Brand building with critical colour: the value of a brand can be measured in customer loyalty and product success. The value of a product can be measured in its brand heritage. And the value of a product package can be measured in the skill that goes into producing quality colour for a consistent brand

Print Action, Jun 2003 by Avery, Jodi

[Graph Not Transcribed]

When Sue Peschke ventures down an aisle in a grocery store, she looks beyond the items on her shopping list. She sees a wall of product packages, bright with colour, and appealing in both design concepts and printing techniques. She knows the time, technology and collaboration that went into the production of these pieces - even if customers only think inside the box.

As a technical representative in the packaging prepress division at Optium Inc., which was recently acquired by PLM Group, Peschke is often the conduit that brings together the design and printing ends of the workflow in packaging production. She is the translator between these two different cultures in the packaging industry to create a final product that will appeal to finicky customers who rely on the comfort of a brand.

Walking down the snack-food aisle of a Toronto grocery store, Peschke jokes with the stock boy, "Don't you love a fully stocked shelf of colourful packages, ready to be bought?" The stock boy shrugs off her enthusiasm and quips back, "I never pay much attention to the boxes but I guess they look good and are making me hungry." He illustrates how consumers feel about packaging. They know they like it. And they know they buy into it, even if they are not sure why.

Peschke knows why. "The package is what the consumer sees and what is going to sell a product. People know which brand they like. If the brand changes too much, they won't buy it. So corporations are more fussy about this image than they would be about a sales sheet or a coupon," says Peschke. "This is on shelf right in the customer's face at the time they are about to buy and the corporations take pride in packaging because this is going to sell it."

Branding as an asset

The term brand has come to mean more than just the name of a product and the logo associated with it. Companies see branding as a marketing function and an important tool for creating and maintaining customer loyalty. According to Scott David of Prophet, a Chicago-based professional services organization, "A brand is all the promises and perceptions that an organization wants its customers to feel about its product and service offerings."

Corporations often put a value to their brand, knowing it is an asset, even though it never shows up on any financial records. Late last summer, Business Week magazine and Interbrand, a Canadian brand management company, released their annual Best Global Brands report. Knowing that consistent brands can mean success or failure in the world market, this report gives dollar values to brand assets. It is no surprise that Coca-Cola, Microsoft and IBM rounded out the top three in this world brand-value list. Coca-Cola's brand was valued for the year at US$69.6 billion, US$64.1 billion for Microsoft and IBM's brand was priced at US$51.2 billion.

Although its name did not show up on the Best Global Brands report, Canadian telecommunications corporation Telus also capitalizes on its recognizable brand. "We treat brand as an asset and it is a huge asset for our company. We constantly protect and maintain it in any way we can. We define it and live it in all our actions," says Miriam Trottier, a communications representative at Telus.

Keeping a brand message consistent raises a brand's value as customers buy into the brand and trust its message. Sending out a differing message in any medium can have a negative effect on a company's brand. This includes incorporating both a consistent verbal message and a consistent image in all communication material, from TV ads to product packaging.

Packing up a brand

Product packaging is the final stage in a company's attempt to solicit customer purchase. To lose the brand consistency at this level would negate all other brand marketing for a product.

"In doing market research it is easy to see that consumers are very brand loyal. They always speak in terms of 'my brand,'" says Alicia Mulak, president of Corporate Visuals, a 20-year-old packaging design firm. "If something drastically changes with the design of their brand packaging, a customer wonders if what is inside has changed too."

Mulak explains that this is not due to a lack of intelligence on the part of the customer, it is just human nature. "Consumers are sophisticated. They know what brands are. They understand brands and they even know the power of a brand. But that is not to say they won't buy into brand marketing or feel loyalty towards a certain brand."

Based in Toronto, Corporate Visuals designs packages for such well known brands as Heinz ketchup and Chips Ahoy cookies (see Fine Print, page 42). The first step in redesigning an established product package is researching the customer to see where their loyalties lie and what part of the brand's legacy is important. "In household names that have been around so long there is heritage there and there are equitable elements we don't want to fool with. But first we need to establish what they are," says Mulak.

Understanding a company's brand may be the first step for a packaging designer, but developing that brand is a long and well-planned process for corporations. "Our brand is more than just our logo. It is a promise to our customers for consistent products and services. But that logo is an integral part of the promise. If that logo isn't perfect on a printed piece something is wrong," says Trottier. And what does Telus feel is the key to a perfect logo? The answer is (seemingly) as simple as green and purple.