Package Design - March 2013 - 24

Brand owners need to be open to change but at the same
time employ the right methodologies and the right tools to
understand how far they can stretch the design, how far they
can go with it without hurting the key asset, which is the brand.
— Stergios Bititsios, associate director, packaging and design, at MMR Research Worldwide

Little Big Brands
designed the
Contac
packaging with
colors that
quickly conveyed
when the product
should be
used—orange for
the daytime
product and dark
purple for the
nighttime option.

MARCH 2013

Like blue, black has a longstanding meaning to
the shopping public. “Black always has been synonymous with expensive upscale, luxury,” says
Newmaster.
In The Wall Street Journal article, “Packaging
Noir: Shampoo, Beer, Gelato All Wear Black,”
Suzanne Vranica notes the wide breadth of packaged goods verticals using black to say premium—
from solid air fresheners in black cone packages to
feminine care products.
At the other end of the spectrum, Newmaster
says, the messaging is not as black-and-white.
“It seems like everything’s been thrown up in
the air,” he remarks. “White used to represent
generic then it was upscale then it came back to
private label.”
“But then, I think about [premium coffee
brand] Starbucks’ redesigned packaging,” he adds.
“When Starbucks redid their coffee packaging,
they went to white. I know there was some pushback initially, but then I think they did the right
thing. They went for shelf impact in an already
confusing category that had color just
everywhere.”
And when you consider kids’ growing
influence in shopping decisions, color messaging gets even more complex. “We did a
shop-along with a bunch of kids and a cou-

ple of our clients from a big candy company,”
Goodwin recalls. “We saw 22 kids in three shifts
and asked them, what green means in gum and
candies. For chewy candy, green didn’t necessarily
mean lime, strawberry or watermelon. Instead of,
seeing color as a cue for a specific fruit flavor, the
kids told the researchers that the color indicated
that they were about to taste something sour.”
That’s why consumer researchers such as
Bititsios say it’s so important to test color strategies
for brands. “It requires experimentation,” he
remarks. “Brand owners need to be open to change
but at the same time employ the right methodologies and the right tools to understand how far they
can stretch the design, how far they can go with it
without hurting the key asset, which is the brand.”

No risk, no reward
“We’re hearing from clients that they are seeing a
sea of sameness out there and are looking for us
to make intelligent color choices,” John Nunziato,
founder and creative director at
Little Big Brands, says.
This is making some brands
more willing to try less conventional colors. “Health care brands
are using color gamuts that are on
the brighter side, almost on the

Package Design - March 2013

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