Once you carry out your brand strategy, it can't be put into a drawer and forgotten. It needs to play an active role in how you both conduct your company and present your brand to potential customers.
The opportunity to make a first impression only comes around once for a brand, and packaging is a crucial touchpoint for products. Creating branded packaging should be approached very thoughtfully to support the brand experience, as it brings your brand strategy to life, communicates brand architecture, and differentiates your product from everything else on the shelf.
In this blog post, we're going to cover how packaging can transform and energize your brand through some Hardy client packaging work examples. We will also highlight examples of how packaging can be an essential touchpoint for your company.
Once you carry out your brand strategy, it can't be put into a drawer and forgotten. It needs to play an active role in how you both conduct your company and present your brand to potential customers.
The opportunity to make a first impression only comes around once for a brand, and packaging is a crucial touchpoint for products. Creating branded packaging should be approached very thoughtfully to support the brand experience, as it brings your brand strategy to life, communicates brand architecture, and differentiates your product from everything else on the shelf.
In this blog post, we're going to cover how packaging can transform and energize your brand through some Hardy client packaging work examples. We will also highlight examples of how packaging can be an essential touchpoint for your company.
In 2019, we began our journey with Gastro Gnome, a Bozeman company specializing in made-from-scratch backpacking meals, to create a brand built on the idea that you shouldn't settle for unappetizing food in the backcountry. With Gastro Gnome, you could have truly delicious backcountry food you would want to eat at home.
Throughout the process, we assisted in creating packaging that brings their brand pillars to life. First, Gastro Gnome's packaging must communicate the "deliciousness" factor, as most backcountry food doesn't look appetizing. The food needed to look good, hence the spoon photos on each package showcasing the meal and its ingredients.
Next, the packaging needed to address how Gastro Gnome is connected; to their meals, the environment, and one another. Not only do they bring people together for the adventures of a lifetime, but their customers also connect in the grand tradition of sharing meals.
Finally, the packaging needed to be thoughtful and intentional. We considered small details throughout the process, like the shape and size of the bag, to avoid the dreaded "spoon hand" (or food that gets all over your hand as you eat).
Gastro Gnome's packaging embodies everything their brand stands for, bringing their brand strategy to life in a way that the customer can see, feel, and interact with.
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Brand architecture is just as it sounds, a structure in which sub-brands engage and associate with the more prominent, overarching brand. It's imperative to determine brand architecture because it can add clarity and organization for a company working with multiple product lines or sub-brands.
Bridger Brewing (whose canned beers will debut very soon in 2022) partnered with us to establish their brand. After working through the process, it was time to execute their new brand by designing their cans, connecting to their strategy of embracing the Montana Adventure and the community they hold dear.
Through strategic thinking, it became clear that the names of their flagship beers hold brand equity to Bridger drinkers. As an endorsed brand, where sub-brands have independent identities, it allows them to have beers associated with the Bridger brand and others that stand on their own, like their Ghost Town Coffee Stout.
We fashioned their cans the way we did, with the beer name being the primary focus and a callback to Bridger Brewing to communicate this structure in their product line.
Genuine Ice Cream, a small-batch, premium ice cream company out of Bozeman, needed a way to stand out in a very saturated market. And thus, our research began.
During our brand strategy phase, we performed a customer survey to analyze their brand equity. Since their old logo had many colors, we asked what color people thought of when thinking of Genuine. A majority indicated pink or red - which the brand adopted.
Following the survey, we began competition research. Our team spent time not only going into stores to research trends but did a deep dive into what companies were doing across the US. We found that the competition's packaging fell into two buckets: one-color-focused or ice cream-related photography.
Our research made it clear that no competitors claimed the color pink, one of Genuine's branded colors, in the ice cream space. Conducting this essential research gave us our foundation for Genuine's pink pint packaging.
We then pivoted from the idea that you had to depict the ice cream literally and pushed more towards the feelings associated with each flavor through illustrations. These illustrations were not designed solely to highlight flavors but to evoke the idea of a Montana summer, tying the packaging back to the brand strategy. It also hints at the juxtaposition of bringing something warm, like summer, to an ice-cold freezer.
Through their rebrand and new packaging, Genuine Ice Cream now has the tools to differentiate themselves in the market.
Branded packaging is an essential component of carrying out your brand strategy. It can bring the strategy to life in a way that your customers can connect with, communicate product structure and brand architecture, and set your product apart from competitors.
At Hardy, our goal as brand strategists is to set up your brand for success from every angle, customer-facing or otherwise. If you want to explore what revamped packaging could do for your brand or are ready to leap into creating branded materials for your packaging, we can help you get started.
Like our work, the Hardy Brands team is an embodiment of the perfect balance of strategy and creative. We’ve cultivated a team of certified brand specialists and strategists, designers, copywriters and marketing professionals who are ferocious about helping you succeed. We’re a Montana marketing agency that will constantly strive to improve your business.
As a branding, marketing and design agency, we partner with all types of businesses, from restaurants and breweries to building and real estate professionals, nonprofits to accountants and many others. Get a better idea of who we are and what we do by visiting our Work page.
