research and refocusing

So last week in class I started working on a label for my hot chocolate container.  I’m thinking about doing sort of a puffy box (one of those hybrid type things that’s between a box and a cylinder, just a fold on each side and the circular tops “puff” the box out).  I think I’m going to have to try making one before I decide on this format as my final!  But I wanted to use this sort of packaging, as it’s one I haven’t seen before, and I think that will help it stand out on the shelves from the traditional boxes and canisters.

However, so far I’m not all that crazy about my design.  I think it has some good things about it, but I’m not that excited about it overall.  So I decided I should really sit down and do a little research before class tonight about what other hot chocolate brands are out there, and how my design can differentiate this brand.

First, there are your well known brands that I think just about every grocery store carries: Swiss Miss, Nestle, Hersheys, and also Ghiradelli and Godiva.  I’m not sure that all stores carry the last two, but they seem to be fairly well known brands overall.  Here are some quick shots of their package designs:

There are also a few additional brands I found in my searching.  The first two in the following picture are a little more upscale, the bottom three are specialty brands I found at Target:

There aren’t any major similarities that I see across all the brands.  But I will say that in general, I feel like the mainstream brands (Swiss Miss, Nestle and Hershey’s) are a little busier than the upscale brands.  Since I want my brand to be a little more calming and relaxing, I don’t think that’s a feel I want to go for.  Also, on the Swiss Miss brand, it gives a feeling of cold and winter with the snow and mountains in the background.  While I know that’s when a lot of people drink hot chocolate, I also want my brand to be something people want to buy year round.  So I definitely want to stay away from any seasonal type of imagery.

I like that the upscale, and specialty brands feel a little more clean, and detached from any seasonal imagery.  However, I still feel like they could be a little cleaner, or more modern, so perhaps this is the angle I need to take on with my brand.  The two upscale brands are probably my favorite overall, and these were the two not sold at Target, so I think bringing something a little more crisp and fresh to the shelves is what I should be focusing on.  Something that feels slightly upscale, but not so much to alienate a typical target shopper, or give off the impression it’s more expensive than it is.

Before, in my original post about the company, I used the following adjectives to describe the company: calming, relaxing, creative and unique.  I still definitely want to keep all these feelings, but I think from my research, I want to also add clean, modern and accessible.  Clean and modern in the respect that I want my product to stand out on the shelves as something a little fancier, but again, not to alienate a typical target customer.  Accessible can go two ways, first that it reaches a mass audience, and second that it’s a product people want to buy year-round.  It can still be something that’s relaxing, calm, and a bit of a treat, but also a treat you would want any season of the year, and not something so fancy you feel guilty for buying it!

So I hope this is going to help focus my work a little more for class tonight!  At least I’m learning a little more of what I don’t want, and what angle to focus on!