Savvy owners of "old-time" brands like MoonPie, Ovaltine, One-A-Day vitamins, and recently Luden's throat drops (created 1880), have returned to their heritage for design cues to restage these former icons creating packaging that invokes both authenticity and nostalgia to connect with a new generation of consumers.
More than half of CPG companies today own brands from our collective past - archives of American culture - but few CMOs recognize the gold in their midst. In turbulent times, people turn to brands they bonded with when young and times seemed simpler. As society, and marketing, rushes forward toward virtual reality and nanotechnology, these advances conflict with our focus on basic needs and yearnings for the good old days.
As a heritage-branding specialist it always amazes me to see focus group respondents literally dive across the table to rekindle their romance with once favorite brands. Unfortunately, these brands no longer resonate with consumes' elevated sensibilities and typically languish on dusty bottom store shelves.
Luden's - Salving a Century of "Tickle-Throat"
The Luden's brand story reflects the rise and fall of many heritage brands. For more than a century "throat tickle" granted one permission to reach for the iconic white box of Luden's cherry throat drops. However, after Luden's heydays in the Thirties and Fifties, at Philadelphia Industries, the brand passed through several hands, including Hershey and Pharmacia/Pfizer, where it was neglected, its heritage misunderstood, as demonstrated by dated packaging and its fall to the bottom of the retail shelf.
What brought about the near-demise of this American brand legend? Simple, brand management ignored its most important environment - the retail shelf. As lower-priced private label continues to rank #1 and #2 sellers in most CPG categories, national brands must provide a reason to purchase - in five seconds or less. However, Luden's, as packaged in a generic white bag like the trade-dress color of its private label competitors, had become a commodity.
Reviving Luden's
The Luden's redesign project began with a thoroughly researched "informed design process." The first step was an examination of the brand on shelf, from the consumers' point of view. Next the brand owner's perspective was explored, which uncovered the need to understand why the brand was in deep decline, why retailers turned it away, and determine if solutions, such as new flavors and forms, might enhance the brand franchise. Finally, a historical review disclosed that the brand had prospered during two distinct hey-days.
To succeed, heritage brand redesign must understand which brand elements are key to reinventing the brand franchise as relevant to contemporary sensibilities, and which must be abandoned. To determine the key brand identifiers, pre-design research was employed to uncover brand equities, brand baggage, and to discover opportunities for enhancements that would rekindle positive perceptions of the Luden's brand.
As color is the first "tool" to rekindle recognition, we infused the recessive white bag with a burst of color - yet maintained the carton equities of white, complete with its wax paper lining for iconic authenticity, and emblazoned it with a realistic portrayal of the key ingredients.
The addition of a white halo around the updated logo serves as an eye-catching brand billboard, while the use of a green leaf as the apostrophe in the brand name signals natural goodness and efficacy emblazoned with a realistic portrayal of the key flavor ingredients. Now, Luden's is trade-dressed back to its' roots with a family look of products, but freshened to be seen, felt and understood in a relevant manner.
Often after a restaging such as Luden's, a consumer reality check is conducted before the product hits the shelves. The comments were the same... "oh it looks the way it always used to!" Or "I remember it looking like that!" The reality, the package never looked this way, but now, as any successful heritage brand restage, it looks the way it always should have, How? By extrapolating cues and clues from it's heyday and matching these to relevant sensibilities.
Yes, just like life, going backwards always gives clues about how to move forward!
Terri Goldstein
Principal
The Goldstein Group, NYC