nielsen design impact awards chronicles: real stories … · 2019-05-29 · francisco-based...

NIELSEN DESIGN IMPACT AWARDS CHRONICLES:

REAL STORIES THAT HIGHLIGHT THE POWER OF PACK DESIGN2018 EDITION

At Nielsen, data drives everything we do—even art. That’s why we used real data to create this image. Copyright © 2018 The Nielsen Company (US), LLC. Confidential and proprietary. Do not distribute.

2 Copyright © 2018 The Nielsen Company (US), LLC. Confidential and proprietary. Do not distribute.

INTRODUCTION

Packaging is a key element of winning at the first moment of truth: the point of sale. Like advertising, packaging not only puts forward the benefits of the product and builds equity but, when done well, it also directly drives consumer purchase. Traditional and emerging media channels can often be too expensive for shrinking advertising budgets, but package design is the “media” channel accessible to brands of all sizes and equally as important. In fact, there is still no other marketing medium that reaches 100% of category buyers while they are making purchase decisions at the shelf. In today’s overwhelmingly busy environment, marketers should invest in and prioritize great package design.

In addition, the shopping experience is becoming much more fragmented in our increasingly digital world, with e-commerce becoming a more dominant force in the retail market every year. Marketers must ensure package designs not only stand out at shelf—but be recognizable and clearly resonate with e-commerce shoppers. The online retail space is a huge opportunity for new brands where they need to get noticed and become part of the consumer’s consideration set. Consumers are comfortable evaluating products online and oftentimes seek more information, which is good news for new brands.

Furthermore, brands need to think about how their packaging will resonate among a multitude of consumer groups, particularly Millennials. Package design can win over this coveted shopper group that will continue to increase in spending power and grow and diversify their shopping behaviors. From the goods they purchase to their interaction with companies, Millennials put a premium on authenticity, creativity and distinctiveness. They’re also more influenced by—and willing to pay more for—good package design. According to Nielsen’s 2016 U.S. Packaging and Attitudes Survey, 68% say they have purchased a product solely based on its visual design.

Despite these benefits, package design is often overlooked by marketers because it’s not as new or exciting as digital media, and its impact can be difficult to quantify. In addition, brand managers are often wary of making packaging changes, opting to focus more on mitigating sales risk rather than maximizing opportunity. However, we know that optimized package redesigns based on quantitative consumer feedback generate an average 5.5% lift in forecasted revenue when compared with current designs.1

Source: 1Nielsen, “Packaging Sells,” 2015.


THE NIELSEN DESIGN IMPACT AWARDWe created The Nielsen Design Impact Award as an avenue to celebrate brands that are elevating the role of packaging in the marketing mix and demonstrate the considerable impact that effective package design can have. Specifically, the award recognizes seriously successful package redesigns in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space—ones that have helped drive significant increases in brands’ bottom lines.

Earlier this year, we invited brand marketers and design agencies to submit their projects for consideration. During the weeks that followed, we received hundreds of entries describing successful package redesigns launched between Jan. 1, 2015, and March 1, 2017. From there, we conducted a review of the in-market performance for these initiatives using Nielsen’s Retail Measurement data, identifying those associated with a demonstrable increase in retail sales dollars and units in the year after the redesign when compared with the year prior. Next, for a subset of initiatives, Nielsen surveyed thousands of consumers to assess how well each redesign addressed its core communication objectives and to gauge purchase preference for the new packages over the old ones.

Based on our analysis, we selected five design initiatives—three winners and two honorable mentions—that leveraged package design to truly remarkable effect. They represent a wide range of business situations: a disruptor in an established category, the missing piece to a larger visual identity, an iconic brand losing relevance with new consumers, and more.

While our winners certainly aren’t the only entries that made a meaningful impact on brands’ bottom lines, they represent a few of the more extraordinary cases. Read on—we think you’ll see why.

HUNDREDS OF ENTRIES WENT

THROUGH IN-MARKET

ANALYSIS

PRIMARY SURVEY RESEARCH TO ARRIVE AT OUR TOP 3 + 2 HONORABLE MENTIONS


Sabra Guacamole Tessemae’s Salad Dressing

fairlife Ice Breakers Ice Cubes Robert Mondavi Private Selection

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2018 NIELSEN DESIGN IMPACT AWARD WINNERSWINNERS

HONORABLE MENTIONS


IN WINNERS’ OWN WORDS: STORIES OF EPIC DESIGN SUCCESS

At Nielsen, data drives everything we do—even art. That’s why we used real data to create this image. Copyright © 2018 The Nielsen Company (US), LLC. Confidential and proprietary. Do not distribute.

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WINNER

FAIRLIFEA disruptor in the dairy aisle

Unlike brands that keep the same packaging for years and years, fairlife explored the idea of a redesign just a year after its national launch in 2015 and let’s be clear: the brand was already doing tremendously well in-market. So why decide to change something that wasn’t broken?

To break through the white noise in the dairy aisle, Brad Gruen, vice president of brand marketing at fairlife, explains their decision, “At fairlife there is an innovative spirit to challenge the way things are across all aspects of the business and to turn those ideas into reality. This pioneering approach is led by our founders, Mike and Sue McCloskey who began the fairlife journey with an unwavering commitment to sustainable dairy farming, exceptional cow care, one-of-a-kind traceability and innovative agricultural practices. So our dedication to find the right packaging for the fairlife portfolio has been a journey powered by that same spirit. If you’re going to shake up the dairy door with a proposition that takes value-added dairy to the next level, your packaging plays a critical role in educating and inspiring consumers to try something different.”

Based on quantitative and qualitative research, fairlife knew there was a significant opportunity to better convey the proposition, strengthen purchase intent, drive taste perception and improve shelf impact. “As the brand was gaining momentum, the timing was right to make sure we were communicating that fairlife is real, nutrient-rich delicious milk and that we’re a passionate group of dairy farmers committed to the craft of producing amazing milk,” said Gruen.

fairlife partnered with the Coca-Cola Design team, led by James Sommerville and San Francisco-based creative agency Turner Duckworth on this redesign (fairlife is a partnership between The Coca-Cola Company and Select Milk Producers Inc. Coca-Cola distributes fairlife products). Sommerville’s team provided critical input to strengthen and clarify the objectives of the creative brief. Those were non-negotiables in the team’s mind, but everything else was open for discovery. “We wanted the agency to be educated on the business challenge, but also inspire them to think big and bold, just as our founders did many years ago with this disruptive innovation,” said Gruen.

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Next, Gruen elaborated on their feedback from consumers during early stage concept testing, “We heard statements like, ‘Is this real milk? Have you messed with my milk? It tastes too good to have all these benefits.’ At fairlife, we are much more of a craft than a process and the design needed to reinforce that. Equally as important, our core tenants of better taste, better nutrition and better values needed to be represented in the new design.”

“We didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. You need to explore and understand what doesn’t work during the creative process to inevitably determine what will be the most compelling design. If we had limited Turner Duckworth to very close-in thinking, we wouldn’t have achieved our breakthrough design and visual identity system. We explored five different creative spaces and close to 50 different designs,” he continued.

Through the process, the team decided on key design elements:

• The cow icon needed to communicate real milk in a thoughtful, inviting and approachable way. For instance, at least 10 versions of the cow’s eyes were explored to ensure they were approachable yet realistic enough. Also embedded in the cow is a discovery item—the exclamation point which reinforces the energy and vitality of the proposition.

• The claims underneath the cow icon helped to declutter the packaging. Previously, the claims were on the top and bottom of the package and weren’t resonating well with consumers. The proximity of the wordmark icon to the claims also maximized eye tracking and readability.

• The fonts softened the tone-of-voice, reinforcing the craft versus processed approach. The upside-down “i” provided consistency from the previous design and reinforced the brand personality. In addition, the more pronounced use of color increased taste appeal and stand-out.

“Many brands only focus on the front panel and don’t give as much thought to the sides or back panel. We spent a significant amount of time and resources across each panel. The redesign as a whole educates consumers on our mission, patented filtration system and bundle of benefits in a relevant and contemporary way. The front panel invites consumers in, but I don’t think we’d have the success without thinking about the design holistically,” explained Gruen.

“WE DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE ANY STONE UNTURNED. YOU NEED TO EXPLORE WHAT DOESN’T WORK DURING THE CREATIVE PROCESS TO INEVITABLY DETERMINE WHAT WILL BE THE MOST COMPELLING DESIGN. IF WE WERE LIMITED TO VERY CLOSE-IN THINKING, WE WOULDN’T HAVE ACHIEVED OUR BREAKTHROUGH DESIGN.”BRAD GRUEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF BRAND MARKETING AT FAIRLIFE


This new package made such an immediate impact at shelf with an astonishing 55% increase in sales after the first year, growing faster than the entire organic, plant-based and dairy alternative segments combined.2 “The design did a lot of the heavy lifting for us, because it finally became the element that allowed us to jump off the shelves. There’s an interesting enthusiasm and excitement about our series of products right now—not only with consumers but with retailers too. After a decline of fluid milk sales, retailers were also trying to bring new life to their dairy door. As soon as the new design was released, we received calls from our sales team that they couldn’t keep the product on shelf, demonstrating the immediate cause and effect of good design. Our pack redesign was a germinal moment,” said Anders Porter, vice president of communications at fairlife.

The redesign was the start of new visual identity system that could be extended to other products in fairlife’s portfolio. “We had a series of individually successful products out there, but didn’t have a master brand umbrella to place them all under,” elaborated Porter. “The fairlife redesign and visual identity project allowed us to think strategically about everything we make and how they tie together visually. This new design allowed us to streamline our message across the entire portfolio.”

Remarkably, fairlife’s new design was perceived as 2.5 times better at conveying its strategic intent as found in Nielsen’s primary research.3 Gruen concluded with what made this one-of-a-kind redesign so successful, “First, a very clear brief with our mission and objectives was critical. Then, we created an environment where people were willing to take risks and embrace an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit. Secondly, we had the right team in place with world-class subject matter experts to turn a brief into a manifestation of our proposition through design. Lastly, if great brands were formulaic, then everyone would’ve figured it out, but you need the right balance of art and science. For example, our front panel showcases our functional claims and benefits, but there’s humanity to our design; the detail in the cow, the soft fonts and the colors are all parts of the craft. If you have too much art without enough science, it’s just going to be a nice piece of design work, but if you have too much science without art, you’re going to have something that feels sterile. In this case, it was that perfect balance,” concluded Gruen.

Source: 2Nielsen Scantrack Database, all outlets combined, 52 weeks ended 1/1/2018

3Nielsen Design Primary Research, Among Milk Category Buyers, Strategic Objective: Deliciously natural and nutrient-rich milk product, 2018

fairlife master brand in 2018 (leveraging visual identity system developed for 2017 launch)

“THE DESIGN BECAME THE ELEMENT THAT FINALLY ALLOWED US TO JUMP OFF THE SHELVES AS WE’RE GROWING FASTER THAN THE ENTIRE ORGANIC, PLANT-BASED AND DAIRY ALTERNATIVE SEGMENTS COMBINED.”ANDERS PORTER, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AT FAIRLIFE


WINNER

ICE BREAKERS ICE CUBESThe missing puzzle piece of a new visual identity

Hershey was in the midst of a global redesign for its Ice Breakers gum and mints candy brand in 2012. The Hershey Global Design team realized that an expanded worldwide presence in new markets warranted an updated, unifying brand identity—but executing that vision across the portfolio is where the challenge began.

To bring Ice Breakers’ new visual identity system to life, Fernanda Amarante, senior global design manager at Hershey, partnered with LPK, a North American creative agency. It started with one pack, then transcended into a progressive takeover of the individual sub-lines and the whole brand world. The brand elements were updated strategically one-by-one, starting with the iconic Ice Breakers Mints, followed by Duos, then Sours, and finally Ice Cubes. Ice Cubes was the missing piece of the puzzle for Ice Breakers’ new visual identity and the focus of our story today. We’ll learn how the strategic minds at Hershey and creative experts at LPK sought to increase findability and shopability in the jungle of the impulse candy section.

First and foremost, Amarante explained how Hershey thinks about design: “The pack definitely has a role within the marketing strategy of a brand. It would be irresponsible to treat the pack in isolation from the rest of the marketing mix; it’s important to treat it holistically. Design is everywhere—everything consumers see touch, experience, smell—and pack represents one of the many, many ways design comes to life.”

The team at Hershey was clear on this design’s objectives from the beginning, “At the time of the redesign in 2015, Ice Cubes was still in a very outdated world that didn’t communicate our refreshing ice and flavor crystals effectively. It was necessary to find a way to bridge

“THE PACK DEFINITELY HAS A ROLE WITHIN THE MARKETING STRATEGY OF A BRAND. IT WOULD BE IRRESPONSIBLE TO TREAT THE PACK IN ISOLATION FROM THE REST OF THE MARKETING MIX; IT’S IMPORTANT TO TREAT IT HOLISTICALLY.”FERNANDA AMARANTE, SENIOR GLOBAL DESIGN MANAGER AT HERSHEY

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the gap between mints and gum. All touch points had to reflect the essence of the brand—the crystals. Our entire brand needs to show up at retail in the way that feels unifying and cohesive in the minds of our consumers—shopability is key,” Amarante commented.

Through the process, Danielle Lewis, brand director at LPK, described their relationship with Hershey: “It was imperative not to think of this as just a packaging assignment, but truly understand what the brand stands for. When you understand its position in the marketplace and what challenges it needs to overcome, you’re able to provide a better recommendation. Having a partnership where both parties can have honest, real feedback is key. In this case, we all understood the product benefit—refreshing crystallization in a unique cube shape—wasn’t coming through strongly on pack especially in the new visual identity system we created for Ice Breakers.”

“By exploring broadly in the beginning of the process, we had established the new identity for the entire Ice Breakers brand. At this final stage of the process, with the redesign of Ice Cubes, we already knew the sandbox Ice Cubes was placed in—where we could flex and where we couldn’t. Our strategy and guardrails were well established. For example, Hershey didn’t want the structural shape of the package to change so buyers could still easily find them on shelf and incorporating the crystal pattern was a must. The biggest challenge is always how far to push the work so that there are brand unifiers but also sub-brand differentiators. When one main asset unifies the brand, what other levers do you create to push the different sub-brands apart? This was a challenge across all of Ice Breakers, but the Ice Cubes’ unique cubed form helped us separate this offering from the rest of the portfolio,” Lewis continued.

“THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS ALWAYS HOW FAR TO PUSH THE WORK SO THAT THERE ARE BRAND UNIFIERS BUT ALSO SUB-BRAND DIFFERENTIATORS. WHEN ONE MAIN ASSET UNIFIES THE BRAND, WHAT OTHER LEVERS DO YOU CREATE TO PUSH THE DIFFERENT SUB-BRANDS APART?”DANIELLE LEWIS, BRAND DIRECTOR AT LPK


The two biggest obstacles of this redesign were printing limitations and ensuring all 13 flavors were well differentiated and clearly represented through their packaging. “We weren’t able to translate the iconic, holographic Mints crystal experience onto the Cubes due to the structure of the canister and the shrink wrap material surrounding it. So it was important for us to translate the brand’s unifying crystal dimensionality to Ice Cubes in a unique way without relying on a special printing finish to augment it. We used a highly dimensional crystalized design element in the background of the canister to solve for this. The design also had to be tremendously flexible so we could go from peppermint to strawberry—and everywhere in between—on-shelf. We were very honest with ourselves in terms of what it takes to win at shelf, realizing it could be a subtle or major difference. Going from a one-line logo lockup to breaking the words ‘Ice Cubes’ onto two lines made us a much bolder presence at shelf, created better brand blocking and allowed us to scream louder in an already crowded category. In the end, these limitations didn’t hold us back, we just had to think outside the box. We created a new expression of the crystals that allowed us to have a more remarkable presence on the set,” explained Amarante.

Most importantly, that remarkable presence translated into actual sales dollars. The newly established design unity across the entire Ice Breakers line encouraged consumers to buy products they might not have tried before. At the time of the launch, Ice Breakers as a parent brand was not advertised, so the 18% growth in sales after the redesign was truly driven by the new design.4 Ice Cubes became bigger and bolder at shelf even though the structure of the pack didn’t change—a remarkable design achievement. The reception from retailers was also very positive, they understood the brand’s new end-to-end vision on-shelf, resulting in 6% more distribution for an already well-established brand.4

“Marketing leaders here at Hershey absolutely love the effect that design has on building brands as demonstrated in the Ice Cubes redesign. Not only does design unify your visual perspective and make for a great competitive advantage, but it makes a true impact on your brand’s bottom line. As a result, our team absolutely expected a lift in the Ice Cubes business—and we made it happen. We were able to suddenly occupy a much bigger footprint at shelf and show up much more cohesively as a brand with our consumers,” concluded Amarante.



WINNER

ROBERT MONDAVI PRIVATE SELECTIONExploring broadly in premium wine

The U.S. premium wine segment, which typically includes bottles in the $9-$10 range, is an ultra-competitive place to be in the wine aisle these days. It’s absolutely essential that brands put their best bottle forward to compete here. In 2015, Constellation Brands realized that its Robert Mondavi Private Selection (RMPS) line was losing relevance and share in this segment. The brand was at risk of losing shelf space at key retailers. The message was loud and clear: a massive brand renovation from top to bottom was necessary, and it would revolve around design.

RMPS needed to reconnect with wine drinkers. The brand was being overlooked on-shelf and was blending in with the other traditional, cream-colored labels in the competitive set. Ed Rice, director of strategy at Affinity Creative Group, a Napa-based creative agency, commented on the situation, “Robert Mondavi is one of the most iconic brands in U.S. winemaking history. It was important not only to protect the brand’s equities, but make them work even more effectively. Our clients knew they had strong visual equities in the Robert Mondavi bell tower and classic use of typography, but they felt the brand presentation was being shortchanged by the big swash of color on the old label. The heavy use of color seemed to be pulling the brand down in the marketplace as it is common for mass brands at a lower price point to embrace the use of strong varietal color coding. Other than these points, our clients were wide open to a broad creative exploration and they encouraged Affinity to dive in.”

“NIELSEN’S AND AFFINITY’S PHILOSOPHIES INTERSECT ON THE VALUE OF GENERATING A BROAD RANGE OF CREATIVE OPTIONS. AFFINITY IS ONE OF THE FEW BRAND AND PACKAGING DESIGN FIRMS THAT BELIEVES ‘MORE IS MORE.’”ED RICE, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY AT AFFINITY CREATIVE GROUP

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Rice continued, “Interestingly, Nielsen’s and Affinity’s philosophies intersect on the value of generating a broad range of creative options. Affinity is one of the few brand and packaging design firms that believes ‘more is more.’ A more extensive creative exploration, assuming that there’s appropriate budget, leads to a better outcome. It helps get a sense of how far is too far; also, when exploring broadly, something totally unexpected might happen just because you had the freedom to push it a little bit further. In this particular redesign program, we explored 22 new creative directions for the brand.”

Research became a pivotal point in the process to narrow down creative options. Constellation Brands took the brand design work through multiple rounds of quantitative and qualitative studies. Heather Cappola, director of client services at Affinity said, “Constellation believes in consumer research, so it’s important for the agency to develop a wide range of designs with real, distinct differences. The idea is to get them in front of consumers and elicit a range of reactions. It leads to better diagnostics. For example, when consumers said they liked the bell tower, we could probe to learn what they liked about it. Sometimes consumers can’t express themselves clearly, but if you have multiple options of the bell tower and they gravitate to a particular one, you’ll know what’s working. You’re not going to get a rich diagnostic read if all the designs are similar and relatively close-in.”

A TASTE OF THE EARLY CREATIVE DIRECTIONS EXPLORED

OLD DESIGN FINAL DESIGN


After the consumer research, Rice discussed aspects of the final selected design: “The client shifted to a new bottle shape and weight—it has broader shoulders, a tapered profile, and a flared base. To take advantage of the new structure, we created a unique die cut at the top of the label. It brings your eye down to the center of the label so that it lands on the tower. There are a lot of subtle details on the label—for example, the border has additional embellishment underneath which adds distinction and sets it off nicely from competitors. During the course of the redesign, Constellation also worked on sensory research to improve flavor profiles, so we needed to use every communication tool available to signify the wine in the bottle is really, really good. To ensure that message resonated with consumers, we encouraged the client to invest in printing enhancements such as upgraded paper stock to hold eye-catching embossing effects and texturized treatments. The RMPS team really challenged us to create a label that was classic and timeless, but also current and contemporary—this outcome is the perfect balance.”

Recently, there’s been a lot of experimentation with dark label choices in wine, but what exactly does it say to consumers? Rice explains why the RMPS team decided on this direction, “Obviously, it was an extreme contrast to shift from a predominantly cream background to an entirely black label, a very bold move for such a large franchise. But, it really helped differentiate the brand within its particular competitive set. The client wanted an upgrade. Black is a traditional, classic quality cue—think tuxedos and little black dresses or sleek, high-end limos. It’s an additional driver of quality and a little unexpected at this price point. Combined with the embossed silver and gold tower it really stands out. There is sometimes a concern about looking too recessive on the shelf if you move to a darker label, but the new solution is actually quite striking and allows the brand name to be much more legible at-a-glance.”


Source: 5Nielsen Primary Research, 2018 6Nielsen Scantrack Database, all outlets combined, 52 weeks ended 11/4/2017

“WE BELIEVE THE BLACK LABEL DESIGN MAKES IT FEEL MORE CONTEMPORARY AND HELPS TO TARGET THOSE CROSSOVER CONSUMERS. THEY MAY START THEIR SHOPPING JOURNEY ON A LOWER PRICE TIER, BUT WORK THEIR WAY UP TO SOMETHING JUST A LITTLE MORE EXPENSIVE—SEDUCED BY A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT LOOK.”HEATHER CAPPOLA, DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES AT AFFINITY CREATIVE GROUP

Cappola elaborated, “I think the use of black was an interesting discovery for all of us. It could be that consumers shopping the popular red blend section have become accustomed to darker labels or perhaps it feels more relevant for wine packaging now? In this category, the use of a black label design can encourage consumers to try something different—be a little more adventurous. We believe it makes RMPS feel more contemporary and helps to target those crossover consumers. They may start their shopping journey on a lower price tier, but work their way up to something just a little more expensive—seduced by a slightly different look.”

In the end, this enormous franchise took a big, yet calculated risk, and it paid off. In fact, 61% of consumers would be more likely to purchase this new design over the old one.5 This redesign was a true partnership between the brand and agency with an atmosphere of trust and honest feedback built in—neither party wanted to hold anything back. As a result, RMPS varietals saw a 14% lift in sales the year after the redesign.6


HONORABLE MENTION

SABRA GUACAMOLEStanding out in the avocado explosion

In 2015, Sabra Guacamole experienced a sales decline for the first time ever after years of double-digit growth. Anne-Laure Bajeux, brand manager for Sabra Guacamole, elaborated on the situation: “The guacamole path to purchase was getting much more complex: more competition had joined the category, pricing was more aggressive, and different levels of quality and freshness were becoming available at shelf. It became essential for us to regain market share by leveraging the Sabra brand equity and building preference for our guacamole offering, especially among millennials.”

“When the guacamole launched in 2010, Sabra felt it needed to look distinctly different from the hummus offerings to avoid confusion, but it became apparent the packaging lacked a strong connection to the parent brand, especially without the iconic red rim. Everything about the design was too small to make an impact at shelf. The ingredient imagery was tiny, scattered and lacked freshness cues. Lastly, the Mexican-inspired pattern around the edge added clutter without driving appeal,” explained Julia Beardwood, founding partner of Beardwood&Co., the New York branding agency that worked on this project.

The creative brief and objectives for this redesign were built based on previous research around drivers of consumption for fresh dips. Beardwood explained how they approached

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“INVESTING A LITTLE TIME AND MONEY IN UPFRONT THINKING, COMPETITIVE AUDITING AND DISCUSSION ABOUT WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE PAYS OFF BIG TIME. WE ALWAYS GET TO BETTER OUTCOMES FASTER WITH THESE UPFRONT INSIGHTS.”JULIA BEARDWOOD, FOUNDING PARTNER OF BEARDWOOD&CO.


the redesign, “Investing a little time and money in upfront thinking, competitive auditing and discussion about what success looks like pays off big time. From an agency perspective, we often have to defend this step because marketers want us to get to the design right away, but we always get to better outcomes faster with these upfront insights. After our initial research, we agreed this was about leveraging the Sabra brand and clearly communicating a modern, fresh and fun guacamole (not hummus). Mood boards helped us narrow down design territories before getting to pack designs. We presented six package design concepts to understand how far we could push the brand and prioritize what to communicate on-pack. It’s important to explore a wide enough range of design directions to make sure everyone feels confident about the selected approach.”

The team selected a final design choice by prioritizing in-store visibility and brand recognition. Bringing the iconic red rim on the hummus package over to the guacamole immediately increased brand impact, and beautiful food photography was well worth the investment to deliver appetite appeal. When it comes to food, taste appeal always wins. To launch this new design, the pack was featured prominently throughout in-store activation and other marketing efforts, serving as the centerpiece to encourage trial. The team learned that the green color and the red rim were instrumental to catch attention, identify Sabra and build awareness—all critical elements to drive trial. As a result of this hard work, the redesigned guacamole offerings were completely revitalized at shelf with double-digit sales growth a year after their debut in 2016.7 In Nielsen’s primary research, the vast majority of guacamole consumers (89%) also considered the new design to fit very well with the existing Sabra brand, a key objective for this initiative.8

Bajeux reflected on what made this redesign special, “Dare to make a change and properly assess risks and opportunities. Changing a packaging can be risky, but if well managed can also be a great opportunity. It’s important to correctly assess each change you make and monitor the transition onto shelves. It would have been a higher risk to stay where we were, and I’m proud of Sabra for taking the step.” The guacamole redesign even inspired Sabra’s complete rebranding hitting shelves in 2018.

“DARE TO MAKE A CHANGE AND PROPERLY ASSESS RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES. CHANGING A PACKAGING CAN BE RISKY, BUT IF WELL MANAGED CAN ALSO BE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY.”ANNE-LAURE BAJEUX, BRAND MANAGER FOR SABRA GUACAMOLE

Source: 7Nielsen Scantrack Database, total grocery, 52 weeks ended 6/17/17 8Nielsen Design Primary Research, Guacamole consumers who consider the new design to “fit extremely or very well” with the Sabra brand (top two box), 2018


Tessemae’s realized its once unique folksy charm wasn’t winning with consumers in the refrigerated salad dressing aisle anymore. Greg Vetter, CEO and founder, made some distinct observations in early 2016: “I started seeing our general aesthetic and signature fonts on other packaging all over the store. That was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back. We needed to be ahead of the curve—not in it.”

The brand brought in Baltimore-based creative agency, Harvey, for the redesign. “Tessemae’s is the real deal when it comes to genuinely healthy, great-tasting, clean-label organic salad dressings. However, the packaging had become a jigsaw puzzle of communication that failed to breakthrough with shoppers,” according to John Makowski, agency partner and creative director at Harvey.

Harvey’s consumer research showed that the packaging’s reliance on distressed textures and overtly hand-done elements had lost its credibility with health-savvy consumers. “The overall approach lacked the simplicity needed for quick registration and impact,” said Makowski.

HONORABLE MENTION

TESSEMAE’S ORGANIC SALAD DRESSINGCleaning up clean label

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“WE USED THE ‘HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE’ ANALOGY QUITE A BIT—SAME HUMAN BEING, DIFFERENT PERSON. OUR RESEARCH WITH CONSUMERS DURING THE EXPLORATION PHASE DIRECTED THE REDESIGN’S FRAMEWORK.”GREG VETTER, CEO AND FOUNDER AT TESSSEMAE’S


Tessemae’s was willing to explore broadly, but wanted it to feel like a graduation of their brand. Vetter elaborated, “We used the ‘high school to college’ analogy quite a bit—same human being, different person. Our research with consumers during the exploration phase directed the redesign’s framework (e.g., flavor forward, cleaner label, replace the family history with something more relevant, etc.). With all things Tessemae’s-related—the new design direction had to feel just right.”

“We delivered a wide range of options, but knowing the client’s goals and their appetite for change, the options skewed more toward a dramatic departure. With clients who are looking to completely change where they’ve been but aren’t totally sure where they want to go, sometimes seeing two to three options isn’t enough for them to feel 100% confident. So in those relationships, letting them see that no stone went unturned goes a long way. But it’s important to have genuine perspective on what you’re sharing. Know where you’re taking them and why,” said Makowski.

Throughout the process, Harvey was driven by the belief that designing for today’s consumers requires examination beyond the physical shelf. “To win with modern consumers the creative needs to account for the myriad of ways they discover and shop the product. We understood the role social media and e-commerce could play for Tessemae’s, so everything we created for the packaging: the brand identity, messaging, product benefits and key visuals had to work just as effectively on-screen as it would on-shelf. We had to provide consumers with all the tools to discover and share what’s most important about the product with the least amount of effort on their end,” explained Makowski.

The redesign was absolutely game changing in a declining category. Vibrant pops of color on white backgrounds and a playful, easy-to-navigate system for the health benefits delivered a clean and impactful design. The switch to a more approachable aesthetic with easier to discover benefits resulted in almost 200% growth in sales.9 As a premium clean label salad dressing, Tessemae’s now drives a majority of growth in the category and retailers have noticed—expanding from 4,000 to 10,000 stores in less than six months after the redesign. While exceptionally healthy, this brand never takes itself too seriously—except when it comes to strategic package design.

“WE DELIVERED A WIDE RANGE OF OPTIONS, BUT KNOWING THE CLIENT’S GOALS AND THEIR APPETITE FOR CHANGE, THE OPTIONS SKEWED MORE TOWARD A DRAMATIC DEPARTURE. WITH CLIENTS WHO ARE LOOKING TO CHANGE COMPLETELY, SOMETIMES SEEING TWO TO THREE OPTIONS ISN’T ENOUGH.”JOHN MAKOWSKI, AGENCY PARTNER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR AT HARVEY



TO LEARN HOW NIELSEN HELPS BRANDS MAXIMIZE THEIR RETURN ON DESIGN, VISIT: NIELSEN.COM/PACKAGE-DESIGN-TESTING

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSSpecial thanks to all the entrants of the Nielsen Design Impact Award contest, our partners at The Dieline, and The Nielsen Design Impact Award team: Genevieve Aronson, Allie Van Arsdale, Catherine Downing, Allison Kehoe, Kyle McKinley, Raul Ortiz , Bill Quinn, Laura Richardson, Non Wachirajindakul, and Nick Woodbury.

ABOUT NIELSENNielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global measurement and data analytics company that provides the most complete and trusted view available of consumers and markets worldwide. Our approach marries proprietary Nielsen data with other data sources to help clients around the world understand what’s happening now, what’s happening next, and how to best act on this knowledge. For more than 90 years Nielsen has provided data and analytics based on scientific rigor and innovation, continually developing new ways to answer the most important questions facing the media, advertising, retail and fast-moving consumer goods industries. An S&P 500 company, Nielsen has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND WHAT’S NEXT ™

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nielsen design impact awards chronicles: real stories … · 2019-05-29 · francisco-based...

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