In a beautiful attempt to make the world a better place, Absolut recently launched a naked bottle. The small label containing the underlying message that it’s the inside that really matters is meant to be removed after being read.
Having invested for many years in its bottle as the true icon of its brand, Absolut is probably one of the few brands in the world being able to launch this kind of special edition: a bottle without any graphical cue to support the brand message.
However, it seems that even the Absolut bottle is not iconic enough to be truly without graphical cues, as the country-of-Sweden guarantee seal has still been preserved on the bottle’s chest.
This makes me question the power of structural design when it comes to iconisation. Taking Bacardi as an example, its graphical bat-icon has become a recognisable symbol. It expressed its power in many occasions, varying from advertising to the endorsement of line-extensions. Of course, the Absolut bottle is the absolute star in many advertising campaigns. But when it comes to other icon-qualities, the bottle is not strong enough. One can wonder how many consumers recognise the small bottle-icon on the Level presentation? In this particular case, the bottle is not supported by the graphical guarantee seal, nor by any specific 3D cue, and then what remains of the Absolut icon?
A closer look to the naked bottle in comparison with the dressed version sheds light on this matter. The absence of the Absolut logo and body text has quite some influence on the expression of the bottle. The transparency of the glass and the thin-thick structure are less/ not visible and therewith a unique structural characteristic has disappeared.
Concerning the impact of the branding, the strength of the well-known type face becomes scary obvious when it is not there. Using this font on the small front label supports brand recognition, but after removing this label, the bottle seems to become an Absolut Nobody.
Compared to structural design, a graphical brand icon is a flexible attribute well executed to do its job: creating instant brand recognition. A unique structural design supports brand identification, but even a well communicated bottle shape like Absolut’s is not powerful enough to sufficiently communicate the brand on its own.
So, looking at the naked bottle, I’m glad that this is only a temporary attempt to make the world a better place, and that Absolut has not lost sight on the necessity of utilising its holistic creative power yet!
This column by Lianne van den Berg-Weitzel was published on Popsop on November 19th 2009
English version: http://popsop.com/category/articles/lianne-van-den-berg-weitzel-claessenscartils
Russian version: http://popsop.ru/category/articles/lianne-van-den-berg-weitzel-claessenscartils
Identity Magazine is the first (and leading) Russian magazine on branding and commercial design. The autumn 2007 issue included an article about Claessens Product Consultants’ approach to brand design. According to Claessens Product Consultants brand design can be approached in two ways: from a creative point of view and also starting from consumer drivers.
In this vision of brand design, the consumer plays the leading part. This extensive article looks further into the Claessens’ design approach by explaining a couple of consumer developments we see: premiumisation, need for authenticity, iconisation and power branding. These trends are illustrated by several design cases.
The link to this bilingual article contains the first page only. To read the full text article please contact Claessens Product Consultants.
An active role only can defend the brand of brand owners against brand violation. Claessens Product Consultants investigated brand protection issues and formulated guidelines for an active and a defensive policy against violation of FMCG brands.
CPC recommended six aspects to keep in mind when protecting your FMCB brand: Develop a strong brand representation; Register your brand carefully and keep the registration up to date; Perform consumer-research to support the legal procedure; Act immediately when you suspect violation but limit the amount of cases you bring to court to one at a time. In the full text article (Dutch only) you can read more about these recommendations and about real brand cases.
Publication of a Dutch packaging magazine showing an overview of several redesigns by Claessens Product Consultants. Read more in the full text article.
(Dutch only) download
3D is hot. While the development of packaging used to focus primarily on graphic design, in recent years a redesign with no consideration given to structural design would be almost unthinkable. Nowadays 3D seems to be leading the way in design development.
This article introduces a method developed by Claessens Product Consultants to relate product values to 3D form features.
A case about Bols Vodka shows how a distinctive appearance can underline and reinforce the desired market positioning and also stay within the limits of acceptable design.
A strong brand surprises and inspires and, in doing so, demonstrates its relevance to the modern consumer. The age of advertising as the tool for surprising and inspiring seems to have gone forever. Product experience and brand presentation provide excellent opportunities for renewing contact with the consumer and underscoring the brand’s relevance and vitality.
By using recent examples this article learns you more about how to use design as an effective tool for securing a brand’s relevance and vitality.
The Surprise and Inspiration strategies described provide the marketer with some very useful ways of achieving this for your brand.
All around us we see brand owners continually putting new brands on the market or reinforcing the position of existing brands. A relaunch or introduction often involves a new logo.
That logo must become embedded in the minds of potential consumers at the lowest possible cost and in the shortest possible time. But what is a good logo? What conditions might we specify for its design? The Bacardi bat and the Nike swoosh are completely different.
Are they both examples of strong shapes or could other, stronger logos have been developed on a lower budget? This article surveys the critical success factors of a logo.
Brand development increasingly stresses the importance of strong packaging. Its high contact frequency makes packaging the medium par excellence for brand communication. Normally, the focus is on creating solutions within the confines of the pack’s current psychical shape. Changing the pack shape – its structural design – has far reaching consequences and, given the cost of technology, distribution and logistics, requires considerable investment.
It is not a step that the brand owner takes lightly. But pack shape offers excellent opportunities for strengthening a brand, provided it is done well. Claessens Product Consultants has researched the significance of structural design in reinforcing brand presentation. The article looks into this study and explains how structural design can have added value for both the pack’s visibility and its powers of persuasion.
All around us we see brand owners continually putting new brands on the market or reinforcing the position of existing brands. A relaunch or introduction often involves a new logo. That logo must become embedded in the minds of potential consumers at the lowest possible cost and in the shortest possible time. But what is a good logo? What conditions might we specify for its design? The Bacardi bat and the Nike swoosh are completely different. Are they both examples of strong shapes or could other, stronger logos have been developed on a lower budget? This article surveys the critical success factors of a logo.
Due to the strict category regulation the tobacco industry had to remove the word ‘Light’ from their cigarette packs. Tobacco companies reacted different on this new regulation regarding their packaging design and chose to change colour, design shape or looked for a new terminology. In this article Claessens Product Consultants comments on the choice to change the colour of the cigarette pack and discusses the global differences in colour effects.
