Designing Iconic Packaging: Packaging That Is Instantly Recognizable As Tied to the Brand It Supports

By Rich Thibault

In the many years that I have been designing, it has never been more apparent that marketing strategy is influencing packaging design. Consumer product marketers strive to establish bonds with their intended target audiences by creating a brand personality or image that is immediately identified and ultimately pulls the consumer towards it. This is especially critical for high fashion, premium brands where a well-executed image is key to the brand's success. In these cases, packaging is called upon to do more than just support a premium product positioning. A truly successful packaging execution evokes an emotional response from consumers; it creates a distinct visual impression that is instantly identifiable to the brand. Packaging that is tied to the brand through the successful use of materials, structural, and graphic design is what we at AGI/Klearfold refer to as "Iconic Packaging."

The term "icon" goes back to Byzantium where local artists were trained to exactly replicate religious images so that no matter where the icons traveled, viewers would share the same emotional experience. Modern marketing is seeking to do exactly the same. Some contemporary icons are the familiar Coke wave and the Playboy bunny, both of which immediately elicit a response and are identifiable even without text. In a more recent example, H&R Block is seeking to do the same with their green square.

The attractive, playful, and functional Cocktails by Jenn four-bottle tote case was the culmination of many elements that reinforce its "Iconic Packaging."

In packaging, one of the best examples is the L'eggs introduction using the injection molded egg shell. The egg may be gone, but the brand's packaging is still emulating the shape. Other examples would be Animal Crackers, Tic-Tac mints, and more recently, POM Wonderful's uniquely shaped juice bottle. All combine graphics, shape, and scale to create a product identity. No matter where you go in the world you will identify these products, in any language or culture, and experience the same emotional response.

Iconic secondary packaging is exactly what Jenn had in mind for her new line of chill-and-serve premium vodka drinks aptly named Cocktails by Jenn™. The fashionable drinks include today's trendier cocktail flavors (Cosmopolitan, Lemon Drop, Tropical Blue Lagoon, and Appletini), and are marketed to a contemporary and sophisticated female audience. The cocktails were intended to be sold in units of four 100-ml bottles - either four of a kind or variety packs. Early in the collaboration with AGI/Klearfold, the company described the ideal secondary package as a design element that would support the brand essence, connect with the target audience, and be instantly recognizable to the brand.

Physically, the secondary package needed to be stylish, "purse-like," portable, re-usable, and transparent or semi-transparent to let the vibrant cocktail colors shine through. And, of course, the package had to be cost effective and ready for an October 2004 launch. A tall order to say the least.

To support the Cocktails by Jenn launch, and to satisfy the company's Iconic packaging requirements, we suggested using AGI/Klearfold's patent-pending InSight™ style of visual packaging, which combines printed plastic sleeves and injection molded end caps to create a visual package with a distinctive, non-traditional geometry. To save production costs and lead times, we were able to design the package around an oval-shaped injection molded end cap for which we already owned tooling.

To achieve the integrity and transparency aesthetics needed for this application, we molded end caps from Zylar®, a styrene acrylic copolymer. The precision of injection molding allowed us to provide the unique locking features of the InSight package. Undercuts in the bottom end cap engage die cut tabs in the sleeve to lock the two components; the undercuts in the top end caps are designed to provide a quarter-turn, twist-off opening feature to provide the desired package reusability.

We manufactured the sleeves from an embossed PVC carton grade that provides slightly frosted, translucent view of the cocktail bottles. We decorated the sleeves using a combination of UV flexo and silkscreen printing; the entire sleeves were printed with transparent inks to provide a color hue to complement each particular cocktail, and the whimsical icons of modern femininity (airplane, diamond ring, cell phone, etc.) were printed with opaque inks to stand out. Small, round die-cut apertures in the sleeve are used to secure a matching color ribbon that serves as a handle. Attached to the ribbon is a small metallic charm with an embossed icon taken from the package to add even further identification with the product.

From the identifiable colors to the playful feminine icons constantly being reinforced on both the bottles and carrier, this package does nothing less then quickly connect the "Cosmopolitan Experience" to its intended audience. Clearly marketing's vision, tied with a palette of options that our design group has available, allowed for all the minute and subtle details to manifest themselves in a product that is absolutely iconic.

Rich Thibault is director of creative services for AGI/Klearfold (a Mead-Westvaco Resource), which develops and markets creative and visual packaging, and is particularly proficient in combining plastic and paperboard for value-added consumer packaging. Visit www.agiklearfold.com.

Behind the Jenn Label

Multi-Color Corporation partnered with glass decorator G-3 Enterprises for the label treatment on Cocktails by Jenn. Gravure printed at Multi-Color's Framingham, MA, facility, this label features Multi-Color's new ink-only technology for glass. G-3 Enterprises applies the heat transfer labels for a complete no-label look that is clean, vibrant, and cost-effective. In addition, Multi-Color's patented "frost" treatment provides the acid-etch effect without the cost and environmental concerns of acid etching. The MOD/Michael Osborne Design firm of San Francisco, CA, designed the graphic and typographic aspects of the bottle label with feminine vitality and creativity in mind. After trying her hand in fashion and publishing, the real Jenn mixed fresh flavors and party themes to build a business, and her sense of style and practicality led to designing the totes as functional collectibles.