The power of branded packaging
It has been said that a “picture is worth a thousand words.” But what about a logo? What is the value of a widely recognised logo? If you see a “swoosh,” “golden arches” or multi-coloured “G,” do Nike, McDonald’s and Google not instantly come to mind?
Perhaps no company knows the benefits of strong branding better than Starbucks, which garnered an estimated USD $2.3 billion in free advertising from the Game of Thrones coffee cup gaffe in episode four of the recent final season. And as it turns out, the cup was most likely not a Starbucks cup, but rather, a craft services cup. But millions of viewers thought it was Starbucks, which was enough to generate endless free publicity in the form of tweets, memes, news stories, and sounds bytes, etc., in the days after the episode aired.
A CNBC.com piece on the subject noted that “the fact that so many people associated the cup with Starbucks is a testament to the strength of the coffee shop’s brand.”
Companies pay millions of dollars to strategically place their branded products in movies, shows (network, cable and streaming) and video games to be seen by their key demographics. And Starbucks got “placement” by accident, and free of charge.
Packaging is powerful. And as Elizabeth Raw, the author of “Utilising Branding as Mobile Marketing Tool,” the packaging story in the June issue of Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, writes, “…packaging has arguably never been so important to brand marketing.” The article discusses how properly branding product packaging can turn the consumer into a mobile advertisement for a brand.
Raw explains that making a brand recognisable by image builds trust and credibility with consumers. Furthermore, building strong brand connections that resonate with consumers will assuredly get them talking about the brand. “From coffee cups to cardboard boxes, customising your materials and products means you can put your own stamp on the goods that you sell,” she writes, adding that it is essential to deliver a strong first impression as it will help to establish brand identity. And, the greater amount of people who see a brand, the more people will talk about it, and ultimately invest in it.
I’m sure the water company whose bottle appeared under a chair to the right of Samwell Tarly’s leg in the final episode of Games of Thrones, is still thinking “if only our logo could have been seen…”
- Vanessa Facenda, editor Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. Keep in touch via [email protected]
