One key way that you can gain customers and brand/product recognition is by changing up the design of your packaging.  Yes, if you have a “classic” design, you do not want to change it up too much and risk confusing or losing customers, but you also do not want your product to look outdated.  An old design can blend in with the competition, and you want your product to “pop” and stick out on the shelf.

Kayem needed a new design for the packaging of their hot dogs. “Classic is one thing, but ‘stale’ isn’t a term a marketer wants people to associate with his edibles.”

To change the packaging effectively, Kayem had to do a lot of market research to figure out what was wrong with the old packaging and what could make it better.  First, Kayem removed the banner, “DELI”, because customers did not know what that meant.  They decided to stick with “Old Tyme” to convey emotion and describe their hot dogs as being tasty and classic.  They also decided to add “gluten-free”, “made in the USA”, and “no fillers, no artificial flavors, no byproducts” to the packaging.  These statements have always been true of Kayem hot dogs, but they decided to focus on the health and quality of the food, otherwise consumers would not know.  Kayem also decided to stick with the blue packaging to differentiate themselves from the competition and added a pictured of a cooked hot dog to grab the consumer’s attention.

Kayem’s new packaging design proved to be effective.  After 12 weeks (ending July 11, 2009), Kayem’s volume rose 7.3 percent and sales were up 15.7 percent, according to ACNielsen’s Grilling Index.  The new packaging is proven effective, because it catches attention and people are recognizing the brand.

So you want to help the environment by being more eco-friendly and increasing your green efforts, but think that it is too expensive? Many people wonder if they should cut back on green marketing and their green efforts in a struggling economy, but in fact you should do quite the opposite. I read in the September issue of Deliver, a marketing magazine, that it is actually a “hook to getting through them”. They say that green marketing improves your efficiencies, increases customer loyalty, and differentiates your brand.

Take for instance, Wal-Mart’s green efforts. Wal-Mart’s “Earth Month” green marketing efforts included print ads for 10 different green products under $10 and “rollbacks” on environmentally-friendly products. Customers are looking for ways to save money in a tough economy, and Wal-Mart is helping them do that, while still having a positive environmental effect.

Green marketing also increases customer loyalty. Frito-Lay’s SunChips brand gained customers by showing them that green is both good for them and the environment. They started this marketing plan after seeing market research from 2006 that showed that people who care about their personal health also care about the planet. SunChips have 18 grams of whole grain and zero trans fat. Since these chips are healthier than regular potato chips, their campaigns played off this, their nature-related name, and their sustainability investments, which includes producing a compostable bag. They promoted their compostable bags with an online video showing them decompose, as well as print ads that included a tear-off sample for consumers to test it out themselves in their compost piles. Green marketing helped SunChips become one of the fastest-growing snack brands at Frito-Lay.

Green marketing, done correctly, also differentiates your brand from the competition. IBM took a different route by connecting with the community in their green efforts. Their Smarter Planet initiative used direct mail to encourage individuals, businesses, and institutions to change the way they work. They also started a series of jams, or brainstorming sessions, that bring people from around the world together to solve an issue. Their “Congestion Challenge” collects innovative ideas to fight transportation congestion, and the winner receives $50,000, as well as the development and implementation support for the idea.

We have talked many times about the significance of product packaging and design. Not only does it need to stick out and “pop” on the shelf, but there also needs to be brand recognition for your loyal customers.  If consumers can’t easily find your product on the shelf, they will turn to another product, your competition.

An example of this was the Tropicana repackaging fiasco you may have heard of from earlier this year. Since Tropicana is such a large, well-known company, they depend on brand loyalty.  THey are known for their fresh-squeezed juice, and this was displayed with their traditional packaging with  the straw sticking out of the orange.

In  January, they decided to change their packaging by going with a very simple design.  They removed their trademark orange picture, went with lighter colors, and changed the font of their brand name. Many customers were not able to find the Tropicana juice they wanted in a hurry, or they thought the new design looked cheap and generic.

The numbers proved it.  From Jan.1 to Feb 22, unit sales dropped 20 percent and dollar sales went down 19 percent, or roughly $33 million.  Count that loss with the $35 million that they spent on the ad campaign for the new packaging, and one can see they made a costly mistake. Not only did Tropicana’s sales decrease, but their competitors, such as Minute Maid, Florida’s Natural, and Tree Ripe showed double-digit unit sales increase during that time.  Ultimately, they had no choice but to return to the old packaging.

We can all learn from Tropicana’s mistake.  First of all, packaging matters.  Secondly, as a company with brand loyal customers, you cannot change the design to drastically, because brand recognition is vital.