The New (and Unimproved) Fancy Feast

May 7, 2010

The New (and Unimproved) Fancy Feast

Have you ever experienced the moment when the brand you shop for weekly and are very loyal to goes ahead and completely changes their packaging? You find yourself in a predicament – you still want to buy the product, but ultimately you hate shopping for it now that you have to search the shelves and decipher the new labels to determine what package is hiding your steadfast product.

Well this happened to me recently with my cat food. My cat of 14 years has been eating Fancy Feast for his entire life and really loves it; the variety and portions are perfect for him. A few months ago, as I strolled down the pet food aisle, I was greeted not by the standard Fancy Feast shelf with its color coded, easy-to-shop look, but by a new display that appeared as if it had been repositioned for some specialty market targeting women, with soft gradations and type so tiny that even at 41 I needed readers just to see the flavor. My cat still needed to eat, so I have been doing my best to deal with the on shelf transition.

However, as both a consumer and a package designer, I’m honestly fed up. As a consumer, the brand has completely changed and I can’t find what I’m look for, and if it weren’t for the fact that I’m not about to irritate my cat or deal with the week of “digestive challenges” that inevitably goes along with a drastic change in diet, I’d switch brands today. As a designer, my goals are to make a product sell on shelf, make it easy to shop for, and ultimately make the consumer happy. Aesthetics, fancy gradations and script types comes next, if appropriate.

The Fancy Feast rebranding and repackaging defies all logic to me, and while I’ll continue to complain, like many consumers, I’ll just have to add an extra five minutes onto my already rushed shopping trips – just to navigate the cat food aisle!

Store brand loyal vs name brand

April 28, 2010

While many shoppers are drawn directly to their favorite name-brand products – to the point of asking where the “Tide” is rather than where the “laundry detergent” is… is it possible for a shopper to be loyal to store brand or private label products? I have to say yes – because I am a perfect example of a store-brand shopper. Perhaps growing up in a household where we were always budget-conscious led to my odd loyalties, for whenever I go shopping for a product, I’m not looking for my favorite name brand, I am looking for the “Harris Teeter”, “Wegmans”, or “CVS” comparable product.

I never really realized how I shopped until I was married and began sharing the grocery shopping duties with my husband. What was normal for me, was absolutely foreign to him. Like many consumers, he is every national brand managers’ dream, a very loyal shopper of the most popular or well-known name brand product out there. If it is advertised on TV, you can bet he’s more likely to pick it up off the shelf. This definitely tends to create issues while shopping together. I’ve gotten to the point where I’ll concede on some products, even I can admit that sometimes the value is lost if the quality isn’t up to par, but most of the time I do my best to convert him into a private-label shopper.

With the state of the economy, that has been a lot easier to do. I’ve found it is a much easier to convince my husband that the Harris Teeter pasta is just as good as the Barilla when he looks at where his 401K is today compared to 2 years ago. While I’m loyal to private label brands in both good and bad times, he is like many Americans today, and begins flocking to the private labels only when he feels it is truly necessary. In fact, according to a recent article by Grocery Headquarters, almost two-thirds of U.S. adults (63%) say they have purchased more generic brands in the past six months to save money while an additional 12% say they have considered doing so.

While I know I’ll continue to purchase private label products regardless of the economy, I realize I am not the typical consumer. Therefore, the million-dollar question on the minds of many private label brand managers is how to hold on to these new consumers as their wallets return to normal.

Ultimately, private labels have to be managed like any other brand – especially when the economy is running smoothly. When a consumer isn’t focusing on the concerns of portfolios, mortgages, and unemployment rates, they will turn right back to their national brand staple if they aren’t completely committed to the value they get from a store brand product, regardless of the price. Private label manufacturers have a great opportunity now to truly convince consumers that their brand is just as good – if not better – than the national brand, regardless of price. Now more than ever, it is important for private labels to improve the quality, presentation, and value of their products.

Shifting from Outdoor to Uptown: Repositioning a 100 yr old brand

April 21, 2010

As I opened my mail, I found a new catalog staring back at me. At first glance, it looked and felt like a cross between J. Crew and Abercrombie & Fitch, with a more mature twist. As I began flipping through it from back to front (the curse of a lefty), I realized that this wasn’t a new company, it was L.L. Bean, a retailer with almost 100 years under their belt, that had just repositioned itself quite drastically. When I think of L.L. Bean, I think of moms and dads and families who love life and live for their outdoor time – comfortable, basic and classic clothing and accessories. The new scripted L.L. Bean is young and trendy, even a little irreverent and arrogant. It was surprising and interesting to see a brand switch so dramatically virtually overnight. Everything I’ve learned and believe focuses on taking calculated steps in maintaining brand equity, so as not to alienate current consumers, while slowly evolving and broadening a brand to reach a new market.

As I continued flipping through the catalog, I realized I was looking at a new tier in their lineup – its “Signature” collection, and not a new positioning of their tried & true brand. According to their website, “What Leon Leonwood Bean began in 1912 has defined New England sytle for nearly a century. Now, his signature marks a new collection with an updated fit and style, featuring select items from our archives.” While I was able to breathe a small sigh of relief that the ”real” L.L. Bean must still exist, I was also intrigued. I guess I will give “Signature” a try and see what their future holds. You never know, maybe we moms and dads will be just a little more stylish in the near future.

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.

First Post!

August 15, 2009

Visual design and brand marketing firms, such as Strategia Design, work in a market desperately chasing customer wants, trends, and values all in the pursuit of sales and market shares.

Consumers are familiar with the “cola wars” and many people remember the battle of the batteries between the Energizer Bunny and The Duracell action people. These brand wars still exist and are crossing over to new fronts –watch out Google, here comes Bing. We can’t say if Bing will be able to win significant search engine market share but we’re going to enjoy watching the brand and marketing position. We hope that you’ll be watching too and that you’ll tune in to read our thoughts and become part of the dialogue. We invite customers, consumers, and friendly competitors to reach out so that we can measure the market and our own design successes. (more…)