WILEY

INTERNATIONAL
ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF MARKETING
VOLUME 4
ADVERTISING AND
INTEGRATED
COMMUNICATION
Edited by
Michael A. Belch and
George E. Belch
San Diego State University
@1WILEY
A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., Publi cati on
packaging a nd brand desi gn
B ( ) M ~ J I . J . Calder and Sterol DuP"is
Packaging plays a viral role in the advancement
of brancis. The package has evolved from being a
way of safCl) tr ansporting pr oducts to becomin g
one of t he most important marketin g tools for
brands. Even t he earl) Gree ks mar ked their
bottl es wit h unique symbols to di stin guish their
maker . Modern day branding, as we know it,
began in the carl) ninet eenth cent ury \\ ith t he
iconi c packaging of Campbel l' s, Kellogg, and
Quak er. Henry Parsons Cromwell developed
the Quaker bran d mark, becoming one of t he
first to crea te ;j cohesive marketin g program.
T he packaging, advcr tising, and promoti onal
clement s were all consistently integrated and
implement ed.
Despite this hist or y, in the recent past ,
mar keter s tended to und erestimate the impor-
tance of packaging. It was cons ide red one of t he
4-Ps and mu ch less important than other areas
of mar ket ing: promotion, pri cing, prod uct, and
distribution (place). Packaging was either at t he
end of the lisr of P' s or a small part of the pr odu ct
P. Today, however, the importance of packaging
is e\ crrnorc recogni zed. It serves as the only
form of communication that is seen by 100 0
of t he brand' s custome rs. In roday' s fragmented
media environment, packaging is a criti cal
form of marketin g that uses st rategic design
to identify, inform, di fferentiate, per suade,
and deli ght cons umers to purchase. T his has
established an indust ry term, brand design, [0
describe thi s val uable mar ket ing function.
Wuvr IS BR' ND DESIU'"
Brandin g is an effort to make products mor e
meanin gful to cons umers. T o do thi s one has
to go beyond the pr odu ct. One must tr anscend
whatever t he product is as a physical or objecti ve
entity. One mu st create and conn) the meani ng
of t he produ ct so that t he cons umer's idea of
t he produ ct is t he idea that one wants t hem
to believe. Thi s is a process. It begins \\ ith an
int ernal description of the meanin g of a br and
t hat is then tr ansform ed into somet hing tangible
that consumers percei ve. If they perceive what
the marketer int ends, the result is a br and
design. The result is ;1 design in the sense that
it fulfills its intend ed purpose.
The meanin g can, of course, be expressed in
man ) \\ ays. It can he expressed verbally t hro ugh
\\ ords, names, and descripti ve language. Or it can
be expressed visuall y t hro ugh pictures, S} mbols,
colors, and shape/ form. The goal of'brand design
is to usc these verbal and visual devices to convey
the meaning of the brand . In turn, consumers
\\ ill pcrccivc these as cues collcctiv e1) and usc
them to make inferences about the br and.
T ake a brand like UPS for example. At
pr esent , the cent ral brand idea lor t his package
del ivery product is one of sirnp lici ty, funct ion-
ality, and basic reliabil ity. The UPS br and is
some thing that one docs not have to worry about .
It is like a basic service: tum the S\\ itch, the lights
come on. Scnd it UPS, the package arrives. T he
brand design aims to convey thi s bra nd idea in a
W:l ) t hat the consumer pcrcci vcs it. T he design is
based on the verba l and \ isual cues surrounding
the product".
Brand design is different from the marketi ng
communications task of tel ling the cons umer
about the bran d with advcr tisiug messages. The
brand design aims to lei the cons ume r per cei ve
the idea. Per cepti on is fast and categorical. It
proceeds and influences conscious thin king. The
perception is mor e emotional than rati onal.
148 packaging a nd brand desi gn
In the UPS brand design, the primary color is
brown . What docs the cons umer perceive ?Basic,
down-to-eart h, grounded. J ust the perceptions
inte nded by the brand idea. 'T he design is
success ful.
T he dcscri priv e language features a slogan,
" \\' h.ll can brown do for The words are
cues. Again t he percept ions arc routine, basic,
and simple.
the brand design uses a symbol in
t he shape of a brown shield <official, basic, and
reliable.
The design, ofcourse, spans un iforms, t rucks,
and packaging materi als. It is also inte grate d into
advertisi ng in the form of an ord inary busi-
nessperson explaining hew simple it is to use
UPS hy drawi ng a basic diagram with a brown
marker on a whitcboard.
Brand design is t hus the process of rcprc-
scruing t he brand idea in t he reality of the
consumer 's" orld. All the cons umer has to do is
to take in t he look and the feel of t he prod uct to
know \\ hat it is. Ad, crrisi ng can make use of it
and build un it 10 tell the consumer more about
the br and in an informatio nal or emotional way.
BUI the brand design speaks for itsel f and can be
effect ive even wit hout advert ising.
The package orthe {Ps mindscr is still ther e,
but it is one of the presenters uf rhe brand design.
BR \ ND DESIGi\ VERSUS PRODUCT D ESIGN
It is critical t hat marketers separate brand design
from prod uct design. The t wo arc inte rtwined in
the marketplace, but must be addressed di ffer-
entl y. With product design, t he mar keter is
concern ed wit h how t he prod uct itsel f is physi-
call) experienced. Thi s is likely to be measured
in term s of product characteristics, for example,
the sweetness of a drin k, t he sharpness of a
pict ure, the stiffness of an automobile 's ride.
J\ lost often, measurement is best accomplished
with pane ls of people who arc t rained to detect
and describe these product characteristics and
who experi ence the prod uct in environments
t-hat el iminate per ceptual cues.
With brand design, however, marketers
should II') to minimi ze information about the
physical product. It is best 10 evaluate brand
designs wit h actual consumers. Since the goal
is to evaluate perceptual impact , cons umers
should be exposed \'er y briefl y (a few seconds)
10 t he des ign. It is important t hat they react
in a percept ual mode fast and automa tically.
More consider ed responses tend to obscur e
actual percept ual responses. One of the worst
melhods of brand design eval uation is 10 give
cons umers in a locus group (or in ot her types
of open-e nded inrcrvicws}a design and let t hem
comment on it. Such sett ings arc very likely
10 stimulate people to think about the design
in all kinds of ways (including playing design
expert) that obscure the design' s real perceptu al
impact.
Eyen a good brand desi gn can be undermin ed
by a poor prod uct design. In the market place,
perception and the experience of t he pr oduct
itself come toget her. It may well be that a st rong
bran d design G111 succeed even in t he face of a
weak produ ct design. But t his is by nu means
guaranteed. In the best case, brand design and
prod uct design arc both opti mized separatelyand
come toget her synergistically in the marketplace.
1'\ RKET ERS \' 1) D ESIGNERS
1\ Iarkctcrs and designers often have different
perspec tives. Effecti ve bra nd design requires
more than just a divi sion of labor, it req uires
collaboration 100. Brand design is t ruly a process
in which the mar keter communicates t he brand
idea 10 the designer " ho translates it into reality.
The designer makes the idea, so to speak, come
to life. And the marketer cvalunrcs the results
based on whet her the consume r' s perception of
t-he des ign matches the originati ng brand idea.
An) lack of collaborat ion can cause a breakdown
in the pr ocess at any point.
Design for market ing has evolved from
its early beginnings as commercial art , visual
communication, and graphic design to become a
st rategic methodology for br and design. T his can
be seen wit h the growing use ofcarefully plan ned
visuals, such as mood boards t hat con\'e) a
brand' s meanmg, allowing marketer s and
designers to collect ively communicate . More-
over, marketer s and designers no longer t hink of
this as a linear process. T o some in the marketin g
comm unity, design is still too often viewed
as mer ely t he implementa tion or execution of
a brand st rategy. However, in roday' s visual
environment, design has become a viral element
in t he development ofa brand strategy, We now
see marketers and designers working together in
t he earl y stages of development , from innovarion
to brand positi oni ng. A company's success
is now seen t hrough t he collabo rative efforts
found \\ it hin t he diverse talents of marketer s
and designer s,
Market ers and designers must sta) connected
in watching for societal changes t hat ma)
affect consumer behavior . Strat egies need to
be revicwcd and updat ed through collnborat iv e
efforts, Successful prod uct launches and brand
repositio ning arc achieve d thro ugh st rategies
that begin wirh an inte grate d team approach,
On e would not enter a basketbal l game with the
team members meeting for t he first time on the
cour t. Yet, in the past , c c demanded success
from designers that joined the team half\\ a)
thr ough the marketin g progra m. In the end ,
realizing and respecting the different talents
that designers ;1I1d marketer s bring to the ream
is t he ke) to collabor ati ve success,
In some companies, design is being clevated as
its rule is seen as viral to the success and health of
t he organization . J\ 1:1I1) companies have begun
to bui ld design cul t ures inrerua lly, such as P&G,
Apple, and Kraft, toname a few. They have made
ope rat ional changes to include \,Ps of design.
CEOs as well as marketers arc incr easingly seeing
design as a key driver to increasing sales and
ROI , and pr ogressi \ c compa nies arc cven gi\ ing
design a scat in the board room.
These companies realize that an increase in
compe tit ion and commoditization has led to
product pari ty, leaving design and innovation
as the only pat h to di ffer entiati on . As Dani el
Pink sa) s in his book, A Irhole Nelli Alind,
" it is not enoug h that a product be reasona bly
priced and functional, it must also be beaut iful,
unique, and meaningful. " 1\ [any retail ers such
as T ar get , Waitrosc, Trader j ocs, and App le
stores effectively usc design as the primar y
\\ a) t he) influence cons umers. Design plays
to our emotions, inspi ring rati onal thought by
elevating our senses and creating a desire to
int eract. Ast udyconducted byThe Uuivcrsi tyof
Rochester Sc hool of Medi cine found that elim-
inatin g emotions made it impossible for peopl e
to make decisions, Proof in the marketpl ace
is Karim Rashid ' s sculpted trash can, Michael
Grave's houseware line, and Deborah Adl er ' s
packaging and bra nd desi gn 1..9
innovative packaging for prescription dru gs, all
successful, once- bor ing utilitarian items. When
cons umers arc makin g a huying decision , t he)
put themselves in the pict ure and evaluat e the
benefits and emotional risks of that decision.
Even pri ce is seen on an emotional level. \\ ithin
a few seconds, 1m) ing decisions are rati ona lized
on the basis of the facts, but the final choice is
based on feelings, Humans buy when the) tru st
and feel comfortable; the) often justify the facts
and buj on emotion. Reality is not per cepti on,
but perc eption is realit y.
To stay competitive, companies must search
for st rategic advanragcs. Design is a kcv diffcrcn-
tiator wit hin a commodi t y-d riven mar ket place.
E\ en as some companies conti nue to chase pr ice
and value, design and innovati on plays an even
bigger role in sett ing brands apart from t heir
competitio n. Progressivc companies look more
and more to brand design.
J3R\ '\JD SYSTE\l S
Closel) related to the design of individunl
brands is the design of S)SlCmS or portfolios of
related brands (sel' BR \ ;-"IJ E'\ TENSIOl'\ S \ ."]J
FI. \ 1\'1\: ER BRA'\,' I1S), Brand s) stems must also
he approached in ter ms of creating per cepti ons,
hUI, in thi s case, these percept ions defi ne a
general core essence or similarity that holds
togethe r disparate produ cts. Think of the Virgin
brand umbrella, which covers e\Tr) thin g from
air t ravel to colas to elect ricity. Companies
incr easingly count on taking successful bran ds
into new forms, altern ati ves, and categories.
Thus Kra ft has recentl y taken the Orco brand
from cookies inrc cakes. Thi s is held toget her
by the core perceptual essence of " fun to cat."
David Aaker, among ot hers. has wriucn about
managing such systems ofhrands (Aaker, 2004-) .
What permits a brand to become a system or
port folio of produ cts is a brand idea that is broad
enough to allow di fferent prod uct versions to
be categorized as fitting the idea at a percep t ual
level. As with a single produ ct , the perceptions
expressed by the brand design can facilitate this,
BRAND D ESIGN, CO'\JSU\ 1ER EXPERIE,'\JCES,
AND 360 DEGREE M I\RKET ING
Incr easingly, any brand must be an experie nce
bran d. Produ ct parit y and informati on overload
150 packaging and brand desi gn
is rampant . \\"i t hout good brand design to inject
life into the brand. thi s can be difficult.
From \ pple iPhone to \\ al- I\ lan , br and
design ... ...en c as a holdi ng dcvicc for our
thou ght s and feel ings about things in our fiv es.
tell us ... w ries that speak to our needs and
wants. Their memorable mn emoni cs tri gger
curnulativ e memori es and experiences. \\ c look
to them for inspiration, guida nce, vtability, and
cvci tcrncm. Each on e co mes \\ ith a promi se and
an cvpcctcd brand experience.
Recentl y, we have seen a shift to fewer
marketin g dollar s bein g spe nt on t radit iona l
adv cni... ing, due to the change in
mark et condi t ions. medi a frag me nt at ion, and
an ovc rcu rnmunicatcd soc iety. .'\\ a result ,
mark et ers place increasing importance on the
in-store experi en ce. \ recent st udy Dcl oitt e
Con sulting found that ] OOn of purchasin g dcci-
... ion... arc made in-store and 68"0 of pu rcha ses
ar c impul ... c bu ys. This " as important enough
to have the form er CEO Alan of P&G
coi n the t erm / i rS! 1I1011I t'/ I ! (t he momen t
when cons umers pick up a package]. l ie bui lt
a success ful cor por ate around thi s
cons umer insighl, called shopper//l arkl'!iug. Thi s
is not limited to just in-st or e merchandi zin g.
Bran d de sign must a significant role .
Retail C11\ ironmcnt s and the prod ucts and
bran ds that fill their shelves arc seen b) mi llion s
of cons umers eac h dol ) . Some bra nds" in big
in t hese sell ings whi le ot hers lie un noticed and
neglected. Thi ... is the bat tlef ield, the theat er for
brand... to t hrive or di e.
In 1970, there were around 10000 products
on ,I store shelf. T od n th er e ar c 0\ cr
-l6000. l lowcvcr, 500 of the product ... ar c 110t
even ...ccn b) the a\er>lge cons ume r and thus we
arc faced \\ it h an incrca...cd need for attentio n and
impact . \\ ith .111 things equal, and \\ irh ... 0
compet iti ve choices, an effect ive brand design
can be the t iebreaker in the pu rchavc dcci... ion
proce...... . Within the ret ail el1\iro nme nt , it is also
the pl.lce \\ her e "i ll be seen " ith
all their compe t ition. So a bran d de ... ign... efTec-
ti\eness i... cri lical. Brand... an d thei r pad age...
muSI persuade, ed ul. .tte, and entertai n in ",I)'"
I hal deli ght and entice . .\ LIrl ct er s and
need to \ ie\\ this area as an oppo rt u-
nit) 10 conl inuall) pr e...ent their bra nds in nc\\
an d fre... h \\>1)"0 .
Uhi ma rcly , bra nd de sign speaks 10 the
st rategic creat ion of t he customer cv pcricncc.
Each customer touch point or contact is cri tical
to the overal l acceptance of the brand idea .
Each touch point that a cons umer is cvposcd to
def ines and establishes hi s or her imprcs... ion of
a brand. \\it hin these tou ch points, co ns umers
"i ll judge and assess \\ hcrhcr the) feel that
the cvpc ricncc is aut hentic and worthy of their
involveme nt . For brands, br and desi gn i"
rho '\ 0.1 tou ch point \\ ith cons umers.
Ther e is also rhe need to keep pace \\ irh
change . \s the compe ti tion cha nges, so do the
d) namics of the entire category. Brands nrc
al"a) s on the move. As soc ial and cull ural \ ie" s
change, so docs the \ isual language that rcpre-
sent-, these thoughts. The goal for rnnrkcrcr-,
and des igners is to respond in \\a) ... that keep
their br ands pure, fresh , authenti c, and rclc- ant .
\ lnrkc rcrs and desi gners need to look in" ard, be
int ui ti ve, and ask "hat has excit ed u... and made
us become in\ 01\ed \\ ith .1 product. \ ftcr all, \\ c
ar c all cons umers. Our ahili tj to nnal j zc social,
cultural, and \ isual trends is crit ical; the skill
is uti li/ing this information through collcctivc
collabor ation and innovative hypotheses.
Established bra nds, of cour se, walk a fine
line hcl"CCI1 embracing such change while not
compromising their design eq ui ties an d core
brand idea. \ Vhen Tropicana rCI11 O\ed t he orange
with the straw from its package. a connection
"as broken with long-establ ished desi gn cq ui t v.
Cons umers found thcmsclv cs cut ofTfrom t heir
fami liar perceptions of the brand. Furthermore,
the redesign complicated the shop-a bi lity of
the brand, confusing cus tome rs furt he r. S COll
\ nung, Preside nt, Per ception Research Sen ices ,
statev, " 10 avo id ma jor mi ..rakes, designers need
10 steer clear of brand hesitation and confusion
at the shel f thus ens uring sho p-a bi lu ." The
l e) 10 cre ating br eakthrou gh at shel f is judging
\\ hen and how to be di srupti \ e " it h ) our brand....
design equiti es.
'1'111 F Ln R/.
In slim. we bcli e\ e that " padaging " of lhe
littl e P \ ar iet ) belon gs to the pa.., t. The future
is hnmd desi gn . \larleters and desi gner... mu st
\\01'1.. togeth er 10 bring brands from conce pl
to rcalil ) in "ays that express the me;ming of
the brand in \ erbnl and \ isual \\:1) s that the
cons umer can immedi atel y perceive. For
if not most , product s the mark et er cannot wait
for advertising to get the brand message acr oss.
The consume r mu st he abl e to know the br and
simply h) apprehending it.
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product placement
Cristcl. / /// /I//i(/ Russell
Product placement refers to promotional
pract ices that integrate brand communica t ions
\\ ithin the content or entertainment product s.
Brand communicatio ns arc no w present in
the content of a broad ran ge of ent erta inment
\ chicles, incl udin g T\' and mo vies (Was ko,
Phillips, and Purdi e, 19( 3), radi o shows, songs
and mu sic videos, vide o games, plays, and
even no vels (Friedman, 19R5). The increa sed
min gling of ndvert ising \\ ith the entert ain me nt
wor ld has gene rated a slue of newIy coined
tcrrn s to reflect th ese tr ends, such as hybrid
adve rt iseme nt (Bal asubrarnanian, 1(94 ) or the
" Madison and Vine" expression, reflecting
thc physical inter section of the advertising
industry' s New York hub, on Madison
Avenue, and the entert ainment hub on Vine
Street (Donaton, 200-1) .
fact ors contribute to adverti sers '
increased inter est in and usc of product
placement. h has gro\\ n mainly in reaction to
product placement 151
th e increasin g ad\ cnising cl ut ter, escalat ing
adver tisin g costs, and the red uced effectiveness
of tradi tional advert isi ng Consumers
arc cvpo ncnrialf exposed to com mercial
messages but at the same time t he) arc finding
new \\:1)S to avoid t hem. An In-Stat/ j\ l DR
sun found that 54-.30 of consumers claim to
skip 75 1000 of comme rcials (J:tfTc, 20(5). In
2004, a Knowledge Networks st ud) concl ude d
that 4- 70 of viewers switch channels while
watching '1'\ ' (Jaffe. 2005). These statist ics do
not acco unt for th e impac t of ne w technologi cal
advances \\ hi ch arc gi\ ing cons ume rs more
cont rol 0\ cr hO\\ cons ume entertainment ,
:1I1d making it increasingl y for them to uvcid
comme rcial mc ssages. \Vith the intro duc tion of
person al \ ideo recorders (PVRs), also referred
to as di gital \ ideo recorders (J) \, Rs), such ,IS
Ti Vo or replay TV, cons ume rs can not only
more easily fasr-forwurd throu gh comme rcials
hut th ey can now also easily skip them alto gether
with a P\ 'R's auto-skip func tion. A Forrest er
Resear ch' s st udy of P\ 'R usage b) S88 users
in thc United States found that 6()C' o of their
time, on average, wax spe nt watc hing pr ograms
that were pr er ecorded or delayed, \\ hich in turn
result ed in 920 of comme rcials hein g skipped .
Thirt y percent of respondent s said watched
no comme rcials at all (Z uucr, 2(0 5).
Product placement epitomizes the blurring
of th e lines bet ween ad ver tising and entertain-
ment. In audiovisual med ia, placement s can be
catego rized based on t heir modality of pr esen-
tati on , \ isuul or audi o. The \ isual appea rance
uf brands is justified the nee d to crea te real-
ist ic sett ings for movic or '1'\ se ts. Acco rding
to records availabl e on \\ \\ \\ .brandc hanncl.com,
an :l\crage of 18 br and s was visuall j placed in
the roughl y two hundred top rnovics relea sed
between 2001 and 2005. During the 20(1-1 2005
TV season, more than 100000 product place-
ments appeare d on th e six bruadcnst networ ks.
an incr ease or 280 from the prev ious season,
according to Nielse n J\ l cdiu Resear ch
2006). According to Nielsen Product Placement
research, the most common form of pr od uct
placement in 2005 was a simple spot in the
bac kground of u shO\\ or the brand used as
visual prop in the pro gram (Edwards, 2006<1).
Visual placements nrc common in \ ideo games,