I’ve been thinking about “design” in the marketing sense quite a bit this year. “Design” has become an integral part of products, customer experience and brands. No one epitomizes this better than the original Walkman (product), Nintendo Wii (customer experience) and Apple (brand).
Recently I spoke with one of the best designers in the country and couldn’t help but ponder if graphics design can create just as big an impact on the bottom line. I am talking about graphic design in the most basic sense of the word, not corporate identity design, etc. Basically, can good graphics design sell? (No, this does not apply to David Carson).
Here’s when I came a brand of tea from the UK called Clipper Teas. They’re founded by a couple, Mike and Lorraine Brehme in 1983, and is one of the first products in its category to go organic and adopt fair trade policies. Business was generally good in the 1990’s in the sense that they expanded overseas, but unfortunately the market as whole was declining due to the rise and trend in coffee drinking. To put it in perspective, 84% of the UK population drank tea, but it dropped to 64% within 20 years. The threat was real and in move to revive the business, they decided to….overhaul its packaging design. The result: increased sales by over 350%, without any advertising!
Here’s when I came a brand of tea from the UK called Clipper Teas. They’re founded by a couple, Mike and Lorraine Brehme in 1983, and is one of the first products in its category to go organic and adopt fair trade policies. Business was generally good in the 1990’s in the sense that they expanded overseas, but unfortunately the market as whole was declining due to the rise and trend in coffee drinking. To put it in perspective, 84% of the UK population drank tea, but it dropped to 64% within 20 years. The threat was real and in move to revive the business, they decided to….overhaul its packaging design. The result: increased sales by over 350%, without any advertising!
The design of the new pack was a break away from the traditional clichés. No visuals of tea ships, plantations, etc and replace them with modern, stylish information about the tea’s area of origin, emphasizing on the fair trade aspect of their brand.Good design can sell anything…
