"Everything you do creates the brand experience. Ergo, design is your brand." (Robert Brunner, designer and author)
Packaging design is a natural and crucial platform to build brand and promote identity. It’s a means of communicating a brand’s value proposition — who your product is for and why it’s better and different than others on the market today. Branded packaging can enhance your product, communicate your brand values and persona, and carry your brand story to your customer.
In the present age of globalisation where the customer has a huge number of brands to choose from, effective product branding with design ‘stand out’ is an ongoing challenge.
Brand creation
Whether launching new brands or refreshing old ones in today's competitive, cluttered marketplace, it requires creativity and strategic thinking to achieve brand differentiation. For established brands, marketers need to evaluate market dynamics and take measures about the product and its packaging.
Marketers could fine tune look and feel, upfront a particular feature and drop another, introduce a variant or new messaging, etc. to refresh and re-launch the brand.
For new products, it starts with brand identity which involves designing name, symbol and logo for the product. Companies need to give their product a unique name that will provide distinction from similar products being offered by competitors.
A good name that registers quickly, resonates with consumers, is memorable and positions itself above the competition in the consumer's mind, is what every marketer wants for their product.
So how does one arrive at the 'perfect' name? There's no magic formula or sure-shot method to generate a brand name. It has to be worked on, through a carefully prepared strategy, with a lot of study, research and creativity. Given the mind-boggling number of brands in our globalised world, it’s a complex and difficult process. It also involves stringent legal checks.
Basic considerations for product branding
For a brand name to be effective, these are a few points to remember. It should:
• be catchy and easy to recall
• suggest product benefit
• have a distinctive appeal
• be such that it can be registered as a trade mark
Once you arrive at a ‘good’ name, creating a unique brand identity and branding strategy is vital for success.
Logo design is the cornerstone of brand identity. It should:
• Clearly communicate who you are and what you value as a brand
• Be visually appealing: aim for simple, clean and uncluttered
• Be classic, not trendy: your logo design should have longevity
• Make a lasting impression on your audience.
Product Branding and Packaging Design
After product branding, packaging is key to attracting the right customers. Packaging is an excellent opportunity for your identity design to shine.
Maybe you have some great ideas for packaging design but it helps to keep a few things in mind:
