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Nick's Winx Club: How to Capture and Package Fantasy

October 30, 2012 at 10:22 am by Ted Mininni

Nickelodeon has tapped into something whimsical and wonderful with the Winx Club brand – a world of fantasy and imagination for young girls. Ordinary girl, Bloom, discovers that she’s actually a fairy who can learn to cultivate magical powers, finding six kindred spirits at Alfea College, the best fairy school. When faced with trouble, Bloom and her friends transform themselves into beautiful fairies and fight a trio of evil witches to save the world.

These characters and their stories tap into the mindset of kids on a deep, emotional level. Stories of self-discovery, hard work, learning, and overcoming adversity are important ones for young girls when they can be told in an engaging, captivating manner, using fantasy and endearing characters. Nickelodeon’s animated series and web site for Winx Club help build the fantasy and aura of the brand. Games, videos and images engage kids. But it’s the embodiment of the successful entertainment brand in packaged consumer products that’s truly exciting.

The packaging for the Winx Club Believix Collection deepens the brand experience. It brings the fantasy of the brand to life as well as the story of Bloom and her friends. When reviewing toy packaging, I always look for ownable structure design that refers back to the brand. The Winx Club package structure is as unique as the brand itself, establishing a package design architecture that uses the “wings” element that is central to the identity of the characters as fairies. Each character is packaged with a visual design element unique to her as well. In the case of Bloom, a heart is molded into the package structure in the upper right; for Flora, it’s naturally a flower. A glitter foil is used to enhance the Winx Club brand identity and the wings within each character’s illustration, further conveying the “magic” of this fairy fantasy world.

Each doll is clearly visible through the soft curves of the thermoformed structure, along with her accessories and Winx Club membership card. What makes this package design system work so well is the color-coding within the package design architecture, making it easy to identify each doll at retail.

The Winx Club Believix packaging is a strong example of how to capture the essence of a brand through a well-conceived visual interpretation its assets at retail. The design team at Nickelodeon in conjunction with Jakks Pacific did a wonderful job of conveying the magic and ethereal nature of the brand through its structure design and its package design system.

• Many kid’s brands focus on fueling imaginations with “fantasy”. Which toy brands, besides Winx Club, sell fantasy convincingly through their package design system?
• Which other brands in the doll category fully leverage package design architecture and structure design  to differentiate themselves from competitive brands at retail?
• What other ways can package design enrich and deepen the brand experience for entertainment properties?

Please chime in. I’d love to hear from you.

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