Marketers have long used design to get the attention of the consumer as they make their way up the supermarket aisle, shouted at by hundreds of different products, at the point where they are making around 70% of their purchase decisions.
But these days there are new pressures in the supermarket that are driving the need for a more innovative approach to marketing in store. While the battle for shelf space had been toughening for the past few years as Woolworths and Coles began reducing the space devoted to FMCG, the supermarket giants are now adding major pressure with the introduction of their new private labels strategy.
Coles has already begun rolling out its home brands across a range of categories and plans to lift the proportion of house brands in its Coles and Bi-Lo supermarkets from 13% to 30% by 2007.
The rollout of private label is spearheading a major shake-up in the supermarket environment which will mean brands that aren’t the top sellers in their category are facing a major challenge to retain their prominence and attract the consumer’s eye, AC Nielsen client service director, Gillian O’Sullivan, says.
O’Sullivan says demand is increasing from marketers for more and more detailed information about how consumers behave in store and what influences their purchase decision.
“It is a period of great change in the retail environment, a time for upheaval in many categories,” O’Sullivan says.
“People may be a bit confused and will possibly be reassessing their purchase behaviour as things are being moved around on shelf, and new brands appear. A lot of behaviour in the supermarket is very habit driven but people will reconsider their choice if they can’t quickly locate the brand they are after.”
O’Sullivan said the changes provide opportunities for the number two and three brands in the category to reinvigorate and grab the consumer’s eye, however, those in the number one spots should “hold still”.
“It is an opportune time to consider a brand refresh to make sure they really stand out on the shelf.”
Morton Design’s, Jennifer O’Callaghan, whose agency looks after big name brands like George Weston Foods (GWF) and Lion Nathan, says it is a time for marketers to be bold in order to attract attention both in terms of their use of design and also packaging form.
“Marketers are being told that if they don’t fix up their brands they will be deleted from the shelf,” O’Callaghan says.
Morton recently worked with George Weston on two major launches in two highly competitive categories—bread and breakfast cereal.
For the rollout of GWF’s new Tip Top brand extension, Swirls, in July Morton created an innovative packaging concept that used metallic foil-looking bags. The product has been strongly received by the major supermarket chains who have committed substantial support and shelf space to the new products. O’Callaghan said the metallic look—similar to that of potato crisp packaging—works to give the impression of freshness in a category where such an attribute is key, and also allows it to stand out on shelf.
Launching at the same time was GWF’s move into the breakfast cereal market with an extension of its successful premium bread brand Burgen. In a move that was new for the category, Morton came up with a pack that included a window allowing consumers to see the quality of the product inside.
“What we wanted to say was this is a great quality product and we want to show it off,” O’Callaghan said. “It is a premium product and people want to see what they are getting.”
Brave Communications creative director, Chris Lapsley, says there is now enormous pressure on companies to either stay on top or innovate and knock the top players off the “pole positions” in supermarkets.
“Coles and Woolworths are developing premium own brand packaging similar to what’s been happening in the UK for years and these products will be competing with the main FMCG brands but at a reduced price,” Lapsley says. “This policy means they will only be stocking the number one and two selling brands in each category so if you’re not up there you’re likely to be deleted from shelf.
“Fantastic attention grabbing packaging is essential in this new retail environment if you want to remain on shelf.”
Energi Design creative director, Ray Laws, says the implications of Coles and Woolworths refocus on home brand growth was enormous and yet to be fully understood.
“The gauntlet has been thrown down for FMCG brand designers and their self-appointed position as ‘brand guardians’ is now to be tested,” Laws says. “The current market is now so competitive it is not enough to simply gain attention. ’Shelf shout’ has become almost an anachronism as each brand attempts to rise above the ‘white noise’ of the supermarket environment.”
“With the added pressure of the own-brand dynamic marketers and designers alike must make sure that their brands make a connection with their markets. They still need to gain attention but they need to hold attention.”
The activity by the big supermarkets and the battle for space is working to increase demand for design experts, agency executives say.
EKH Branding managing director, Tony Mansfield, says clients are realising more than ever before that they must innovate or die.
“It is actually great for us because clients are now realising that they have to push it or they will just be squeezed out,” Mansfield said.
He said that while the pressure means the strongest brands are the only ones guaranteed a place there are major opportunities for smaller but innovative brands.
EKH’s work on two brands, Norsca and Brut, showed the potential of a brand refresh to unlock growth for mature niche brands.
Previously owned by Unilever, the two brands were sold to a smaller company,Pharmacare, in 2003 as part of Unilever’s strategy to pare down its product portfolio and focus only on a core range of global brands. The relaunch of both of the products over the last 11 months was strongly received by Coles and Woolworths and has had a strong impact on sales.
Work on Brut included a complete packaging overhaul and the introduction of two new ranges, Elements and Edge, to the Original Brut brand. Without any advertising support the Elements range achieved the highest share after launch of any antiperspirant sprays. Sales growth for Brut in the May quarter this year was 7.1% exceeding the growth of the category (see case study).
And its not just new brands that are putting the focus in their packaging. Brave recently completed a major brand refresh for Sanitarium’s power Weet Bix brand as part of a strategy to reassert its place in the category.
“Sanitarium had historically always been a market leader but with the proliferation of more exciting youth oriented cereals it was not seen as modern or relevant to today’s hectic lifestyle,” Lapsley said.
The redesign retained the familiar blue and red of the top selling cereal but introduced a new photography focus that aimed to increase appetite appeal, with splashing milk and fruit reinforcing its health positioning.
Brave’s strategic consultant, Sean Bell, said that getting a product’s packaging right was more than simply developing something that looks good.
“A successful brand strategy has to bring the culture, values and the brand together in a way that is relevant to the audience,” Bell says. “Packaging design is essential in delivering a message and fulfilling the brand promise, it is the delivery mechanism for the brand and product. Great packaging design should be just that, the full package of your core proposition, the essence, values, message and product truths.”
Unilever is one major FMCG marketer which has recently taken a major step to refresh its packaging as part of a strategy to use the strength of its well-known brands to retain consumers as well as make life easier for them in the changing supermarket experience.
The company worked with Blue Marlin on project to leverage the strength of its masterbrand Continental across the more than 200 different SKUs that come under the banner by creating design that connected all of the various products.
Research had shown that people were often unaware of Continental’s presence in many categories. Even where it was a strong player in sales terms brand awareness was often very low.
“Continental is an extremely good example of what can be achieved using strategic design,” Blue Marlin managing director, Simon Jones, says.
Jones says that in the development of the new masterbrand packaging Blue Marlin focused on people as shoppers and not just consumers.
While packaging designers need to understand how the consumer interacts with a brand, design also needs to take into account the few seconds the shopper spends looking at a shelf and understand the factors that will make a hand reach for a particular brand, he says.
“Not nearly enough attention has been paid to creating preferences at the point of purchase,” Jones says. ”Often the responsibility is seen as being down to the sales team, to drive a favourable planogram, to buy gondola ends, or about slapping a promotion on a pack, or giving away brand value through discounting.”
“We’ve invested heavily in seeking to understand far more about how shoppers behave at the fixture and how design can channel their decision.”
Jones says that for Continental the agency was able to demonstrate a clear need for brand impact and clarity of communication above all.
“People want to make a rapid decision, they don’t want to take time having to search for a brand,” Jones said.
Trevor Jones, managing director of PhD Creative, which counts McDonald’s as one of its long time clients, said Australian marketers were still yet to fully understand the value of design in the marketing process.
“I think it is something we have seen in the UK and the US but that hasn’t really been understood in Australia yet and that is the value of using design in a way that really says something about what you stand for, something that makes it different to all of the other products and services,” Jones says.
“I think ultimately it allows marketers to compete on value rather than just on a price basis and there is compelling evidence for this.”
Jones cites research by the UK’s design think tank, the Design Council, which found in 90% of rapidly growing businesses, design was considered to be an integral part of their operations. Conversely, only 26% of static companies considered design to be integral.
“You have to ask yourself if you want to be a power brand, if you want to move forward, then you need to consider the importance of design,” he says.
“Even with FMCG it needs to be seen as a total communications strategy that works across every touch point and at all stages. You need to align all of those things to be successful. If you have multiple looks and messages then that is when your brand gets fragmented.”
Jones says simplicity and a strong idea are key in the development of a great design strategy.
“Great ideas stripped down to its most simple element. If you can combine those two aspects, you can break through the clutter. Too little design is based on strategy or research and so you end up with just a lot of noise.
“If you look at all the great brands you can see they know this, VW, Nike, Apple, all of it is design based on strategic insight and a great idea,” Jones says.
