The Efficiencies of Licensing: When Doing It All Is All You Do

by Joe DiPalma

A candy maker had a dilemma. The client needed package design for a new line of nutrition bars with a "Better for You" message that appeals to both Moms and kids yet incorporates multiple-licensed Disney characters. And, of course, it needed to be done fast.

When we received the call, we immediately met to come up with a plan and assemble a team. The team worked with the candy maker to create a recognizable brand that incorporated The Walt Disney Company licenses as well as detailed nutritional information and UPC codes, all within the client's deadline. The look unified an entire product line even on packages with multiple Disney characters such as the High School Musical characters, Hannah Montana, and their princesses.

Licensing efficiencies

About 50% of the work at our design firm is licensing related, and I've been involved with Disney licensing from when it first took off in the mid-'90s era of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. Because we get so much licensing work, we have food illustrators that are particularly adept at rendering super-realistic food items digitally. The staff can quickly take a photo, illustrate a digital file on top of it, tweak textures, add or improve elements, and adjust properties for an image that would fool most consumers—even though that is not the explicit intention.

Our designers sometimes even finish the package design and food art before the product is done being fully engineered or developed. In that case, rendering the product shot on the front panel of a package is a necessity—not a luxury. What's more, style guides can change annually or even seasonally, and we might be in the middle of a project and told there 's a new style or color for your package. So it's important to stay ahead of the game.

We can be very efficient with clients because many of our clients are pulling from the same style guides, and over the years we have become very familiar with Disney 's methods of operation. Often, there are many levels of approvals, but usually the first major round of reviews settles most questions and concerns.

Internally, we like to push the boundaries a little in the gray areas of style guide interpretation, but there 's no perfect world with licensing. Like the fashion industry, package design and branding fashions are a moving target. To stay ahead of the curve, our full-time "trend-spotter" helps us create our own internal style guides.

Following through

For the Disney nutrition bars shown here, the nutrition information chart on the front is a key element that helps Moms shop and feel good about their purchase. There is also a food pyramid on the back, but the chart on the front brings the message home much more effectively. This consistent branding architecture of these packages also builds a strong brand presence on-shelf.

All these licensing efficiencies allow us to come up with an idea, package it, create the branding architecture, and apply it to the entire line of products in short order. To simplify things for our clients, we have a full prepress department in-house that can take the final art work and get it ready for the printers as well. At the end of the day, we take responsibility for the project right up to the print run. Clients comment that there aren 't many companies who can do what we do. When people ask what makes us different, we like to say: "We're bigger, better, faster and a hell of a lot more fun than the other guys. Plus, we save you money. "

Joe DiPalma is president of Atomica Design Group in Morrisville, PA, and can be reached at 215-337-9663 or by visiting www.atomicadesign.com.