Me Too, or Me Who? Target’s Up and Up Brand Sends No Message

November 6, 2009

Me Too, or Me Who? Target’s Up and Up Brand Sends No Message

The Strategia Design staff loves Target. We love the dollar bins that greet customers at the front of the store.  We like how the perimeter of the store is set for quick finds such as a 6-pack of soda, toothpaste, the latest DS game, and the seasonal items of the day. We appreciate how Target has created some of the strongest private label brands in the retailing industry with Archer Farm and Market Place. So, when Target introduced it’s new Up and Up value brand to replace the now iconic Target logo, we scratched our collective heads and asked, what’s up with Up and Up?

Before someone starts to flame on our blog, we first want to say, we know how challenging it is to design that many SKUS for a national audience. Check out our portfolio and our recent success with Smart and Final.

We’ve been watching Target’s new brand as both private label design experts and consumers. And while we can list many things we feel are wrong with Up and Up, a picture, to coin an extremely old cliché is worth a thousand words.

Since the dawn of private label, one of the strongest selling points was offering customers a price and value comparison to a national brand. The “me too” of marketing.  A private label would be sourced for a retailer and the packaging would be designed to follow the national brand.  This alternative product was placed on the shelf and the consumer could immediately see that there was a price comparison. It was up to the consumer to try the product and then determine if there was a quality comparison – but that’s another blog. Then came premium private labels. Here a product is sourced by a retailer with the goal of creating something new, not just a ‘’me too.” In the case of Target’s Archer Farms, this means 100s of skus of unique high-quality food items. A new brand is born with its own customer base, loyalty concerns, and quality.

Take a look at the two packages here. Can you as a consumer (or a marketer) tell the difference? Remember you have about 15 seconds of customer attention so no cheating. But wait you say, there is a difference. One package has an orange arrow the other a purple arrow and they are both pantiliners.

Great! But these are “me too” products can you tell what national brand they are compared to? We realize that it may be hard from a picture. But here’s the point, a well-designed ”me too” product is immediately recognizable. These are me who products. The customer isn’t buying the orange arrow over the purple arrow because it compares to their favorite brand. They can’t see that without taking time to read the packaging. Package copy is important but when it comes to consumer shopping habits don’t count on it.

Why bother creating all these products and then lose the sale and sense of variety because of a poor design?

The Up and Up coloring system is akin to the National Terror Warning color system. We all know the colors mean something but we’re not too sure so we ignore them. There have been calls from the public to simplify the threat system so that we can make better safety choices. Target should consider the same.