Medical Device Link.

Originally Published PMPN February 2004

Brand Matters

Bill Schroeder

Robert Sprung

A quiet revolution has changed package design. Designers are now creating packages that are not merely memorable, but are also part of a brand. In some cases, the package itself is the brand—take the Absolut Vodka bottle, which might be that brand’s strongest asset.

As marketers know, a package isn’t simply a wrapper. It can also embody what your brand stands for and help differentiate your brand and win customer loyalty. 

In the pharmaceutical industry, package design has become somewhat more creative and distinctive, but the transition from memorable to branded is still in its infancy. Pharmaceutical and medical packaging choices have been driven by practical and regulatory concerns. Package-design departments are often inspired more by engineering than marketing. Today, however, marketing sensibility has increasing influence, and many medical companies are using branding to reach the consumer directly. Consider Nexium’s “Ask your doctor about the purple pill” campaign, for instance.

Today, talented package designers need to be smart branding specialists. To build a leading brand, you need to build the brand’s promise and values into every aspect of your package. This includes graphics, typography, color, imagery, shape, materials, and communications aspects of the brand. Doesn’t sound like what most package designers learned in school, does it?

Package shape is one means of driving home a brand’s promise. We can learn a lot from the case of Method, a dishwashing liquid sold at Target stores that comes in a distinctive container. But the bottle isn’t merely attractive—it embodies a clean, modern aesthetic. This branding platform can now be applied to other product categories that Method decides to enter.

Think of Advair’s Diskus inhaler, which breaks new ground with its innovative circular design and memorable purple hue. Coming up with brandable shapes for pharmaceuticals seems to be the order of the day— take the distinctive rounded corners of Pepcid AC, or the diamond form of the blue Viagra pill.

Color can be another means of expressing your values to your customers. Skyy Vodka “owns” the color blue in its category and leverages it throughout its packaging and promotion. Indeed, when jetBlue took to the skies, it selected Skyy as its vodka brand based on its associations with the sky and with blue.

Everyone seems to be talking about Nexium and its “purple pill.” Sudafed can be said to own red, while Correctol is known as the “pink pill.” The antidepressant Paxil uses a palette of soothing colors, keyed to dosage.

The external package is increasingly used as a vehicle for branding, often reflecting environmental considerations. A brand like Body Shop, driven by social concerns, might use materials, imagery, colors, and language that express its care for the environment, or it might choose to forego the box altogether. 

When FedEx relaunched its brand in the 1990s, research revealed that consumers associated the company’s attributes of ease-of-use, precision, and speed with its trademark envelope. And, by eliminating a plastic wrapper and designing a straightforward package, OXO Good Grips not only allowed shoppers to touch its products, it also significantly reduced waste.

In future issues, Brand Matters will cover case studies and delve into the rapidly evolving field of package design as it relates to branding. In the meantime, feel free to e-mail us at brandmatters@tippingsprung.com with your thoughts or questions, or topics you wish to see addressed.

Bill Schroeder is director of design services at TippingSprung, based in midtown Manhattan. Robert Sprung has been active in translation for more than a decade. He can be reached at robert@tippingsprung.com. TippingSprung offers brand strategy, naming, design, research, translation, and cross-cultural services. Visit them on the Web at www.tippingsprung.com. 

Copyright ©2004 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News