But is this just a flash in the pan promotion for 2012? Or can brands use this as a starting block to launch a campaign embracing Britishness which has longevity be integral to their brand message? Either way it’s great to see Britain being celebrated and the Union Jack flag everywhere this Summer.
 

McVitie’s Digestives “Proud to be British”.

“Happy and Glorious” Lyle’s Golden Syrup.

Soreen is “Britian’s No.1 Fruity Malt Loaf”.

Weetabix “Fuel Britannia” and Fairy’s having a “Jubilee celebration.

Ma’maite toasts the Queen and Virgin media goes patriotic.

Hovis is made with 100% British wheat.

Marks and Spencer have gone traditional with their sandwiches and Harvey Nichols is saving the Queens Cornflakes with their celebratory tupperware.

Cadbury’s and Heinz have retro packaging.

Mr Kipling has his Classic Victorian mini and Great British Fancies in celebratory Union Jack packaging.

Spitfire is the “Bottle of Britain” and Absolute have a limited edition London packaging.

Eco Milk Packaging.

Backlash on bags?

The Jug It system promises 75% less plastic waste by packaging milk into a bag and consumers using a jug system at home. The packaging format is available from Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s, Asda and Ocado. However, the UK market hasn’t fully taken to this system with plastic bottles outselling the system and many consumers lacking trust in the milk bags. With the contract between Dairy Crest and Tesco running out in July 2012 and Waitrose pulling out of the format in 2010 there is question to whether consumers have bought into the Jug It packaging.

Weight reduction

2011 saw Dairy Crest launch a new plastic bottle, which promised a 15% reduction in weight and easier use for consumers. A reduction in weight is great for the environment and cost. If it’s easier for consumers to use then it’s win win all round.

Green Bottle

GreenBottle is a new type of liquid packaging designed as an alternative to plastic bottles and laminated cartons. The bottle is made from a paper outer shell with a thin plastic liner inside to hold the liquid. After use the bottle parts are separated so that the paper outer can be composted or recycled, and the inner liner recycled where facilities exist. The bottle is designed to perform the same in distribution, in the store and in the home as a regular plastic bottle. Green bottle has been tested selling local milk in Asda stores. The milk sold at a rate of three bottles to one when sold in GreenBottle versus plastic with 80% of users saying they would buy a Green bottle again.

Carbon Footprint

Norway-based packaging firm Elopak launched a new green carton pack for milk in 2010. The packaging aims to deliver carbon dioxide saving of 10% compared to standard cartons and a user-friendly design. This is being developed further and to be utilised in other sectors such as fruit juice.

Going Premium.

In 2011 Waitrose saw a raise in sales of 7.7% coming in just behind discount stores Lidl and Aldi despite the economic climate and continually rising cost of food. Could we be seeing a trend of people staying in on a Friday night and treating themselves to something special rather than going out?

Premium Ice Cream

It seems perceptions of ice cream as an “affordable luxury” has outweighed thriftiness and health considerations in the recent economic difficulties of the past year. Premium ice cream is hugely successful in the UK and now accounts for just under a quarter of sales. Chocolate seems to be the favorite flavor with 32% of new ice cream product launches in the UK being chocolate.

Artisan Cheeses

Many consumers appear to increasingly view cheese as a small indulgence for which health is not a major consideration. With this comes a rise in popularity of artisan cheeses. Hand crafted, locally sourced and carefully packaged. These are special cheeses.

Dairy Alternatives.

A new user tribe is emerging the “Self Diagnosed Dairy Intolerant” some who may be lactose intolerant. Lacto Free are embracing (and even encouraging?) this trend and allowing potential customers to self diagnose through an online questionnaire on their website http://www.lactofree.co.uk/discovery/ The market is moving to meet the needs of this growing tribe with more dairy alternatives emerging in an increasing number of formats.

Lactose free

Loctose free alternatives are milk based products with the lactose removed. Lacto free is a key brand with a product range including milk, cream, yoghurts, cheese and desserts.

Soya

Soya milk has a regular place on the supermarket shelf with branded options such as Alpro soya who produce a range of dairy alternative products using soya milk. The popularity of soya milk as an alternative to dairy can clearly be seen with supermarkets embracing soya milk and offering their own brand soya milk in store.

Nuts

Almonds, hazelnuts and coconuts are being used to create nut based milk alternatives. This isn’t just limited to milk alternatives and milk drinks, with Amande releasing the first almond based range of yoghurts in 2011.

Oats, Hemp, Rice and Potato

These are some of the other dairy alternatives currently on offer. Rice milk is increasing in popularity due the clean white colour similar to that of milk. However, the nutritional value of rice milk falls short when compared to that of milk.

Branded packaging.

More and more dairy brands are emerging into commodity markets where consumers would typically buy own brand supermarket products. With this the pack imagery is also changing moving away from the typical farm scene seen on the outside in order to differentiate, but how do these brands remain credible when the product inside is essentially the same?

Sunnyside farms milk (US)

Sunnyside milk keeps it’s credibility due to promising to be from “family owned, local dairies”. The milk’s the same but consumers perceive a benefit from supporting local farmers.

Happy Egg Co (UK)

With the Happy Egg Co again the product inside the box is still eggs but a promise of better conditions for the chickens gives the brand credibility. This is now the no.1 egg brand in the UK.

Milk Man (Australia)

Again still milk but the added value is in the quality with the brand focusing on the product being organic. It’s also packaged in 4 smaller 250ml bottles. Portion sized for freshness and also a tentative move towards the drinks market.

Campina (Netherlands)

‘Milk is milk, but not all milk is the same’. For the Campina brand, the difference is in the dairy farmer and their cows. The dairy farmers who produce milk for the Campina brand give their cows modified feed containing flax, combined with outdoor grazing. This feed aims to create tastier milk as well as caring for the animals.

At Path we like typography. Well, most of us do, especially the 2D graphics folk. Some in 3D have been a little reluctant to join in with the type hype but here it is… a rundown of everyone in Path and their favourite font families.

2D

Tim B likes Perpetua

because “it’s about as aesthetically perfect as a typeface can get.”

Perpetua is a typeface that was designed by English sculptor and typeface designer Eric Gill. Perpetua was set in a limited e dition of a new translation by Walter H. Shewring of The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, giving birth to the name of the typeface and its original companion italic. The book was printed in 1929. Uses of Perpetua include Continental Airlines, University of Edinburgh and University of Pennsylvania.

Tom likes Cooper Black

because “it’s funky, fun, legible. EasyJet have made it their own!”

Cooper Black is a heavily weighted, old style serif typeface designed by Oswald Bruce Cooper in 1921 and released by the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry in 1922. Cooper Black exhibits influences of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and the Machine Age.

John likes Johnston

because “it reminds me of London, which is my home town.”

Johnston is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by and named after Edward Johnston. It is well known for its use by Transport for London. The typeface was commissioned in 1913 by Frank Pick, Commercial Manager of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London as part of his plan to strengthen the company’s corporate identity.

Mario likes Gotham

because “It is timeless, elegant, bold and clean; its qualities have been used to great extent for the 2008 Obama campaign.”

Gotham was designed by American type designer Tobias Frere-Jones in 2000. Gotham was initially commissioned by GQ magazine, whose editors wanted to display a sans-serif with a “geometric structure” that would look “masculine, new, and fresh”. Since creation, Gotham has been highly visible due to its appearance in many notable places, including a large amount of campaign material created for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, as well as the cornerstone of the One World Trade Center.

Amy couldn’t choose just one…

so she went for 3 Channel, Century Gothic and Imprint – one script, one sans-serif and one serif because “it took some thinking time.”

Channel was designed in 2011 by Måns Grebäck

Century Gothic is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed for Monotype Imaging in 1991. It is a digital typeface that has never been made into actual foundry type. Century Gothic was heavily used in the standing sets of Star Trek: Enterprise, is used for Weezer’s logo, as been used for credits on the episodes of House and is the main font of EA’s third-person shooter, Battlefield Heroes.

Imprint was produced for Imprint magazine in 1912 by the Monotype Company. When delivered to the journal’s printers on December 31, 1912, it was still incomplete – the accents had not yet been made. So the editors asked in the first issue: “Will readers kindly insert them for themselves, if they find their omission harsh? For ourselves, we rather like the fine careless flavour, which their omission gives, after we have recovered from the first shock inevitable to us typographical precisians”. Today Imprint the font is used in all Scottish Qualifications Authority exam papers.

Emma likes Akzidenz-Grotesk

because “it’s like the old school Helvetica. Heavily used, but I can’t deny how it just looks like it belongs so often than not. It’s lower case ‘a’ is a particular favourite.”

Akzidenz-Grotesk is an early sans-serif typeface originally released by the Berthold Type Foundry in 1896 under the name Accidenz-GroteskIt was the first sans serif typeface to be widely used and influenced many later neo-grotesque typefaces after 1950. Akzidenz-Grotesk is sometimes at first glance mistaken for the Helvetica or Univers typefaces.

3D

Tim C likes Barmeno

because “it’s warm, harmonious and legible… like me.”

Barmeno is a Sans Serif typeface designed by Hans Reichel in 1981. Morrisons, Vimto, Ribena and Golden Wonder have all used it.

Kev likes Eurostile

because “the letters fit nicely together and it’s a contemporary font.”

The Eurostile type font style is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Aldo Novarese in 1962. Eurostile Extended has been used extensively. In the music it has featured in album cover artwork from U2, Ash, The Supernaturals, Eminem and Pendulum. Sports television has also made significant use with Fox Sports, NFL Network, Comcast Sportsnet and Versus all use or have used the font for its on-screen information. Eurostile can also be seen in the fashion world, as it is the font type for the clothing company fcuk. It is also often used on the sides of British police vehicles for signwriting. Eurostile is a corporate branding font for Toshiba and CASIO, it is used on the Canadian Journey series of Canadian dollar bank notes and in video games including Star Wars, Final Fantasy XIII, Ratchet & Clank, Halo: Reach and in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six games

Chris likes Transport

because “it’s Form follows Function at it’s best, something I strive for in my own design work.”

Transport is a sans serif typeface designed for road signs in the United Kingdom. It was created between 1957 and 1963 by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert as part of their work as designers for the Department of Transport’s Anderson and Worboys committees. The typeface is also used in Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Portugal, and in much of the Middle East. Denmark also uses a modified variation.

Julian likes Plantin

because “I used it on my wedding invites. Plantin has a good historical feel it’s a classic type face.”

Plantin is a transitional serif typeface named after the printer Christophe Plantin. It was first cut in 1913. Plantin is one of the typefaces that influenced the creation of Times Roman in the 1930s. Plantin is occasionally used by Cambridge Press. In more recent usage, the magazine Monocle is set entirely in Plantin and Helvetica.

Suzy likes Univers

because “it’s clean, even and well balanced.”

Univers is a realist sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954. It has been used by Swiss International Air Lines, ESPN, The Royal Air Force. The Montreal Metro, San Francisco BART, various Toronto Transit Commission subway stations, Frankfurt airport and the Walt Disney World road system also make extensive use of this typeface, as do some London boroughs for street signage.

Pathwork

Sean likes Helvetica Neue

because “For me, it is the clarity of the face and that it seems timeless, no matter when and where it is used, it still remains modern and relevant. Boring, I know but I don’t think any other font manages to pull this off.”

Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with the successful Akzidenz-Grotesk in the Swiss market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, its design was based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas’ Normal Grotesk. The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage.

Stu went for the typography style Spencerian Script

because “it’s wavey, interesting and iconic.”

Spencerian Script is a script style that flourished in the United States from 1850 to 1925 and was considered the American standard writing style for business correspondence prior to the widespread adoption of the typewriter. The text in Ford Motor Company’s logo is written in this style, as was the original Coca-Cola logo.

Lyndsey’s 2nd  favourite is Avenir

After Century Gothic was taken by Amy.

because “Its a bit similar to Century Gothic (not quite as nice though!) roundy with straight lines…. I particularly like the uppercase G!”

Avenir is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1988. The name Avenir is French for “future,” and takes inspiration from early geometric sans-serif typefaces Erbar (1922) designed by Jakob Erbar, and Futura (1927) designed by Paul Renner. Frutiger intended Avenir to be a more organic, humanist interpretation of these highly geometric types. Avenir has been used by BBC Two, The city of Amsterdam, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Hong Kong International Airport, LG, Dwell Magazine and AT&T.

Jamie likes Stencil

because “it reminds me of the A-Team logo, and that was my favourite programme growing up.”

Stencil refers to two typefaces released within months of each other in 1937. The face created by R. Hunter Middleton for Ludlow and Gerry Powell’s version for American Type Founders. Stencil is a common font for army-themed displays, including The A-Team television series. It is also used as the font for the logo for the Disney TV show Recess. Stencil is also used in the logo for US chain The Home Depot.

We spent 3 days on the slope in La Rosiere, France. Highlights were: the Chalet food, the Danish bar, Tom winning the slalom race & Tim crashing, Sean winning the bowling, Stu denting the mountain, JP sampling the delights of Toffee Vodka and someone losing their passport, erhem!!

Thanks all for your hard work and support over the year. You deserved the break! Here’s to next year!

Put simply, die cut windows are an efficient way of giving the customer a clue about what on earth is inside. They are especially successful in fresh produce packaging.

Previously these windows have often been simple, functional and generally unexciting shapes, for practicality. Now printing techniques are much more advanced, allowing for a more compelling design trend. Windows are becoming more instrumental to the overall concept, and as a result more creative shapes are cropping up on the shelves.

Cereals are particularly favouring this approach, as well as wines, condiments, pastas and rices. There is no excuse to have a mundane, unimaginative shape cut out of a pack anymore, and if executed properly it can cleverly stand out from the competition.

References:

http://www.boxvox.net/2009/05/die-cut-windows.html

If you think about it, ‘Limited Edition’ designs provide fantastic, extra advertising. The consumer is reminded of the brand, with the added bonus of being tempted by novelty.

Many enterprises bring out seasonal ranges, taking full advantage of shoppers’ celebratory spirits. Design agencies are required to keep a brand’s established identity whilst giving it a fresh, innovative boost. The most successful cases are well-known brands that have a distinct shape to their structure, like the Coca-Cola bottle for example.

Whether a product is designed by an artist such as Paul Smith, or based around a comical concept, or even tells a story, consumers eagerly anticipate their launch. Namely, the annual, limited edition Evian bottle is seen as something special, attractive and even a keepsake.

Nevertheless, there may be a danger for some brands. In 2008, Burger King launched a luxury burger costing £95 (made of Wagyu beef), ‘to be more premium than McDonalds’. All proceeds were to go to charity, and the campaign generated significant press exposure. Then again given their price-conscious, core audience, mixed reviews revealed negative thoughts of an expensive publicity stunt and sizable carbon footprint.

Without doubt, limited edition packaging is something to look forward to, for consumers, but especially for agencies like us as they are so much fun to design!

References:

http://www.whytraveltofrance.com/2009/10/10/limited-edition-evian-bottle-designed-by-paul-smith/

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/821808/Marketing-TV-Burger-King-customers-review-95-purchase/

The recycling process has greatly improved over the last decade. In spite of that, WRAP research has shown that Joe Public will often find it incredibly difficult to decipher recycling instructions on packaging waste. It’s no wonder – have you seen all the different symbols and codes? Unless you work in the industry or are particularly geeky in this subject, would you know what LDPE or PS stood for?

It may not seem very important to some, but in our environmentally mindful age it is a real disgrace when domestic waste fails to be recycled, especially if it is perfectly capable to do so. Just think how much money, fuel and energy is squandered as a result.

Addressing this issue sounds so obvious. Instructions on packaging must be easily identifiable. Of course limited space on the back of packs will make this a demanding task, but maybe future designs should allow for a larger, printable area.

Guidance on plastics recycling is a particular necessity. Some councils won’t accept PVC plastics for example. Consequently we will be pushing for change, and in the meantime, if you are curious to learn what the current ‘gibberish’ means, please check out this link: http://www.bpf.co.uk/Sustainability/Plastics_Recycling.aspx <http://www.bpf.co.uk/Sustainability/Plastics_Recycling.aspx>

References:

http://www.observatorioplastico.com/genera_pdf.php?ar_id=49670

http://www.packaginggazette.co.uk/sharpak-consumers-confused-over-recycling-cms-1373

As we know Government environmental thinking on packaging has recently expanded the Courtauld agreement, from a focus on primary packaging, to a wider view on the Co2 lifecycle and footprint.

Courtauld 2 is a worthy next step and probably a more effective way of reducing Co2 emissions. For instance reducing the specification of a piece of packaging might actually reduce it’s effectiveness, and so actually increase the percentage of product wastage and so the Co2 footprint. If you waste the item that you’re trying to protect, just think of all the energy that went into producing it that you’ve just wasted, right down to the petrol used by the vegetable picker on their way to the field!

The problem is that people understand and relate to the packaging in their hand, and it’s hard for them to understand much more than that and maybe it’s unrealistic to expect them to? I think few people disagree that Co2 reduction is a good thing, but maybe the problem is how to take the consumer on the journey? After all getting people to engage with the process of recycling and energy reduction is key to the success of any packaging improvement.

So do we fall back to Courtauld 1 again and try to find ways of reducing the primary packing? That’s not necessarily a problem if we do it in ways that make sense to the consumer, such as the flexible Kenco coffee refill. But also make sure that any changes we make do not increase product wastage, in fact they should aim to reduce it, and we should in fact aim to reduce Co2 emissions across the whole packaging lifecycle.

Finally in all this let’s not forget that packaging is in fact a good thing, it protects the things that we buy and delivers them to us in the best possible condition. For instance the film on a cucumber extends it’s life for up to 14 days, without this it dries up and goes to waste before we can eat it.

So let’s all reduce, but let’s make it relevant to the consumer but also effective across the full product lifecycle.

Recent packaging news suggests that a dispensing specialist is in talks with a number of UK diaries about trialing self service filling machines for milk, to be used in Supermarkets in conjunction with a plastic pouch.

This follows on from an award wining WRAP funded trial for a refillable fabric softener. Various refilling options are being discussed, such as single serve pouches, as well as refillable pouches that consumers bring with them.

Packaging reduction within this sector has had mixed success in the past, for example Waitrose have recently withdrawn milk pouches because of product wastage, where as the Sainsbury’s ‘Jugit’ system has proven to be popular.

In simple terms plastic bottles offer the consumer a very effective and user friendly solution to the their concerns of transporting milk. They are robust, well sealed, and easy to pick up and open, and it’s clear that if you make any changes from this solution you need a very good reason for the consumer to adopt the alternative.

Also if packaging reduction results in increased product wastage, then that in turn increases the Co2 footprint, and the multiple retailers in fact need to be going in the opposite direction!

But to hear that a refillable solution is being investigated for milk is actually welcome news. The challenge is how make sure that the Co2 lifecycle for the solution is lower than the existing arrangement, if not then it’s just window dressing. For example 72% of HDPE milk bottles in the UK are presently recycled, and this figure is rising, “by contrast the recycling credentials of the refillable pouch are not clear” www.nampak.com/Sustainability-Report.aspx

But let’s not forget the old adage that “there is no such thing as a new idea, just a new opportunity’. In this country we’ve already got a long tradition of refillable milk packaging, and one despite the efforts of the multiple retailers refuses to die out.

It’s true that Arkwright’s corner shop may mostly be gone now, to be replaced by the corporate alternative, that as they say is progress. I wonder though does the same fate lie ahead for our humble milk man?