Recently, we created a little chart to help a client understand the role of design and information hierarchy in product packaging.
To keep it simple, we used a milk carton.
We used only three pieces of basic information: the manufacturer (Smith), the product identifier (Milk) and the milk fat content modifier (1%, 2% or Vitamin D Milk). It’s what Americans see everyday in the dairy aisle.
We then explored how design decisions affect the product – the basics like information hierarchy or the use of type (e.g. a script type to emphasize “freshness”), the use of language (e.g. cheerful “Mooo Milk)”, color (to reinforce differences in fat content), illustrations (to tell a provenance story) and even form factors (e.g. glass bottles for “premium”). You can see the complete exploration on the chart, especially when you zoom in.
On the bottom of the chart, there are two examples of how it all came together: ”Good, better, best” shows how design influences quality perception, emotional product narrative and differentiates products. ”Shelf Blocking” then proves the power of design to aid shopability and create shelf presence.
In the end, we were amazed what the humble milk carton taught us about the AWESOME POWER™ of design. Design affects product, and what affects the product affects sales.
You can see the trend in supermarkets everywhere—moms in aisles probing deeper and deeper into product labels. Knowing where something comes from and what it’s about is increasingly important to consumers. And a new survey says people are now more than willing to do the detective work to figure it all out.
Weber Shandwick recently surveyed consumers and business execs in the U.S., U.K., China, and Brazil and found that 70% of respondents stay away from a product if they don’t like its parent company. What’s more, transparency has become a necessity. 56% hesitate to buy a product if they can’t find information about the corporation behind it.
Though consumers and executives both agree that social and environmental responsibility are important talking points, consumers are also becoming quicker to point out the cognitive dissonances between what a brand says and what their parent corporation does.
A Fast Company story on the research singles out Kashi’s problems relating to its parent Kellogg: “One of the ingredients in Kellogg’s FiberPlus Berry Yogurt Crunch—the preservative BHT—gets a thumbs-down from Kashi’s Ingredient Decoder tool.” Can’t you just see your mom’s disapproving nod?
As customers, communities, and shareholders use new criteria to make their judgements, companies that are seen as irresponsible or creating products without purpose will get punished. And companies that get it right will get rewarded. Havas media documented that more than half of all consumers worldwide are prepared to reward responsible companies by choosing to buy their products—and that percentage keeps rising.
Of course, this reveals a huge opportunity for brands to distinguish themselves. Only 28% of consumers worldwide think that today’s companies are working hard enough to solve our social and environmental challenges.
How and where will businesses find responsible growth? Game Changers, an upcoming Wolff Olins report, looks at this issue from companies’ perspectives and highlights the key behaviors that are now shaping the future of business.
Which high-growth companies are stepping up to distinguish themselves by being both commercially and socially minded?
What will happen to brands that don’t innovate to create new value?
More to come. Stay tuned for Game Changers, coming soon to WolffOlins.com.
Remember the future? Or at least the future of commerce? Always Open. Always On. Always Available. E-commerce was going to take the place of the so-called brick and mortar stores providing the consumer with convenient and immediate solutions to all theirshopping needs. Want to shop at 3am? No problem. Want free shipping? No problem. Never want to deal with a salesperson again? No problem.
Stepping out of the plane in Havana, it was clear that I had arrived. José Martí airport seemed like a blank canvas in comparison to JFK. No restaurants, newsstands, duty-free shops or advertisings anywhere, just white walls and a little vending machine selling water and TuKola (the Cuban version of Coke).
What could be easier than picking up the phone and ordering a pizza? Ordering it online, apparently.
Last year, Domino’s reportedly took in one third of its delivery orders digitally, and is showing buoyant market growth for the first time since being hit by the recession.
Online shopping is a hardly a new trend, but that doesn’t mean most brands aren’t taking their time in making the most of the opportunities it offers.
Waitrose would no doubt shudder to be classed as the Dominos of supermarkets, but it is also an established player getting in on the online act. After years of channeling the bulk of its online delivery service through Ocado, Waitrose revealed this month that it will be using it’s (recently revamped to the tune of £10m) website to compete directly with its partner.
So, what’s the secret to success for brands online? We recently carried out an e-commerce benchmarking study, reviewing 35 retailers and e-tailers from the online customer’s perspective.
The companies that scored high were the ones that got the details right:
-simple process to pay
-sending items efficiently
-fixing problems with minimal fuss
Obvious things, you’d think. But only two were nailing it consistently – Amazon and Net-a-porter (no surprises there, then). The rest are still playing catch up.
A more detailed report of the results of the Wolff Olins e-commerce study will be published on 22 May 2011.
Collaborative consumption describes the rapid explosion in swapping, sharing, bartering, trading and renting being reinvented through the latest technologies and peer-to-peer marketplaces in ways and on a scale never possible before.
The movement, pioneered by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers, came to notoriety through the book, What’s Mine Is Yours.
From DVDs to cars, collaborative consumption is redefining the concept of ownership. It is a profoundly important movement, marking a huge shift in the way people interact with brands and products but more importantly, how they interact with their own neighbourhood.
Rachel Botsman is giving a talk at the RSA in London today on ‘The Rise of Collaborative Consumption’ and Wolff Olins will be attending, so watch out for our live tweets on the @WolffOlins twitter feed.
To whet your appetite ahead of the main event, we thought we’d share three great examples of collaborative organisations:
The People’s Supermarket
This London cooperative is challenging the might of the big chain retailers that dominate the British retail space. In return for volunteering to work in the shop for 4 hours a month, members of the People’s Supermarket get a 20% discount in the store. So far there’s only one location on Lambs Conduit St but it’s a huge step in the right direction – providing honest, quality food at a reasonable price and fostering a community of like-minded shoppers in central London. Last month, The People’s Supermarket celebrated its 400th member and continues to grow.
Most urban dwellers are familiar with member car sharing services such as Streetcar and Zipcar, but few people are aware of brands like Whipcar.
Unlike Streetcar, which uses its own fleet of vehicles, Whipcar simply provides the infrastructure support to book, insure and pay for rental, but the vehicles belong to other Whipcar members.
Owners can set the rental price and availability of their car and make money from a vehicle that might usually be parked unused on a street for long periods. Renters get to choose from a wide variety of vehicles of makes, models, colours and sizes. What’s more, Whipcar is also a lot more personal than other car sharing services as you actually meet the car owner before you rent.
Why spend $100 on a power tool you only use for 10 minutes a year? Whether it’s power tools, baby toys, deckchairs, vacuum cleaners - almost anything can be rented or borrowed from people on NeighborGoods. Just type in your postal code and list items you want to rent or answer requests from those looking for specific items.
