I snapped this shot the other day as my dear mother and I went through the supermarket. My mom must have thought I liked this wine, but I’ve never had alcohol in my life. Remember that fact, it’s an interesting tidbit right? I really stepped back and took this shot because it was actually something that stood off of the shelf to me visually. I was quite taken back as a usual trip to the supermarket doesn’t give you any eye candy. Neither of the products or much of the people that come shopping care to much about their self image. Can I get an amen to white trailer trash!?
And although this packaging isn’t perfect they took enough time to care about their brand and their packaging to make sure it stood out. Personally I think the winking owl is clever. A nice illustrated owl that of course is winking and holding some grapes… It fits well with it’s name. There were two different colors that I didn’t stick around long enough to find out what they stood for. The typography wasn’t bad either, it’s clean and simple. You see the name first, then something below that once again I didn’t stick around to read.
After experiencing this sight that made me step back and go woah, I thought to myself I’d actually buy this brand of wine. It was a weird thought to me as I know nothing about wine. I know there is red and white wine, you pour it in a wine glass. It also kind of smells like kool-aid if you get a really sweet wine. That’s where my knowledge stops, I’ve never heard of Winking Owl and given that we weren’t in a fancy winery I’d expect it wasn’t the best of wines. It dawned on me that it really was the branding and packaging that made me want to buy this product.
Besides knowing that my brain is wired visually, it was the first time that I felt the power that brands/packaging has on consumers. A lot of the time us consumers unconsciously react to these things, as an example and probable stereotype people who are the creative types are usually found using a Mac, shopping at Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, etc… drinking at Starbucks. If you look at their room it’s probably very neat and tidy (when possible) and there are books and art hanging, etc… and to stereo type more people a PC user is probably the opposite. Where they love to tinker with things, have no brand loyalty or at least as extreme brand loyalty, get clothing from Walmart, etc…
These are examples to not bring people down, but show that certain brands and their images jive well with each other. This is why someone who likes a clean room, industrial looking computer may often shop at American Apparel since they convey the same feeling. You know us humans all have our own brand and image that we must live up to as well. So subconsciously we make these decisions to buy certain brands because of their packaging, the way their products look, etc… it’s not based on the value it provides per say. As the example of the Winking Owl wine proved since it’s probably a cheap wine.
As a marketing major I’ve started to study these kinds of things, and that’s probably why I’ve started to really feel the power of great brands. So let me ask you this question. When presented with two items without knowing anything about what’s inside, would you pick the one with great packaging or the one that looked thrown together? Know this though that inside the great packaging is a ROTTEN apple, and inside the bad packaging is a brand new, FRESH apple. Which would you pick now?
BTW thanks to @rdesignr for some inspiration for this post. Her senior thesis was incredible and focused on exactly what I’m trying to talk about right now.
Please do leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on brand power. Thanks for reading and responding!
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