Packaging is the ultimate vehicle for design: industrial, graphic, and typographic design are all put to the test to create an impression so meaningful that it converts currency into consumerism. This ...
Brand managers face a multitude of problems every day, but most issues at their root are related to the consumer.
If a product is not selling, that is a consumer problem. If the product gets great trial but little repeat, that is a consumer problem. Even the temptation to focus on buyers, distributors, and field reps and such is actually a consumer problem at the core.
Grasping the full impact of this deceptively simple idea is critical, because the problem is also the solution. Following are two powerful examples of businesses from our client list that have flourished—even while facing real and paralyzing obstacles—by establishing the consumer at the heart of their brand.
A monster-sized problem
In 1997, Hansen's and Red Bull simultaneously launched the heart-pounding energy drink category. Then, every other beverage company on the planet jumped into the market, and by 2000, Hansen's share had narrowed to 8%, compared to Red Bull's phenomenal 75%.
In 2001, Hansen's hired McLean Design to create a new 16-oz. "double-size" energy drink to help break away from the 8-oz. can that defined the category. But after digging deep into the attitudes and lifestyles of the emerging energy drink user, it became apparent that the wholesome Hansen's equity was badly out of step with this energy drink demographic. The wholesome equity was likely the biggest obstacle to acceptance in this category.
We assembled a compelling portrait of the consumer—a highly skeptical, hard-partying, tattooed, tongue-pierced exhibitionist. Then we contrasted this with their current natural soda and apple juice buyer. This just wasn't their market. It was heartbreaking.
However, Hansen's could see that we understood and could help connect them with this user, if they could somehow manage to get out of their own way. They took a huge leap and encouraged us to create an entirely new brand that would speak to this previously undefined and somewhat unconventional consumer. That's when we created a monster. Literally.
Five years after launch, Monster Energy has grown to $1 billion in annual sales, has caught and surpassed Red Bull in retail, and even beat Apple and Google in growth over the last decade (23,497% since 1996 according to Smart Money magazine, April 2007).
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