Online Study Confirms the Successful Design Elements of Brand Engine's Golightly Packages

Brand Engine's winning Golightly package design was also successful in a ClickSpex Web-based research study. The analytical tool lets research subjects respond to and analyze each element, or "hot zone" of a package design.

In Package Design Magazine's Second Annual Makeover Challenge, five design teams were invited to rethink and redesign the packaging for five SKUs of Golightly sugar-free candies. The challenge was wide open, without any limitations, in order to encourage innovative thinking and creative design.

Voluntary online voting by our readers identified Brand Engine's treatment as the public's favorite. An independent study conducted by Toronto's HotSpex Inc. reconfirmed the results and provided greater insight into what real consumers would like about each of the design proposals, and also suggested ways to improve the designs even further.

The ClickSpex(tm) online, visual diagnostic tool developed by HotSpex allows consumers to pick and choose the design elements they particularly "like" or "dislike" by mouse-clicking on particular areas of the package image itself. For each ClickSpex study, an image is digitally mapped into key "hot zones." For each click in a hot zone, respondents quantitatively rate how much they like or dislike the graphic element. The respondents may also qualitatively explain in detail how they feel about each element. The statistical results are condensed by a proprietary ClickScore scoring algorithm that allows the researchers to compare scores versus normative data for a true understanding of how the design performs.

The final respondent sample for the Golightly study was 6,823 English-speaking respondents split almost equally among Americans and Canadians. This sample size makes the margin of error +/- 0.96%.

Why was Brand Engine preferred?

The study that provided the most conclusive results was the one that compared the Lemon Iced Tea hard candy packages. Brand Engine's package design outperformed the others in specific areas of analysis and achieved the highest overall ClickScore. Consumers reacted most favorably to the package design shape, the appealing graphic elements, and the new logo. These three areas attained the highest ClickSpex scores (quantitative) and the highest positive mentions (qualitative).

The study also suggests ways to improve Brand Engine's package design even further. One way would be to add nutrition facts text onto the packaging to emphasize the product's benefits. Respondents also felt that a picture of unwrapped candy beside current candy graphic would help, and moving both of these pictures to the front of the package would let consumers know right away what the package contains.

The positive respondents noted that this design also featured more graphics—lemon, glass of iced tea, candy—than the other designs, and they appreciated the graphics because they are relevant to the product. The glass of iced tea triggered positive reactions like quenching thirst (41%), looking attractive or appetizing (28%), and showing the Lemon Ice Tea flavor clearly (16%). However, this graphic misled some respondents into thinking the product was a beverage and confused some respondents who could not decipher the graphic quickly.

Respondents also had a favorable impression of Brand Engine's redesigned Golightly logo. Those who appreciated it found the blue and white color combination appealing and the design attractive, eye-catching, and easy to read. The bright yellow color of the lemon also appealed to many respondents who liked the image, and others liked how the lemon visually indicates the candy's flavor.

- Ron Romanik