Before I was saying how a company should stick to what it knows best. Recently Tesco have been in the press a fair amount for the new venture it is trialling in it's stores, hair and beauty, but not as we know it from the chain. They are installing beauty parlours so to speak where you can get your haircut, nails done and eye brows threaded among other treatments.
Tesco is always game to try and offer its customer a another service to try and keep them under it's roof, in the past it hast attempted to sell scooters, successfully launched Telecoms including broadband, Tesco Direct and 2011 is set for Tesco Gold Exchange and the beauty salons to be tested. With this Tesco is also trying to attract big beauty brands such as Estee Lauder and Clinique, you wouldn't exactly pair the two together.
It is a bold move by Tesco trying to add another cog to its wheel, but generally for women getting your nails done and having a new hair do is a treat not something you want to be getting on a Tesco value. Which brings me to John Lewis, they are planning to install in store spa's, a complimentary fit. John Lewis is a relaxing shopping environment built purely for your pleasure and to spoil yourself and others. Tesco is going more for the convenient route but we don't want every thing to be cheap and easy otherwise why do we work hard. Pampering and spa's is big money because we are learning to spend more money on better beauty treatments and looking after our body and general well being. I think John Lewis will nail this as they will spend the money to create the right environment and it will be a top end affordable luxury at a guess, if anything is to go by with Tesco it will be cheap and mass produced, not exactly the environment for relaxing. If Tesco are seriously going for this they need to splash out and potentially be a bit extravagant, but by doing that it loses its brand values in essence.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Less is More cont'd
Well I thought I was finished yet again... Basically it just got me thinking a bit more, now I swear by google, i think it is the best search engine and google has even become a permanent fixture in my vocabulary. They have cut down on the clutter and the layout is simple. (It just so happened to be an anniversary for Jules Verne - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea).
Even the search results are clutter free, I think a large part of this is having the white background. At this point Bing sprung to mind, I have never been a fan of it I'll be honest. I don't think I have ever before seen there opening page, which I was surprised by...
There is about eight different pictures to look through each with a few pointers, some with just random blurb, personally it should be one or the other and more factual from my point of view. I'm assuming the idea is to give you ideas to "google" other things that you wouldn't necessarily think of and that there is an endless list of information at your finger tips. Quite a novel idea but with so much junk on the Internet sometimes I just want a search engine to do simply as it says. Also Bing's search results seem to have been simplified and look very google-esque now, to be honest pretty much identical just using different colours and typefaces.
Now Yahoo! on the other hand is what I am talking about, information overload, too much going on. You have advertisements, shortcuts, news stories and the main thing you wanted, a search engine! Sometimes I think there trying to take on to much, I have the BBC has my homepage for a quick glance at the news and then I have google to search, simple, let each company do what they are best at.
Obviously this is all down to personal preference hence why there is a variety of search engines. One way or another I spend a fair bit of time on my computer and the net so I want to make it all as easy as possible so I use less time.
Even the search results are clutter free, I think a large part of this is having the white background. At this point Bing sprung to mind, I have never been a fan of it I'll be honest. I don't think I have ever before seen there opening page, which I was surprised by...
There is about eight different pictures to look through each with a few pointers, some with just random blurb, personally it should be one or the other and more factual from my point of view. I'm assuming the idea is to give you ideas to "google" other things that you wouldn't necessarily think of and that there is an endless list of information at your finger tips. Quite a novel idea but with so much junk on the Internet sometimes I just want a search engine to do simply as it says. Also Bing's search results seem to have been simplified and look very google-esque now, to be honest pretty much identical just using different colours and typefaces.
Now Yahoo! on the other hand is what I am talking about, information overload, too much going on. You have advertisements, shortcuts, news stories and the main thing you wanted, a search engine! Sometimes I think there trying to take on to much, I have the BBC has my homepage for a quick glance at the news and then I have google to search, simple, let each company do what they are best at.
Obviously this is all down to personal preference hence why there is a variety of search engines. One way or another I spend a fair bit of time on my computer and the net so I want to make it all as easy as possible so I use less time.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Less is More
Don't worry I am not now going on a Starbucks rant like i doubled posted on M&S. But it will be the start of this next post, which is basically about decluttering our brands. On the supermarket shelves brands are shouting for attention with colours and images and to be honest it just boggles which is why brand loyalty is such a big thing, that our special offers anyway.
So Starbucks has created a bit of a stir with it's re branding that was tied in with the 40th anniversary which see's it strip its logo back to just the 'Starbucks Siren' aka the women on the cups. I am torn, I partly like the simplicity but on the other hand I have a bit of an issue that they are removing all copy, not even a mention of Starbucks. Rumour has it that the change is to help the company re-position and expand the market it is currently in, guessing we'll have to wait and see.
So as you can see the logo has become more minimalist, losing it's coffee roots. This got me thinking of many brands packaging, not just to help them reposition in a market but just about all the clutter. I think it would do many brands a favour if they simplified this.
Take a peek at these images courtesy of ANTREPO
The first four I particularly like, think the products look alot better and with established brands sometimes you don't have anything else to say, it says what it is on the tin so to speak. The nutella branding - fab, not everyone has it on bread, only last week I was in the Alps dipping pretzels into it. For Red Bull I think this would be a great move for a re-design, the can looks so smart, almost sophisticated, not what Red Bull is necessarily but I think it looks great and I think if a few chosen brands of each division went the bold way there products would stand out above the rest. This could be a good move if Red Bull moved into different flavoured energy drinks so you could have the original in its usual design and the flavours could be brought in in just plain colour so its not competing with the original, and the colour would complement the flavour.
The last two examples I have separated, I think that both designs are good but they just don't quite have the same impact as the previous four which i think could do wonders for the brand. A great project taken on by ANTREPO that has provided examples of what can be done.
So Starbucks has created a bit of a stir with it's re branding that was tied in with the 40th anniversary which see's it strip its logo back to just the 'Starbucks Siren' aka the women on the cups. I am torn, I partly like the simplicity but on the other hand I have a bit of an issue that they are removing all copy, not even a mention of Starbucks. Rumour has it that the change is to help the company re-position and expand the market it is currently in, guessing we'll have to wait and see.
So as you can see the logo has become more minimalist, losing it's coffee roots. This got me thinking of many brands packaging, not just to help them reposition in a market but just about all the clutter. I think it would do many brands a favour if they simplified this.
Take a peek at these images courtesy of ANTREPO
The first four I particularly like, think the products look alot better and with established brands sometimes you don't have anything else to say, it says what it is on the tin so to speak. The nutella branding - fab, not everyone has it on bread, only last week I was in the Alps dipping pretzels into it. For Red Bull I think this would be a great move for a re-design, the can looks so smart, almost sophisticated, not what Red Bull is necessarily but I think it looks great and I think if a few chosen brands of each division went the bold way there products would stand out above the rest. This could be a good move if Red Bull moved into different flavoured energy drinks so you could have the original in its usual design and the flavours could be brought in in just plain colour so its not competing with the original, and the colour would complement the flavour.
The last two examples I have separated, I think that both designs are good but they just don't quite have the same impact as the previous four which i think could do wonders for the brand. A great project taken on by ANTREPO that has provided examples of what can be done.
Trenta (30 - or 916ml)
I think this pretty much explains it all, minus the issue that companies feel that people need to have a drink three times the size of your average coke can. Its currently being trialled in the US, the bizarre thing is that already 7-Eleven do three pint cups and buckets (32 fluid ounces) for ice teas at McDonalds, maybe there is some logic. It just seems all a bit excesive, I cant usually finish a tall (by which I mean Starbucks' small) coffee...
Marks and Spencer
While Marks and Spencer are at the forefront of your mind I will just run this little bit by you. It was in the I (my favourite paper), and it was about the M&S trend hunters - good title too. In a year they will travel four to five times, this year is NY, Berlin, Barcelona, Bath and Tokyo all in the name of research, looking for food trends to potentially bring home to our shelves. The team is not for the average joe, if not a trained chef you will probably be a trained eater (who knew they existed), they visit restaurants, deli's food trucks etc. dishes get chosen, shared and discussed. If they like something enough they take it back, research and develop it further to see if it meets the mark for the customers.
Funnily enough re-reading the article I have noticed some other points, one about popcorn, over the past few weeks I have noticed we have a vast range of popcorn on offer at M&S (my temp job). April Preston, head of product development at M&S basically says its popularity grown in 2010 and she thinks it will continue into 2011, hence why there is alot on the shelve stores... I prefer it when I am at the cinema's to be honest. Popcorn aside, surely this would have to be one of the best jobs in the world, among a being deep sea diver, rich and being the queen.
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Marks & Spencer, really?
The shock is more about the nakedness coming from a brand like M&S more than anything. The other day in the Metro I read about M&S launching the new Nearly Naked range, in a literal sense. I felt almost proud that what is generally seen as a conservative/safe brand is exploring different avenues to reach its target audience - everyone! The four models took to Marble Arch wearing the skin tailored underwear sets only, a tad nippy at this time of year one would think.
The reason for the range...finally M&S have discovered that white bras show under white tee's... as shoppers we have long known this, but it would seem skin coloured bra sales are on the rise hence the new range. Vast research has been undertaken to get the right skin colour tones to help suit individuals, including skin tone readings to help colour match, but as one commentator so rightly said on the Daily Mail website they have forgotten one shade - Tango, for all those orange lasses out on a Saturday night, which probably go commando anyway.
Not your average Moet
This champagne is not average in any sense (can't comment on the taste as yet...). Zarb Champagne is from Amsterdam (may explain some of the designs, not stereotypical in the slightest), and the name is taken from french slang, Zarb means bizarre, and the packaging truly conforms to this and that makes me happy. you cant have a name like bizarre and just produce run of the mill sit on the shelf champers. I think the packaging is delightful and brings a fresh air to the market if not setting a bit of panic in other brands.
As we know Absolut Vodka were on this bandwagon before Zarb even entered the market, witty advertising and bottle design to tie in. Zarb has taken it one step further, some may say a bit extreme, where Absolut have ventured into packaging design and made sure it is novel it is still practical, no bottle is much bigger than it usually is, Zarb on the other hand i would think everything has to be individually packed to protect each design. The range kind of goes from the truely bizarre to the slightly funny.
As you can see quite an eclectic mix, it's funny because some of the other lines - 'skin' and 'deep black' (underwater exploration - image three) almost seem quite tame with regards to the other designs and yet in the realm of bottle design still very much out there when you visit our supermarkets and see how reserved the bottle design industry is.
I love this brave move, what a fab present to receive, I wouldn't want to use it and disturb the design, you'll just have to get me two bottles. Hopefully we'll see it on the shelves in the Uk soon, even if it is just on the shelf of a swanky bar.
As we know Absolut Vodka were on this bandwagon before Zarb even entered the market, witty advertising and bottle design to tie in. Zarb has taken it one step further, some may say a bit extreme, where Absolut have ventured into packaging design and made sure it is novel it is still practical, no bottle is much bigger than it usually is, Zarb on the other hand i would think everything has to be individually packed to protect each design. The range kind of goes from the truely bizarre to the slightly funny.
As you can see quite an eclectic mix, it's funny because some of the other lines - 'skin' and 'deep black' (underwater exploration - image three) almost seem quite tame with regards to the other designs and yet in the realm of bottle design still very much out there when you visit our supermarkets and see how reserved the bottle design industry is.
I love this brave move, what a fab present to receive, I wouldn't want to use it and disturb the design, you'll just have to get me two bottles. Hopefully we'll see it on the shelves in the Uk soon, even if it is just on the shelf of a swanky bar.
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