Everything counts in brand building

OK.  So I'm a bit of a brand geek.

I was watching a documentary-style news program about Coca-Cola the other night when a company spokesperson talked about introducing the contoured bottle shape to the company's 2 liter beverage offering in an effort to try to produce incremental sales.  (It is truly an art when a change in packaging produces increased sales with absolutely the same product inside.)

That reminded me of a previous post for which I took some flak regarding the redesign of Wal-Mart's soda packaging.  But that's not what I want to talk about today.

Today I want to talk about pizza.

Last week one of my Facebook friends posted the following picture to his wall (photo used with permission) along with his thoughts, "It seems like there are more toppings in the picture."

As you probably already guessed, the post sparked a number of humorous comments regarding deception, truth in advertising and the importance of good lighting in the studio when taking product shots.

It made me think a little about product packaging and how important package design is to a brand.

In this day and age, why would a product brand use packaging or labeling that misrepresents the product? 

Social media almost ensures that any misrepresentation is going to not only be uncovered but shared with many, many people.  Here is one of my fraternity brothers from yesteryear opening a package of pizza in his home and he feels so fooled by the packaging that he snaps a picture and uploads it to his Facebook page where no less than 136 people ( # of his FB friends at the time) see it, realize the misrepresentation on the package and then start commenting.  Do you think Frescetta has helped or hurt its brand at this point?

When you are managing your brand everything counts.  The product itself, the promises you make and keep, and even the promises made or implied by your packaging.  If your product does not deliver on those promises then you have made a one-time sale and probably hurt your chances for repurchase and long-term brand loyalty.  There simply is no place to use deception or misrepresentation because in this day and age of social media and user-defined brands, you just won't get away with it and you'll achieve the opposite of a strong brand.

Perhaps I've misrepresented this as a blog post about pizza.

Mea culpa!

This post was really about how packaging can either support or undermine your branding effort. Use packaging wisely.