Package Imitation: a Sincere Form of Flattery?

January 9, 2012 at 7:23 pm by Ted Mininni

Successful brands should easily be identified by their packaging on crowded retail shelves. Marketers strive to leverage their unique brand assets, and due to its physical, highly visual nature, packaging is heavily relied upon to carry a large part of the load when it comes to brand differentiation.

Why then do so many brands in one category after the other have such similar packaging? Why would brand managers work so hard to differentiate their consumer products and establish their brand values and then settle for packaging that doesn’t deliver those assets?

Is it due to the same old thinking?

Do marketers think that, by imitating the category leaders, they might skim some of the market share and sales from them?
Or is it that they think consumers expect a certain look and feel within the category?

Whatever the reason, this approach only waters down each brand. It does nothing to build brand awareness and a loyal base of consumers for any of the competitors. Furthermore, it can cause considerable confusion for consumers. Have you, for example, ever purchased a product in a hurry, then after returning home, you realized that you hadn’t purchased the product you wanted because the packaging was similar to that of your favorite brand’s? How did that make you feel? Not too pleased, I’m sure.

The next time you’re in a grocery store, check out the pasta sauce aisle and the orange juice coolers. Viewing the shelf set from a distance as you approach each section, how many jars of sauce have similar package structure and label designs? How many use the same color palette? Similar type faces?

That’s likely why Tropicana recently broke out of the pack. Their solution? The company opted to kick out its 59 ounce cartons altogether, replacing them with clear plastic carafe-like bottles. Unlike the disastrous package refresh of a couple of years ago, the brand made certain to retain all of its key equities on the new package label. The straw-plugged orange and signature brand identity were left intact. It’s obvious at a glance: this juice is Tropicana.

Why plastic? Apparently, market research divulged that people wanted to see the juice inside the package. For another, it’s 100% recyclable. Of course, upstart Coca-Cola’s Simply Orange is packaged that way and the brand has made some inroads on Tropicana’s huge market share. Could that have also played a part in this decision? Likely.

So here are some questions:

Has Tropicana reacted to competitors’ honing in on their brand by imitating their packaging all of these years only to repackage in direct response to an upstart brand’s attempt to take some of its share?
If so, is another round of OJ Packaging Wars about to begin?
Should Tropicana take a cue from a new competitor or should the #1 brand blaze its own trail in packaging?
Why would marketers work hard to differentiate their brands and then execute packaging that looks and feels the same as their competitors’?

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Package Imitation: a Sincere Form of Flattery?

January 9, 2012 at 7:23 pm by Ted Mininni

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