER’S MIND, not what’s in yours!
In an attempt to regain sales lost during tough economic times, many companies are spearheading brand redesigns in hopes that a little creativity will go a long way. Putting the theory to work are some of the most famous food and beverage brands out there, including the five shown below. Drawing on everything from individual setbacks, sales goals and competition as additional motivation behind the marketing makeovers, each case is unique in terms of the specific reasons behind the transformation—and the consumer reaction they’ve provoked thus far.
The beer industry is one of constant packaging innovation. Thus, Coors’ upcoming release of cold activated cans (following last year’s release of bottles with same capability) is not a total surprise. The redesigned cans turn the Rocky Mountains in the foreground of the logo blue when the beer is at the optimal drinking temperature, catering to the company’s initiative to stay ahead of the cold beverage curve.
Inspiration: Woman’s Day
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