With a global competition for market share and profitability, manufacturers use product branding to build a passionate community of brand advocates. In this episode our focus will be on how brands get into our minds, so that we choose them rather than a cheaper product on the shelves. We will observe how the Irish butter secures its niche in supermarkets around the world. Kerrygold is in the butter industry one of the strongest brands. World wide well known for its taste and identity. Here you will become aware how important product branding is for consumer brands. Dominating a niche is important for a long term profitability.
We will be talking about:
- Why is product packaging so important?
- How do brands like Kerrygold anchor images in our minds?
- Look at what Ireland has to offer for tourists.
- What do we learn from the greater brand of Irish culture that makes Irish brands so unique?
So why is product packaging so important for companies around the world? Please close your eyes now. Think of packaging of products you tend to have some emotional connection when you take them off the shelves? Many products come to my mind now: Walkers Shortbread. Picture that red box with tartan patterns. Or the magnum ice-cream boxes. What about M&Ms? Isn’t funny who you think of M&Ms and got those funny adds where the M&M characters try to go shopping! Same game with Toblerone? You see the pyramid style box. You are already imagining the chocolate melting in your mouth.
How about butter? What is your favorite brand? When it comes to butter, I am a big fan of Kerrygold. I am not Irish. Do you know which problem Kerrygold solves for me? When I buy butter in some countries it is so hard when I take it out of the fridge. German butter is often still very hard and by the time I want to spread it on my toast or French baguette I have a big hole in the bread. So, you notice that the way a products packaging is designed has an important effect on brand insistence and retail price. The Kerry gold butter often goes for 20 to 50 cents more over the counter in German supermarkets. Even competitors such as Greenfields benefits from Kerrygold’s and Irelands strong branding. Their products also fetch a higher retail price that the most well-known German brands.
The river eventually changed into a dark could comparable to Guinness beer. You could imagine navigating your motorboat on a river filled with beer. Yes, even the brand Guinness is using images, packaging and other elements to differentiate themselves from other international brands. If you are Irish, of Irish descent or living in Ireland please comment or like this episode. While I am recording this show I mention all these brands. For each brand I get very different images hopping into my mind. The ads with the guys trying to rescue the 4X beer out of the river. The Guinness bird with the beer glass on his beak. The metal logo of London Pride on the bar tab. Brands need to draw pictures and be present so that our memory has a chance to increase our level of affection.
Exactly! Affection. In order to be brand insisting buyers we need to have some kind of affection for their brand. It is not just that we must like the taste of their beverages or butter. We need to become passionate that even when something comes to our mind that is closely related their brand pops up from out of the darkness. Boom. We begin to think how nice the product tastes or how wonderful our lives have become after we switched over to their products.
Transcript of this episode
[00:00:01] Why is product packaging so important? So why is product packaging so important for companies around the world? Please close your eyes. Now think of packaging of products. You tend to have some emotional connection when you take them off the shelves.
[00:00:25] What images do you see in your mind? What products? Imagine yourself going to the supermarket or through a store and you’ve seen lots of different products. You see shelves of a chef’s was products and then you spot something. To my mind, many products come, for instance, Walker’s shortbread. Picture that red box with tartan patterns, or the Magnum ice cream boxes. What about M&Ms. It’s so funny. Think of the M&Ms and those funny ads where the M&M characters go shopping. Same game with Toblerone. You see that pyramid style box? You already imaging and imagining the chocolate melting in your mouth.
[00:01:29] How about butter?
[00:01:32] What is your favorite brand. When it comes to butter, I am a fan of Kerrygold. I’m not Irish. Do you think? Do you even know what problem Kerrygold solves for me. When I buy butter in some countries and I take it out of the fridge, it is so hard.
[00:02:00] German butter is often still very hard. By the time I want to spread it on my toast or French baguette. I have a big hole in that bread. At first I only thought there was only one type of Kerrygold butter. That was the only type of product, I could find more shops here. Over the years, retailers adopted Kerrygold cheddar and now at last, a butter mixed with wraps. I love the salted butter they have used to have for some time, but now at last, they have introduced the mix also in a salted version. You could really say I’m a true Kerrygold fan.
Product branding and brand advocates
[00:02:55] I was having this morning my breakfast with the salted and unsalted versions of the Kerrygold butter. I was looking at the two packages, I noticed something. Just mentioned them in front of you. You will notice how well Kerrygold makes use of Ireland’s strong brand as a nation. The packages only differ in the taps plastic color, silver for salted and gold for unsalted. Looking at it closer, we see the Irish coast, the famous cows that portray the image of wild and untouched nature of cows having the liberty of wandering out in the open. In Germany much of the butter comes from cows that are stuck inside all day round.
[00:04:06] When you compare the taste of Kerrygold, butter and butter from some other places around the world, you’d truely notice the unique flavor of Kerrygold. So you noticed that the way a product packaging is designed has an important effect on brand insistence and retail price. The Kerrygold butter often goes for 20 to 30 cents more over the counter in supermarkets.
Ireland’s strong branding
[00:04:44] Even competitors such as Greenfields benefit from Kerrygolds and Ireland’s strong branding. Thier products also fetch a higher retail price than most well-known German brands. Same situation applies for Walker Shortbread. They catch your eyes wherever they are placed. Go to tesco in the UK and you will see tesco’s own home brand selling a larger big box of biscuits for around one pound, while stronger brands are still able to compete at much higher prices with far less weight in their own items.
[00:05:34] How do brands like Kerrygold anchor those images in our minds? As I just mentioned, Kerrygold has these images of the green pastures and the cows. They use them on their packaging, in their ads, on their Web sites and social media. Just look at the grass on the box of your butter. The front part of the grass looks so close, as if you were really lying in the grass, looking at some blades of grass right in front of your nose further to the back of the picture. The focus goes towards the cows and the cliffs in the distance. You can imagine the fresh air blowing through your hair and cleaning your lungs from all the pollution, we are usually exposed in cities.
[00:06:42] If you have ever been on holiday to Ireland and gone beyond the borders of Dublin, then you will have seen a different part of Ireland. It is the part that Kerrygold is promoting towards people who insist on buying their brand. Let’s look at what Ireland has to offer for us tourists many years ago. I went on a boat trip to the river on the river, Shannon with my father. It was quite an adventure. As a little boy, I traveled with my parents through the tropical forests and jungles of South America, which was a very different and unique adventure. But where does the Irish scenery compare to the South American jungle? There are no monkeys jumping around the bogs and rivers the Irish countryside is very different.
Using images, packaging and other elements to differentiate
[00:07:47] As we sailed up the Shannon, the color of the water changed. The vegetation also changed. I say used to do oil painting. I had to pay attention to the colors and textures of nature. The river eventually changed into a dark color, comparable to Guinness beer. You could imagine navigating your motorboat on a river filled with beer. Yes, even the brand Guinness is using images, packaging and other elements to differentiate themselves from other international brands.
[00:08:33] If you are Irish or of Irish descent, and living in Ireland, please comment or like this episode. Know what? I even have an Irish flag at home. Yes, I also have a British flag, a German and Scottish flag, but not many people who are not passionate about what the Irish brands have to offer, have an Irish flag at home. When you sail long the river Shannon, there are many beautiful small towns with great pups, shops and places to visit. The Irish history is very vivid when you meet it in the countryside where it all happened.
Take some time and enjoy the country
[00:09:20] You definitely need to visit Ireland. Visit its quiet spots. Take a boat. Do not go on these bus tours where you hurry through every station on the way. Don’t get yourself pushed from one place to the other. Take some time and enjoy the country. Take time to meet the people and get to learn what island is all about.
[00:09:58] Everywhere is nature and history. So many nations have been involved with all different conflicts on this small but beautiful island. What do we learn from the greater brand of Irish culture that makes Irish brands so unique? If you have ever been to an Irish pub outside of Ireland, you will notice many items that portray the image we have of Ireland in our minds. The songs, the beers, the flags, the gold pots, the nation, other lucky charms. When you think of Irish outside of Ireland, we think of the many St Patrick’s parades. The Irish culture that influences many American movies and are portrayed in movies about the Irish community in New York. There is so much we also take with us after we’ve been on a holiday in Ireland, things that Irish visitors bring to us.
[00:11:14] Here on my desk, I have a coaster that depicts an old Guinness advert saying, “lovely day for a Guinness”. If you now think I am drinking Guinness every day, then, you are wrong. I definitely haven’t drank Guinness for a very, very long time. When I was in my 30s, I used to go to pubs and prefer Guinness over Foster’s. The true reason is because besides brands like London Pride and Bodington … I do like Castlemain four X castlemain mean from Australia. Unfortunately, you cannot get 4X in many countries outside Australia. Some stores in the United Kingdom have Castlemain 4X, but elsewhere there is often Fosters.
[00:12:11] While I’m recording this show. I mentioned all these brands. For each brand very different images are hopping into my mind: the ads with the guys trying to rescue the 4X beer out of the river. The Guinness beer with the beer glass is big. The metal logo of London pride on the bar.
[00:12:33] Top brands need to draw pictures and be present so that our memory has a chance to increase our level of affection. Exactly, affection in order to be brand insisting buyers we need to have some kind of affection for that brand. It is not just that we must like the taste of the beverages or butter. We need to become passionate that even when something comes to our mind and is closely related, their brand pops up from out of the darkness. We begin to think how nice the product tastes or how wonderful our life has become after we switched over to their products.
Mr. Dyson’s work philosophy
[00:13:31] I am a big fan of Dyson, not only of the Dyson vacuum cleaners, but also of Mr. Dyson’s work philosophy. After buying my first Dyson vacuum cleaner, I went out and bought another one. Now, Dyson Cleaners I used in my home and also in our offices. I even went to give one to my parents. Brand insistence is a powerful tool. You can increase the pull effect by using images you can regularly refresh in the mind of your target audience. How do you increase this will be part of one of my future shows. Thank you very much for listening.
