Brand Clinic: The heart of good pack design

British Baker, 26 February 2010

Don Williams, CEO of brand specialist pi global says a real-world picture of your target audience is key to effective pack design.

A wise, if cantankerous, very senior American client in a very large multi-national (both of whom shall remain nameless), said to me, many years ago, ‘no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the great British housewife’ and to a hefty extent he was right… but what is taste? … Continue Reading

Should brands embrace slang names?

Marketing, The Marketing Society Forum, 2 December 2009

McDonald’s has attracted a lot of attention following its application to register its popular nickname, MaccyD’s, as a trademark, raising the question of whether this brand strategy could work for others. The Marketing Society Forum asks the question; Should companies embrace slang names for their brands?  … Continue Reading

Mexican — fully kitted out

The Grocer, 14 November 2009

New entrants won’t find it easy to replicate the success of meal kit pioneer Old El Paso. Despite having been in the UK for 25 years, the Mexican brand is going from strength to strength with value sales up 9.1% to £68m over the past year [IRI 52w/e 3 October] and has hopes of becoming a top 100 brand within the next. “For a Mexican brand to be a top 100 grocery brand was unthinkable 10 years ago, but Old El Paso is on the cusp of achieving this with 12 years of back-to-back growth,” says General Mills sales director Andy Foweather. … Continue Reading

Table for one? The energy cost to feed one person

Want to know what your personal food consumption costs the Earth?

Did you know we lose one fifth of our food supply between the field and the checkout and then a third of that which is taken home? … Continue Reading

Brand clinic: Can government hurt brands?

British Baker, 6 November 2009

Don Williams, CEO of brand specialist pi global, continues his series looking at the secrets of building a strong brand.

Brands are sensitive, delicate things…even the most robust ones. Treat them inappropriately and without the care they need, and they’ll suffer. Remember Mr. Kipling, when the packaging forgot about the brand? Remember Tropicana in the US recently, when a design disaster caused sales to plummet? Some memories might stretch back to when Babycham killed “Bambi” and repackaged it in a trendy blue bottle. … Continue Reading