Being 1 in 1000, 30 times a shopping trip (WTS? & JKR 1)

This is the first in a series of 5 posts about how design can "amplify" your brand and grow your business. The series is powered by JKR, the London based design agency that is run by Andy Knowles; he's the "K" in JKR. No, Andy is not paying me to plug his agency! (though, now I think about it .....) From working with him, I just think they have some cracking case studies that are really worth sharing.

Being the 1 in 1000
At the heart of JKR's approach,  "Brand Charisma", is identifying and amplifying what makes you brand unique. To see how important this is, consider some killer data from Tesco:
- Average number of items in a supermarket = 30 000
- Average number of items in shopping basket = 30
So, for each of these 30 shopping choices you make...
- Number of things you DO buy = 1
- Number of things you DON'T buy = 999

Wow.

That's 30 shopping decisions where you have to be the 1 in 1000 that gets picked. To do this Andy has a nice visual that shows how your brand needs to look:

    Are you one of the crowd?                                                Or standing out?

Category codes can be copied
Now, the trap many brand fall into is to use so many category codes, such as food photos for food brands, that they merge in with the other brands on the shelf. And, perhaps most importantly, they are easily copied by own label. Here's an example of this from the cosmetics category, with all the brands using the same sorts of colours, finishes, shapes etc.:

And I can't resist showing this set of adverts for perfume that JKR took out a single womens' magazine last Christmas... lots of nice sexy camera work, but can you spot the difference?

Superior stand-out
An example of amplifying your brand is the ethnic food brand, Sharwood's. Their original pack design was a classic example of nice packaging that does well in focus group testing, as it has lots of colourful category codes. However, stick it on the shelf and it merges into the sea of peppers, spices and chillies.

The new design by JKR created an ownable brand device in the form of a black "window", that created impact on shelf. Indeed, in testing on a mocked up supermarket shelf the new pack had three times the share of attention of the old one. Three times more likely to be that 1 in 1000 that gets picked. Now that's what I call the power of design!

[Seeing how the design looks like in a real, on-shelf situation is key. Its sounds stupid, but its amazing how many times brand teams proudly show their new pack sat by itself on a boardroom table, rather than mocked up against the competition on shelf]

Comments

[Ayan]

nakakatawa naman yun video. hahahaha. ganda naman nun HP book mo. mataagl ko na din gusto bumili nun edition na yun. Love ko din si Hermoine. ^_^Maglalabas ba sila ng buong series ng special edition version?

[Saidin]

This is really hard to aswner because they are all so good and have their special moments. But I have to say I usually pick up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I love the DA and Luna. We also see how Harry grows and learns. Also how J. K. Rowling can write such a wickedly evil character in Umbridge.

[Retak]

*drools**inggit mode*Seriously, I'm a huge HP fan too. Although maybe not as big of a fan as you are. But my copy of book 1 is in a very pitiful ciindtoon now. I'd really love to buy that anniversary edition too. Oh well.. pag may pera na siguro. Hehe.The only extra HP book I bought is the UK adult edition of DH. ^_^

[Jon]

Half Blood Prince!!!! I remember when I first read the book and I had so many eontioms while reading it, it was so unbelievably good. I remember how, I was so into Harry's new (well, technically old) Potions book. I couldn't wait to find out who the Half-Blood Prince was! I love Slughorn and every time he would say "Harry! M'boy!" I laughed so hard at those parts. And Lavander and Won Won. Obviously, laughter ensued. And all though, there was a character's death (don't won't to give it away to those who haven't read) and some really sad parts it simply amazing. Another thing I really loved we found out more about Tom Riddle and what he was like as a boy. There was a lot of character development.Bianca

[Lotfi]

Great post. And love the heads up to lovemarks'. Nowhere near eoungh people in branding understand the concept of lovemarks. And I totally agree the brand can't drive you. Customers are so savvy these days (and hate being sold to) that if you are not genuine and authentic they'll see straight through you. Even though we talk about web 2.0 and other silly phrases branding is really no different than it was 30 years ago we just didnt call them brands as much. It was Zig Ziglar who summed it up best for me, You can have everything you want in life if you just help eoungh other people get what they want . True in business. True in life!

[kamagra]

Is good to be inform thanks for the add.

[kamagra]

I really enjoy spicy food. But I'm also a sweet lover.

[louboutin]

Just one question: how to add your blog into my rrs reader, thanks so much.

[careful with statistics]

The 1 in a 1000 analogy is not correct either. You should compare the number of choices per similar category. This means, if I make a decision to buy coffee, my brand is only competing with the other coffee brands, and that is not 1000

[Jay]

Would have to agree with trish in regards to the Sharwoods example.

I find the branding before far stronger then after.
The shape of the jar, the "Sharwoods" ringing the neck in a bold white on black which stands out well on shelves. All announcing its brand very clearly.

Losing the Sharwoods name from neck of the jar I think has made its weaker, and given it the appearance of a generic attempting to imitate the Sharwoods brand.

So I can't agree that the new design has a greater appeal then the old. I would say the opposite as I can well picture it being the cause of some consumer confusion.

[trish]

method would be a great example of design amplifying/differentiating a brand. they've gained shelf space and share just by realizing that people leave their soap out and so they want the package to look nice.

Herbal Essences might be another nice example.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=63833

[trish]

re sharwood's pack design - really? the new design had 3 times the appeal as the old? the new one looks more generic in my opinion. you could put any name in the center. i'm sorry i like the premise of the blog and think the cosmetic and perfume examples are compelling. but not finding the sharwood's example as compelling.