How to Use Packaging Cues to Become a Category Leader

January 23, 2012 at 12:54 pm by Ted Mininni

How can manufacturers market and package a new brand in a saturated consumer product category to get visibility and become a leader? How can specific cues become part of that brand and its assets? How can those cues be leveraged to appeal to consumers at a higher level than price consciousness?

Those are key questions to ask and answer before positioning, marketing and packaging any new brand entering a consumer marketplace overwhelmed by choices.

Del Monte’s Milo’s Kitchen dog treats demonstrates how to deliver a new brand successfully. Many pet product brands have been extolling solid nutrition of late: real meat, added vegetables, no artificial colors and flavor and fewer fillers, so what’s exciting about 100% sausage, chicken or beef jerky and meatballs, home-style or not? Rather than making natural goodness its sole focus, Milo’s Kitchen chose to package and market its dog snacks with its primary focus on pets as treasured members of the family and their owners as “pet parents”.

Package photography depicting pets with their proud owners in everyday familial situations remind us of this important connection. TV ads reiterate this theme and make us smile as a pet owner carries on an imaginary conversation with her dog in the same vein as she would with her kids.

Of course pets are family members! Inference: they deserve the very best we can give them. They should be coddled and spoiled. We wouldn’t give our children anything less than the best; why would we do less for the canine member of the family?

Bringing out the emotive owner-to-pet connection as well as the idea of owner as “pet parent” rings true on a very deep level. By appealing to the rational reasons for making Milo’s Kitchen a household brand, the emotional reasons carry as much weight—if not more. Will price be the major consideration when pets as family members deserving the best we can give them means so much to so many? Not likely. That’s why Milo’s Kitchen is poised to become a category leader.

What do you think of Milo’s Kitchen’s marketing and packaging strategy?
Which brands are you loyal to because they appeal on an emotional level and make price a non-issue?
Do you think many brands are making a mistake by only trying to appeal to consumers on price in a difficult economy?

Categories:

Branding, Package Design, Consumer Products, Marketing Thought Leadership

Comments :

DahliaJanuary 24, 2012 9:51 PM

Well Ted,

To tell you the truth I am not the biggest fan of the photography. I believe the color scheme, and the visibility of the product itself is the selling point. I just have a hard time finding sense in the name, "Milo's Kitchen" when there is no photography on the package emulating anything like a kitchen.

Kitchen and "home style dog treats" next to each other in type treatment works.

Ted MininniJanuary 24, 2012 10:30 PM

Hi Dahlia,

I agree that the photography could have been handled a bit better. Maybe through the use of picture frames, or visual cues that might suggest that they're in a photo album. I also agree that the sophisticated color palette and the product quality itself are doing a wonderful job of connecting with consumers. But, I feel that Del Monte has made a conscious effort to appeal to dog owners on an emotional level to make the sale.

DahliaFebruary 2, 2012 4:08 PM

Remembering what I said last time, what really works here is the fact dog owners can see what they would be feeding their dog if they purchased Milo's chicken jerky.
Now that you mention the emotional level for the sale, browsing through magazines. They are tons of ads, where women are in the white underwear on the bed smiling at the computer. You can leave out the underwear but the emotional connection is being applied to electronics.

DahliaFebruary 2, 2012 4:12 PM

But being an amateur photographer, I would have photography that would suggest the jerky would give my dog energy, possibly hiking.
Photo 1- Hiking, photo 2-camping with the crock pot giving my dog some jerky
photo 3- we are smiling together near the Washington mountains.
I am just throwing it out there, since there isn't much connection to jerky.
I could just be over analytical at this point.

Ted MininniFebruary 2, 2012 4:31 PM

Hi Dahlia,

Thanks for chiming in again. I'm glad to know that you're giving this much thought to how this package design might better communicate to consumers. So, I don't think you're being overly analytical. I believe the imagery is there for one reason: to establish an emotional connection with dog owners as "pet parents". And, I would imagine that the imagery doesn't change for different varieties. Your suggestion to show imagery that may support the term "jerky" may dilute the intended message, which is the bond between the dog owner and the dog... a "closeness" that's akin to parents and their children. As marketers and designers, we often have to be selective with messaging, whether visual or verbal. Trying to say too much typically results in not communicating anything effectively.