Dive Brief:
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Four products recently went through varying degrees of rebranding to better appeal to retail customers but also to attract online attention, according to New Hope Network. Jeni's Ice Cream went for added color and emotion, No Cow was after a clean label image, Farmhand Organics sought additional transparency, and Essentia wanted to transmit its core values to a target audience.
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Each of the companies wanted to retain some of the original product look but have the new packaging be different enough to generate excitement and customer interest, especially among competing products on store shelves and on social media sites.
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For Jeni's, bright colors and a large centered logo did the trick. No Cow got rid of a cluttered look and ended up with a simple, no-nonsense image. Farmhand Organics got a new name and label design featuring larger and more modern lettering. Essentia went for a big, bold statement while keeping the same identifiable color scheme.
Dive Insight:
The four manufacturers wanted to switch up the messages their product designs were sending to retail and online customers by phasing out designs that no longer conveyed what the products are about today. Even if nothing inside the package has changed, a rebranding can generate interest and excitement, and, as consumer tastes change, products sometimes need to evolve how they look to change with them.
Rebranding and repositioning also can generate financial rewards. After SodaStream rebranded itself last year to focus more on sparkling water products than just soda, the company saw a big boost in stock and sales figures — even without changing its name.
Nestle's Lean Cuisine had been declining for a few years before its packaging overhaul. The company observed that in order for the brand to survive, it would have to change consumer perceptions about the product and the overall frozen food category. Lean Cuisine's redesign helped drive a sales increase of $58 million in the following year. Countless other companies, including Dole's salad kit products, have made package redesigns recently.
Jeni's was motivated to redesign its ice cream pints by making them more eye-catching when viewed on Instagram or through a freezer door at the grocery store. Customers would have a tough time missing the bright magenta, yellow, orange or dark brown colors with the big logo right on the front. As company founder Jeni Britton Bauer wrote about the change, "Every flavor we make tells a story. ... Our pints should capture and celebrate these stories."
No Cow bars contain no dairy-based ingredients, so the brand was looking to project a stripped-down, clean-label image reminiscent of RXBAR's look listing only its three or four ingredients. Farmhand Organics arguably had the toughest rebranding assignment since it also went through a company name change from MM Local, as well as making label and logo alterations. Some things that didn't change, however, were the company's practice of printing on the top of the lid the name and location of the farm, as well as its locally sourced, certified organic, small-batch approach to turning out fermented and preserved products in transparent jars.
Essentia's box is still black with red and white lettering, but the new logo is much bigger and bolder, plus there is easily readable information about how its ionized alkaline water varies from regular bottled water. Besides the eye-catching design, the rebranding is meant to showcase the brand as the preferred premium water for millennial "overachievers," according to BevNET. The company sees this target group as people who might unlock their full potential more easily when adequately hydrated.
The impact at retail and online won't be known for a while since these four company rebranding changes are relatively recent. However, the time, creativity and financial investment behind them will likely unite for the desired effect of meeting customer expectations and enhancing buying habits, whether on the store shelf or on the digital screen.
These packaging changes are all interested in catering to the changing demands of the consumer in a bid to remain relevant in a highly competitive marketplace. Without these improvements, companies, even those currently in lockstep with the public's needs, risk losing ground to those brands which take the time to freshen up their offerings and wow the consumer.