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How often has a beautiful package, with a name we don't know, promised us utopia, and after tasting it we wind up grimacing, "Where in the world did this come from?" Or, how often do we walk by a package and think; "Who'd ever buy that stuff?" A package can be a powerhouse when there’s great design and a well thought out strategy behind it. Or, a product can just sit there on the shelf when its package has simply been "decorated" - even beautifully decorated.
A product survives when what's inside lives up to the promise on the outside.
The tried and true brands painstakingly keep their packaging up to date without damaging their brand image. Some companies, perhaps due to rapid line expansion, operating without a packaging plan, find their perfectly fine product line becoming lost on the shelves.
Polar Beverages of Worcester, Mass., a manufacturer of an extensive line of soft drinks, mixers and seltzers found themselves, after many years of introducing new flavors, looking at a fractured brand image. Often new labels had been introduced with seemingly no regard for the rest of the line. Yet, those who grew up with Polar knew their extensive flavor offerings and loved them for what they were, and in fact still are... a great tasting line of soft drinks at a reasonable price.
Devine & Pearson was chosen to get the packaging "in order and looking good." But the real challenge, as we saw it, was to redefine the brand. We had to develop an exciting, up-to-date brand image that would appeal to a new younger audience, and at the same time, hold onto the existing one. The client certainly didn’t want the old customers calling and complaining, "I can’t find my Orange Dry." Not a simple task.
In evaluating the product line it was clear that Polar truly had "a flavor for every taste," with 12 seltzers, multiple mixers and soft drinks. We adopted that as our positioning line, which guided our logo and package design. We built on the polar imagery, creating a more contemporary bear to sit majestically on top of the logo and combined it with a subtle background of polar ice caps. This primary graphic brought continuity and energy to Polar's shelf presence.
Yet while maintaining this cohesive brand look, we needed to bring distinction and identity to the 3 product lines. For seltzer waters, we accomplished this with a blue label across the line, color-coding and dynamic yet simple illustrations. For soft drink flavors, we used individual flavor colors and complementary illustrations. And for mixers, we maintained a classic approach with familiar label colors and prominent product names.
Our ability to create unique, illustrative artwork in keeping with the bottling industry's technically stringent requirements for printing on vinyl and metal resulted in a vibrant presentation. Polar's recent sales have been equally dynamic.
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