Creative License:
Don't Try to Reinvent the Celebrity Package

By Mona Eisman

Dick Clark always told me that he could always get a customer to buy something the first time, and he is no different than today's licensing stars such as Donald Trump, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, and Shrek. It has even been suggested that the simplest way to get kids to eat more broccoli would be to just put it in a package with the Shrek name and image.

Your job as designer and packaging expert is to translate a person's name, image, and fame to an ordinary product and package. This is no easy feat, since you are often working with only carton board and packaging materials, while these larger-than- life star brands were created with all the glitz, glamour, and fantasy that is the entertainment world.

The most challenging package and design project is often the one with the most specific mandatory requirements--think of a licensing as a design project where the font, the colors, the size, the visual graphics are all decided.

Here are some key points to keep in mind when designing a product licensed to a celebrity icon:

• Recognition: Designing for a well-known name or trademark is not the time to be overly creative. The consumer is buying the celebrity or character--their name, image, and trademark must be instantly recognizable.

• Trial: The name, the celebrity, the character is the hero--not the package, not the product, not the ingredients, not the features, and not the benefits. The celebrity sells it the first time. The product and package helps in selling it the second time. Your job is to use the celebrity to seduce the consumer into trying the product the first time.

• Fit: The trademark, brand, or celebrity has to look at home in a new retail environment on a new package. Donald Trump must be moved from the boardroom to the fragrance shelf to your bathroom or bedroom while still maintaining his larger-than-life personality. Licensing not done well can make a brand or a star and their image appear ordinary. This is why so many movie stars do not license their image.

• Risk Management: The licensor, or trademark holder, maintains creative control and makes all approvals. Never forget that their name is on the bottle. Remember, licensing can be very risky. When a popular star or brand agrees to put their name on a fragrance or a tube of toothpaste, they are putting their hard-earned brand reputation on the line. Failure can impact their long term brand value.

• Recall: Beware of shortening the brand mark. Initials may not create instant recognition for the consumer. I often recall my experience when introducing a Karl Lagerfeld fragrance. When we had to explain to sales associates and customers that KL stood for Karl Lagerfeld, we knew we lost the initial impact. (Happily, the Lagerfeld fragrance line continues to be a global best-seller.) A truly powerful name is when a person or company is known by one name or even by a letter--Oprah and O. But beware, because even Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, the two top-selling animated characters of all time, most often use their full names on packages and advertisements, even though in casual conversation they are Mickey and Pooh.

• Precision: The trademark is instantly recognized for the color or the visual logo--be very exacting when you execute a known brand symbol. Get the specific formula for Tiffany Blue or the red in Mickey's face and outfit.

• Legibility: The brand mark must be instantly recognizable and readable from the shelf--avoid beautiful, distinctive signatures that are not quickly read and do not have awareness with the consumer.

Even with all these concerns and restrictions, the designer still needs to be creative and add excitement and impact to a well known name. One tip is to use a favorite visual association to add a distinct look and create instant recognition. The visual can become the shape of the bottle or cap, as a graphic element, and be used in the display materials.

For example, Karl Lagerfeld collected beautiful, hand-held vintage fans. This association with fans became the inspiration for the bottle which was shaped like a fan. The bottle was beautiful, feminine and it created a public relations and marketing story to tell about Karl Lagerfeld and his loves and passions. A recent example is Donald Trump: The Fragrance, which comes in a tall, thin, clear glass bottle in the geometric shape of a skyscraper, and is wrapped in solid gold packaging.

In licensing a personality, the key is to be consistent with the image that already exists. Don't reinvent the star brand. Instead, understand the personality, the history, what the brand stands for, what it is associated with, and--most importantly--why people love it. Create a package design that enhances these aspects, and you will produce a design that will sell.

Mona Eisman is founder of Eisman Marketing Group, which offers expertise in marketing and business strategy for the cosmetics and entertainment industries. Mona also teaches at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles, which offers courses in package design and brand imaging. Mona can be reached at Eismanmktg@aol.com.