Opinion: Don’t Let Your Santa Pack Ruin Your Christmas!

Dr William Caruso (Lead Image), a Senior Marketing Scientist at Adelaide’s famed Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, looks at the pros and cons of redesigning packaging for the festive season.
The festive season is almost upon us. Yes, that time of year when retailers decorate stores and play Christmas carols on a continuous loop. Here we go again, the shelves are bursting with seasonal packaging, and many brand managers are planning and hoping for a spike in sales. But can your brand look festive and distinctive at the same time?
Getting on the festive packaging bandwagon
Many brands switch to a festive pack design for the silly season. While it seems beneficial (or even harmless) to tie in with holiday shopping and the Christmas excitement, if all packs in the category start to look similarly ‘Christmassy’, it makes it harder to find any brand. Christmas has its own very strong Distinctive Brand Assets, and borrowing these can be at a cost to your own brand’s distinctiveness. By directly activating the season (and not the brand) in someone’s memory, you indirectly prime other (often larger) brands.
How shoppers shop
Shopper purchases both in-store and online are largely automatic, often built on years of habitual behaviour to make quick decisions. Additionally, shoppers are often distracted when they are in the supermarket. They are in a hurry, have budgets and children to worry about. As a result, shoppers use past-learned visual cues to save time and help them quickly get what they need.
These visual cues are also known as Distinctive Assets – non-brand name elements which trigger the brand name. Distinctive Assets can be shortcuts for buyers in a busy, cluttered in-store environment. Buyers learn them over time through past exposure to advertising, packaging and/or product experiences. Examples include character assets, like the M&Ms characters, colour assets include the Cadbury Dairy Milk purple and product forms such as the Lindt Ball.
It is vital to understand what assets buyers use to find your brand and keep these consistent in seasonal packaging designs. Let’s imagine a shopper is shopping for their favourite chocolate. What happens if the familiar purple becomes red and green, or the M&M’s characters are dressed to look like Santa Claus? With the familiar visual cues missing, so too is the quick recognition that normally comes when the shopper quickly scans the shelf, so they just grab another brand instead.
How different should seasonal packaging be?
A shared name should mean a shared brand identity, otherwise you risk confusing category buyers. Therefore, any seasonal pack should first be easily recognisable as an offshoot of the normal packaging that is found on the shelf for the majority of the year, even when the normal packaging is not present. ‘Look like the brand first, and the season second’, should be the mantra.
Seasonal packs should work alongside the parent brand, and not clash with it. A strong, similar identity enables the seasonal packaging to contribute in a positive way to the overall mental and physical availability of the parent brand that is on the shelf for most of the year.
Dr. William Caruso is a Senior Marketing Scientist at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, the world’s largest centre for research into marketing. His area of expertise is packaging redesigns and Distinctive Asset research. If wanting to understand how you can redesign packaging and not hamper the brand’s identity, we will have a report released for Ehrenberg-Bass Institute sponsors in the new year. For more information about Ehrenberg-Bass visit www.MarketingScience.info
Latest News

The Works Distills “Question Everything” For Archie Rose Distilling Co.
The Works has announced the launch of ‘Question Everything’ a new brand platform and campaign for their newest client, Archie Rose. As a nine-year-old independently owned and operated Australian multi-spirit distillery, Archie Rose has garnered a devoted following among existing customers, with a reputation primarily built on white spirits – particularly gin. However in line […]

farsiight Unveils New Market Positioning Putting Growth for Good Over Growth At All Costs
Brisbane performance agency farsiight has announced the launch of its new market positioning, Growth for Good, in response to a changing business landscape, marking a departure from a “growth at all costs” mentality that has defined the industry in recent years. Agency founders and brother duo, Josh and Ben Somerville, envision Growth for Good as […]

By Land Or By Sea: GoTransit Offers Options Galore For Transit Advertisers In Newcastle
Australia’s largest privately owned transit media supplier, GoTransit Media Group, now offers unprecedented options for transit advertising in Newcastle – on both land and sea following their successful tender to supply interior advertising inside the popular Stockton Ferries. The national transit media company is already well acquainted with the thriving NSW market, having successfully operated […]

‘People First Bank’ Heritage & People’s Choice Bank Unified
Heritage and People’s Choice have launched People First Bank, the new name for positive change in banking Australia’s largest customer-owned bank has unveiled its new brand, announcing that Heritage and People’s Choice will be unified under the new name of People First Bank. Chairman Michael Cameron said the highly anticipated new brand offered a compelling […]

“Cozzie Livs” Announced Macquarie Dictionary 2023 Word Of The Year
We're not sure how many logophiles read B&T, but this one's for you. That's a lover of words, not a lover of logging.

🏆 Hear From The B&T Awards Winners! 🏆
It's the B&T Award winners all in video form! We're putting the slurring down to their excitedness.

Today The Brave’s Hannah Lawson & Kate Idle On What’s Hot & What’s Not In 2024
Planning your own what's hot/what's not for 2024 list? There's some good ones here if plagiarism is on your what's hot.

Cultural Shift For Australians With ‘The Great Slow Down’
Don't ever really go beyond what's asked? Loathed by colleagues? Bone idle, in fact? The 'great slow down' is calling.

L’Oréal Aus & NZ Partner With Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Announcing Large Investments
L’Oréal Groupe Australia and New Zealand have announced one of the largest investments to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to pioneer new coral restoration efforts in the region. L’Oréal Groupe Australia and New Zealand have announced today a new partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF), to help coral reefs withstand the devastating impacts […]

Fast 10: B&T Chats Marketing & The Future With The Marketing Academy’s Sherilyn Shackell
It's B&T's quick 10 with marketing guru Sherilyn Shackell. And, believe it or not, AI not mentioned once.

Hardhat Nabs Magdalina Triantafyllidis From whiteGREY
whiteGREY's Magdalina Triantafyllidis jumps ship to rival Hardhat. Fear not, B&T double checked the spelling.

Media.Monks Names Matthew Godfrey EVP, Head Of Content In APAC
Effective immediately, S4Capital’s operating brand Media.Monks, a digital-first marketing and advertising services company, has appointed Matthew Godfrey to lead its APAC Content practice. With over 15 years of experience leading innovative businesses in the Asia-Pacific region, Godfrey will support a best-in-class senior leadership team across the region as EVP, head of content, APAC. He joins […]

“This Full Moon, It Messes With People” – Kyle Sandilands Storms Off-Air After Clash With Jackie ‘O’ Henderson
Despite a new $200 million contract extension, Kyle still getting away with behaviour that would get anyone else sacked.

Squealing Pig Launches Summer Of Love Campaign At Opening Of New NPL Indoor Pickeball Facility
Still hold on to a perverse dream of sport mega stardom? Perhaps the National Pickleball League could be your ticket?

From Matildas Fever To An Ice-Cold English Cricket Team: These Are B&T’s Biggest Sporting Moments Of 2023
It's B&T's top sporting moments of 2023. Also read - the sporting moments that Australia appeared to do well in.

Monday TV Ratings: Disaster Hits On Semi-Final Of Dessert Masters
Who hasn't suffered their very own dessert disaster? Although it is typically reborn as a tasty trifle.

“A Parody Of A Tone-Deaf Wealthy Person!” Gwyneth Paltrow Slammed For $22,700 Vibrator Stunt
Is Gwyneth mad or just a genius self-promoter? Find out here with this latest bit of genius self-promotion.

How AI Is Empowering Small Businesses With Creative Collaboration
Chandra Sinnathamby, Adobe’s director, digital media B2B strategy & GTM, Asia-Pacific, explains how the tech firm is empowering its small business customers with new AI tools, including its Adobe Firefly tools. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, small businesses face numerous challenges when it comes to creating captivating content that resonates with their audience. Despite the […]

Chemist Warehouse And Menulog Become Sponsors Of Seven’s Summer Cricket Coverage
Seven unveils its summer cricket line-up. Seemingly far less concerned the Tests won't run the five days.

Cash At First Sight! MAFS Stars Cash In On Sponsorship
They're typically hideous people you'd avoid at all costs, but it appears it's not stopped MAFS contestants cashing in.

Study: Aussie Teens Are Not Actually Selfie-Obsessed
Study finds teens less selfie-obsessed than we thought. Still refusing to eat anything that's not grammable, however.

OMD Crowned Top Global Media Agency By COMvergence
Work for OMD? You can feel suitably chuffed on these numbers. If not, don't rage too hard or you'll get a peptic ulcer.

New Balance Signs Extensive Agreement With Australian Open & United Cup
We're fast approaching tennis season in Australia, but will it be sullied by a dearth of bratty mens players?

Clem’s Hall & Partners Snares Fiftyfive5’s Elodie Myers For National MD Role
Fiftyfive5’s Elodie Myers jumps ship to rival. The sling back recliner and window seat said to have sealed the deal.

Candace Warner, Tom Tilly & Harley Breen Kick Off Summer On Triple M
Summer mornings are heating up with Triple M again in 2023, thanks to the star-studded line-up of Harley Breen, Candice Warner and Tom Tilley, who are joining forces each weekday morning from 6-9 am for Triple M’s Summer Breakfast show. Airing from 4 to 15 December in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and streamed live on […]

Disinformation Regulation Called For After X Kicked Out Of Social Self-Reg Code Following Voice Referendum
Elon counting his blessings for Bud Light that's clearly saved him from the number one spot on 2023's biggest f#ck-ups.

Jimmy & Nath, Hamish & Andy And Seany B Light Up Christmas At Hit Network
The Hit Network has announced its summer line-up for 2023, kicking off on Monday, 4 December, featuring The Jimmy & Nath Show, Hamish & Andy podcast, Nights with Seany B and special return celebrations for Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. Hit’s cheeky radio duo Jimmy Smith and Nath Roye of The Jimmy & Nath […]

Women’s Weekly Annual Christmas Special To Air On 10, With A Host Of Sponsors In Tow
Is your Christmas a case of VB, a bottle of port & four kilos of king prawns? Take 2023 up a notch with the Weekly.

AFFINITY Launches Worley Rebrand As A Force In Sustainability
Full-service CX, media and advertising agency AFFINITY has completed an 18-month-long global rebranding for ASX-listed engineering powerhouse Worley. The rebrand reflects Worley’s commitment towards being a leading force in sustainable change. Worley, a global provider of professional services in the energy, chemicals and resources sectors working across six continents, has set out on a significant […]

Val Morgan Cinema Surfs To Victory At UnLtd: Big Kahuna
Think there's lots of sharks working in adland? Thankfully, that wasn't the case at the UnLtd: Big Kahuna surfing comp.

Study: 77% Of Aussie Respondents Want To Remove Anonymous Commentary From Industry Sites
Sure, B&T's far from blameless, but we think we all know who the finger of blame's being pointed at here, don't we?

JOLT & Transport For NSW Partner To Introduce Free EV Charging Stations With Digital Advertising Screens
With just eight per cent of cars in Australia electric, these EV charger ads certainly aren't for everyone.

Tourism Tasmania & ARN Invite Aussies To “Come Down For Air” With New Podcast Partnership, Via Starcom
Tourism Tasmania continuing with its "Come Down For Air" campaign. Which is better than "Come Down For Apples".

R.M Williams Unveils “The Mark Of An Icon” Installation To Celebrate Opening Of New George St Store
Highlighting its craft and a world-class shopping experience, Australia’s favourite heritage brand R.M.Williams has announced a consumer competition to celebrate the opening of its new national flagship store at 345 George St. Sydney. Launching on 1 December in line with the new store opening, ‘If The Boot Fits’ invites brand lovers and new customers alike […]

Congratulations To Our Quiz Winner: Sparro & Jack Nimble’s Jake Spaccavento
This $100 BWS voucher giveaway is exactly what ad agency staffers need in the run up to Christmas - more free drinks.

MFA Commits To Expanding E-Learning Program & Launch “Industry Psychosocial Safety Action Plan” At AGM
Miss the MFA's recent AGM? Here's all the highlights sans the cheap red and the slightly cold mini quiches.