TO MARKET #2 - CORNISH TEA, PACKAGING YOUR STORY & A LEDGER OF QUALITY BRANDS (Copy)
Welcome to To Market - a fortnightly dose of practical ideas for independent lifestyle brands who want to build something people genuinely care about. In each issue, I’ll bring you three things:
A BRAND TO WATCH
I’ll break down something a brand is doing brilliantly, and show you what you can take away from it for your own business.
A MOVE TO MAKE
One practical idea you can put into action straight away. Not vague branding theory - something you can actually do to make your brand stronger, clearer or more distinctive.
A TOOL TO TRY
A useful resource, tool or discovery that’s worth knowing about. Something that could save you time, improve your brand or make building it a little easier.
No waffle. No inbox-filling rants or moans. Just three useful things to help you build a brand people want to buy from, remember and come back to.
A BRAND TO WATCH
Protein bars aren't exactly crying out for personality.
The category is full of the usual suspects: bold colours, fitness photography, nutritional claims and names that sound like the tiles left at the end of a game of scrabble.
Then there's Jacked Granny.
The whole brand plays with the idea of a mysterious Granny behind the product, including the wonderful mantra that "Granny doesn't want you to eat protein bars".
And they don't stop there.
In a category filled with plastic wrapped bars, Jacked Granny Zigs where all others Zag. By packaging their bars in tins.
Amazing.
The packaging also contains little details and references that reward you for paying attention. There's a sense that there's something going on behind the product, and you have to poke around a bit to uncover it.
That's clever because it gives the customer something to discover rather than simply something to read.
And discovery is memorable.
A MOVE TO MAKE
Give your customers something to discover.
Your packaging doesn't have to reveal everything at once.
→ Hide a little joke inside the box.
→ Put an unexpected message underneath the lid.
→ Add a tiny illustration somewhere nobody expects it.
→ Reference something that makes sense once someone knows more about your brand.
Give your customers a reason to look twice.
It's a small thing, but it changes the relationship. When you take your unboxing/opening experience from transactional (Buy→Open→use/consume) to a memorable experience where they interact on a deeper level, your customers become WAY more engaged with your brand and products.
Instead of simply handing someone information, you're inviting them to participate.
And that's particularly powerful for independent brands trying to build a community around their products.
People don't just remember what you told them.
They remember the little things they found themselves.
A TOOL TO TRY
I've just put together a free guide with 50 practical ideas for making your product packaging do more.
Because packaging has a lot more jobs than simply keeping your product in one piece.
It can help you stand out.
Tell your story.
Create a memorable experience.
Give people a reason to share your product.
Encourage the second purchase.
And give customers another reason to connect with your brand.
I've pulled together 50 things I've found from some brilliant independent product brands, with real-world examples and ideas you can start applying to your own packaging.
And no, you don't need to redesign everything or suddenly find another £10k in the budget.
Some of the ideas are ridiculously simple and free.
That's it for this issue of To Market. I hope you've found something here you can take away and put to work in your own brand.
If you're thinking about revamping your branding or website and aren't quite sure where to start, you can book a 20-minute Brand Brainstorm with me. No hard sell - just a quick chat about what you're working on, what's not quite working and whether I can help.
See you in the next one,
David
