A new dedication to change is leading today’s executives to search for new, applicable business models that promote “triple bottom line” thinking. At the same time, many corporate sustainability targets are still focused on cost and waste reduction, creating unprecedented opportunity through innovative design and sophisticated communication. In part 2 of this 3 part series, author and communication strategist John Marshall Roberts (in partnership with LA based, Evenson Design Group) outlines three more design strategies to create brands and packaging that inspire sustainable profits.
#4 DISTILL AND EXPRESS UNDERLYING BRAND ARCHETYPES
Scientists estimate that the average person has up to 70,000 thoughts each day, in response to at least as many environmental stimuli. Clear your mind. Think of yesterday… Now, what percentage of your 70,000 thoughts can you now easily recall? How many from the day before? And the day before that? You get the picture: not that many! As humans, we are each endlessly drifting in a sea thoughts and sensory data, some of it chaotic, most of it quickly forgotten. Given all this complexity, it’s amazing that anyone can ever remember anything at all. But we do. Each of us carries a treasure trove of sacred memories and images within our brains, potent visual and emotional cues that stick with us and unconsciously work to fashion our very sense of self. The take-home question is “Why?” Why do some thoughts and images stick with us and become sacred, while others just waft through our mind like so many wind-blown grains of sand?
The answer lies in the hidden power of archetypes. Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung made his name outlining the core mental structures that animate the human psyche, which he affectionately termed “archetypes.” Jung conceived of archetypes as a core set of universal images and ideas that have shaped mankind’s psychology from the very origins of the human experience. We will not attempt to cover all of these primal images here, but rather will offer one bit of powerful marketing advice: distill the core archetypes that underlie your brand and design them into all of your marketing/packaging materials. By doing so you will energize your brand to leave indelible imprints on the minds of those who encounter your products, and successfully engage them to remember your brand from among the 70,000 other factors competing for their attention on any given day. This claim may seem outrageous, but the evidence is all around us.
Want to know why children love Mickey Mouse around the world so much? Look to the archetypes. Want to understand why the movie “The Titanic” was so popular? Look to the archetypes. Want to understand why Abraham Lincoln is still considered by many to be the best president in U.S. history? Look to archetypes… Get the picture? Nearly every personal and public event or icon that has resonated in your mind in the course of your life has been so moving and resonant precisely because it has hit upon an archetype within your unconscious that you instinctively hold dear. Why not consciously use this same archetypal power to brand your sustainable products and packaging?
This isn’t just academic theory. We speak from experience. At EDG we have been using this subtle skill for years to create brands that have won us awards far too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say that we’ve gotten pretty good at it. From the archetypal New England Patriots logo and uniforms to an Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines festival poster which resides in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress, we have more than thirty years of proven experience distilling and expressing brand archetypes for our clients. What truly excites us is that we have positioned ourselves to do this for every company we work with. The idea that keeps us feeling inspired each day at work is that something as traditional as consumer product packaging could truly become the vehicle for transformational images that move customers to feel, think and experience life more fully.
#5 LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS’ SUBCONSCIOUS NEEDS
Marketing researchers are continually frustrated at the huge gap between what their customers say they want from a product and what they will actually purchase. For example, the vast majority of Americans now claim to be very concerned about global warming and the environment, yet only a small minority of these individuals will go out their way to find and purchase a majority of products that truly conform to high environmental standards. Why is this?
The truth is that– like it or not– people’s actions are usually driven more by raw impulse and emotion than by conscious reason, or explicitly stated ideals. We find that the trick for designing sustainable products and packages that sell is better listening. Listening for what? Listening for the subconscious needs that your customer feels beneath the more rational rhetoric he or she so quickly espouses. In other words, pay less attention to just what your customers say, and more attention to what they truly mean. This simple distinction can make the difference between utter financial failure and outlandish business success.
For example, when Chrysler launched the PT Cruiser in 2000, they created a huge splash in the car industry and ended up with an order waiting list over a mile long. However the prevailing industry wisdom of the time (based upon “in-depth” market research) was that consumers had grown tired of sedans, and were primarily interested in cars with such practical attributes as gas efficiency, safety, and mechanical reliability. Most manufacturers were designing and marketing cars based upon those sensible features. The reason Chrysler was able to generate such extraordinary success was that they out-listened the competition. Through innovative research they discovered that customers subconsciously craved something much different than conventional wisdom suggested. Beyond safety and efficiency, customers truly longed for a car that could stoke a sense of freedom, sensuality and excitement. Chrysler took this to heart and designed the PT Cruiser to specifically embody these traits. The rest– as they say– is history.
These same principles that Chrysler used to design and promote their breakthrough sedan can also be applied to help you design and market sustainable products that sell. Get to know your customers. Run a focus group. Perform a social media analysis. Dig beneath the surface and listen between the words. Find out what their souls long for and design this into evocative brands and marketing collateral that enchants them in surprising (and unprecedented) ways. Consciously or not, this is what pioneering companies such as Method, Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, New Belgium Brewery, and Pangea Organics have already been doing to create breakthrough business results. The time has come for more of us to become better listeners so that we can do the same.
#6 AVOID THE ‘GRANOLA BRANDING’ TRAP
After Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” hit the mainstream, being “green” became the coolest thing since sliced (whole-grain) bread. Soon magazines everywhere began playing up the importance of greening everything from toothbrushes to toasters, with the most shameless profusion of green puns ever observed. Meanwhile, on the design front, being truly eco-chic seemed to require product developers to strip down all color from their packaging, displaying only colorless hemp-like papers and fabrics, invariably accented by at least one good splash of vibrant green (usually in the shape of an abstracted plant, tree, or leaf).
At EDG we don’t have a particular problem with this earthy design style. In fact, we’ll openly confess to having a bit of that design streak buried deep down in our company’s collective unconscious. But, having had the opportunity to help brand more than a few sustainable products and services over the years, we feel it important to announce that the days of mainstream granola branding are now officially over. This isn’t to say that certain naturally branded products will not still do well with the LOHAS crowd (such as, for example, the excellent packaging by Pangea Organics), but rather to urge you to consider taking a different approach, especially if your products are targeted towards the mainstream.
The problem with granola branding is that for every customer who loves this particular look and feel, there are probably several who dislike it. Environmental mindedness– once the province of a hearty, passionate group of activists– has now become a national, even global imperative. The good news here is that a new generation of eco-friendly customers is just waiting for the right products or services to call them into a more sustainable product-purchasing repertoire. Perhaps then, design brands of today will enroll everyone into a non-partisan, eco-friendly future.
via:: Sustainable Life Media
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