Evolution, Not Revolution! An Investigation Into How To Effectively Redesign Consumer Packaged Products
It is widely accepted that branding and consumer packaging design is important to meet marketing objectives. However, 9 out of 10 redesigns fail to deliver a meaningful sales lift. This thesis investigates the factors that influence success, key drivers of redesign similarity, and consumer responses to redesigns. In total, this research includes 1336 old and new images of redesigns from 744 brands in 25 categories across the globe. This thesis has three studies. The first aims to establish the extent to which newly redesigned packaging is similar to previous designs. The second explores the factors (such as; advertising, research, redesign, brand and managerial) which could contribute to a successful redesign. The final study investigates the relationships between modernity, likeability, familiarity, and purchase intent of packaging redesigns.
Sisters, not Twins. An Investigation of Visual Brand Identity Cohesion across a Product Portfolio
In today’s cluttered marketing environment visual brand identity is a crucial means to differentiate a brand from its competitors. Comprising clear, proprietary cues, the purpose of brand identity is to unify disparate brand elements in a manner that feels seamless to consumers. Representing both an opportunity and a threat to building a brand’s identity are line extensions, that is, when a product is launched under an existing brand name into the same category.
To communicate a strong visual brand identity, all products within a portfolio need to be connected to one another in terms of design. It is this unified visual message that enables consumers to perceive the products as members of a single brand family. A crucial means to achieve this cohesion is the visual similarity of Distinctive Brand Assets such as logos, colours, shapes, typefaces, characters, and styles. When effectively built and linked to the brand, these brand assets act as powerful mnemonic devices to improve brand learning, retention and accessibility from memory. Akin to a mental short cut, well established Distinctive Assets form heuristic devices that help shoppers to find their brands on-shelf.
This thesis presents three studies which investigate the coherence of visual brand identity, as well as key drivers of fragmentation, across products in a branded portfolio. In total, the scope of this research spans over 2100 products from 211 brands in 11 categories and three markets.
NOTE: The appendices for this Thesis are too large to post on the website. Please contact the Institute to obtain a full copy.
