Package Design | packagedesignmag.com

(September 2009) posted on Tue Oct 13, 2009

By David Ceradini and Karen Burke

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Every generation has heard the phrase "The world is changing," and every generation has seen innovation that amazes. What is amazing us in this generation? It is how quickly a brand can become relevant or irrelevant. New technology can change a brand's relevance in months. Social media can change brand acceptance in minutes.

We know that successful brands are those which are able to remain relevant to their consumers. The challenge for global brands is to know how to be relevant when their consumers are localized across many cultures. The challenge for designers of global brands? Exactly the same.

Having the privilege of working on global brands for many years (including one that is sold in 80 countries), we have seen what works well and what does not. We see a few key drivers to creating designs that will drive share across multiple global regions.

The foundation

The first driver is the team. The team needs to be relational, inclusive, and consist of both internal and external partners of the client. The most relational team we have been part of was run by a brand manager who required anyone who touched his business to participate in his monthly brand team meetings and quarterly off-site meetings. He insisted each person bring their own collective knowledge and experience to his table, beyond their job responsibilities. You would be amazed by how closely the various agency partners worked together.

Another driver is for the brand to have global ownership of strategy and design with regional flexibility for local nuances. The crucial element here is to have a defined process for ensuring that all designs visually communicate the brand equity accurately and in a consistent manner across all regions. Along with their design managers, we manage this process for many of our clients by working closely with their regions.

Now comes the tricky part. Let's talk about the consumers. Understanding the vast scope of consumers' lives enables us, as designers, to create designs that help brands be relevant to their target consumers. We hear this time and again—so what does that really involve?