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Good Enough to Eat: The Best Easter Packaging of 2013

Here at Bloom, we all enjoyed last weekend’s excuse to consume our body-weights in egg-shaped confectionary and I suspect we weren’t the only ones. According to a recent study reported in Confectionary News, Easter is primarily associated with chocolate for 62% of Brits (compared with just 12% who primarily associate it with Jesus).  

In the midst of our enthusiastic guzzling, however, we did come across a few Easter treats that were literally too good to eat. Here’s our round-up of 2013’s best Easter packaging: 

Best for Children: Smarties Hen House

The hen house’s window reveals a golden egg and a chocolate hen with an egg inside, adding a playful element of discovery to this innovative alternative to the traditional Easter Egg.   

Best for Grown-ups: Hotel Chocolat All Milk Collection

Hotel Chocolat’s All Milk Easter Collection added a rare touch of sophistication to this Easter’s offerings. The delicate, black, white and gold carousel box features a traditional Easter design dating back to the 1930s. The extra-thick egg it contains comes with a chocolate tablet embossed with the same scene. 

 Best of the Countline Treats: Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chick With Easter Buttons.

Only the most cynical Easter shopper could resist this smiling chick. Better yet, unlike most countline Easter treats, this chick isn't hollow, but filled with Cadbury’s iconic Milky Buttons.

 Best for Traditional Fun and Games: Cadbury’s Easter Egg Trail Pack

Cadbury’s colourful, basket shaped trail pack provides you with all you need to construct your own Easter Egg hunt, for some nostalgic family fun. 

 

Best for Gourmands: Rococo’s Praline Quail Eggs and Salted Caramel Seagull Eggs

Rococo’s Praline Quail Eggs and Salted Caramel Seagull Eggs are ideal for those seeking up-market alternatives to the traditional hen’s egg. Nestled in tastefully rustic crates, the delicately speckled eggs could easily masquerade for the real thing.

 

Most Eco-Friendly: Elizabeth Shaw

Elizabeth Shaw’s Easter packaging was designed for minimal wastage. The egg did not even require any extra fixtures to position it, as the box was cleverly constructed to grip it in place.

 

Best Offering from a Non-Chocolate Brand: Rowntree’s Randoms

Colourful, exuberant and delightfully random, Rowntree’s packaging for its sweetie-filled egg was perfectly on-brand and, with no plastic window, it was eco-friendly too.

 

 

 

Replenish, Reuse, Recycle

We love this ingenious example of sustainable packaging from the US. Launched early last year, the Replenish team tackled the issue of sustainability by focusing on the benefit for the consumer. Why should we pay extra for the plastic and water (with associated transport costs) in our household cleaners each time we run out?

What they designed is beautiful. A refillable, spray bottle that is easy and clean to use. The integrated dosage cup allows the consumer to measure out exact dilution quantities without coming into contact with the liquid and one small refill cartridge is enough to fill the spray 4 times over. Simply measure, refill (using your own tap) and reuse. 

You get the feeling that these guys are committed too. They are driven by the goal of eliminating 1 billion bottles from landfills, 1 billion miles of our roads and 1 billion pounds of chemicals out of the environment.  A sizable challenge indeed.

From -  Team Replenish on Vimeo.

Shouldn't the global brand owners such as Unilever, SC Johnson and Reckitt Benckiser be sitting up and taking note? Sure it's an investment and a change in business model but there is definitely an appetite for it amongst consumers. Refills are gaining traction already in other segments in the UK market. Just take a look in the laundry and coffee ailses...so why not household cleaners?

 

What's caught our eye in 2011

2011 has been a strange year. There's been continuing economic turmoil, an Arab spring and a Euro autumn, interspersed with a fairy tale Royal Wedding and an eagerly anticipated feast of celebration with the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee. We take a look back through the year and pick out 10 events, products and campaigns that have made us sit up and go wow or simply put a smile on our faces.

1. A beautiful CSR campaign

You can put your name to a star, a number plate or a stone in Wembley Way, but now, thanks to Dulux and UNICEF’s partnership, you can also own a colour. For a donation of at least £1 you get to choose a colour from a range of 16.7 million available on the average screen monitor. All proceeds go to UNICEF's campaign to bring clean water, education, medical assistance and other aid to children across the world. 

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Sir Roger Moore is a proud new owner of Swedish Blue, the colour of the flag of his wife’s homeland Sweden, and not far off the cyan blue that represents UNICEF. “Both Kristina and UNICEF are extremely close to my heart”.

ownacolour.com

Fresh fruit, nicely packaged

This little fruit stall from Fresh Carts caught our eye the other day. Situated outside a London hospital, it delivers its message in a colourful and simple way. Lots of lovely looking fruit, conveniently packaged, straightforward pricing with a clear health message.

Fresh Carts is an innovative project involving the Greater London Authority, Department of Health, NHS, London Boroughs and private fresh produce suppliers to deliver sustainable, accessible fresh produce direct to Londoners. We think it's a great idea.

Social responsibility: small steps do make a difference

We all know about the environmental threats to our planet. We read about melting ice caps, rising sea levels and most recently severe droughts. This is a familiar story. But what is actually being done about it?

Fortunately, the 10:10 campaign is leading the way. They’ve been telling us exactly how our business can reduce our carbon footprint by 10% year on year and it's working.

Specifically, 10:10 aims to cut operational emissions in four key areas; electricity, on-site fuel use, road transport and air travel.

10:10 originated as a simple solution to a big problem. Franny Armstrong founded the campaign in response to the vague targets set by the Climate Safety report, which called for an 80% cut in developed world emissions by 2050. Instead, Franny recognised the value of the more realistic target of a 10% cut by the end of 2010. And so, in September 2009, 10:10 was born with this explicit aim.

The 10:10 proposal has resonated with such a wide range of people on a global scale because it is simple and appealing, and yet offers tangible means to achieving lower carbon emissions.

Signing up is easy and once you’re on board, 10:10 pledge to:

- Provide you with the means to measure your own progress by entering your figures into an emissions reporting tool

- Explore alternative methods to help reduce your harder-to-measure emissions

- Encourage you to ensure that your staff, customers and suppliers are all involved

- Save your business money by using less energy and thus increasing your profits

At its core, 10:10 is a movement. It aims to expand support for the campaign in every direction possible from businesses and hospitals to schools and families. Consequently, 10:10 boasts over 115,000 participants in 186 countries, which is an incredible achievement for a movement that began under 2 years ago.

10:10’s 'How to cut carbon emissions' campaign is a shocking but incredibly effective way of demonstrating the urgency for action. The use of the words ‘no pressure’ is a sardonic way of emphasising that we must all act on climate change now.

Bloom signed up to the 10:10 initiative at the beginning of 2009. It is due to the tireless pursuit of our own Jemma Golby that we’ve already made some great progress. These are some of the small steps we’ve made along the way:

All our foam board is now made from recycled materials and is biodegradable

All our stationery is now supplied by the environmental stationary company Wiles Greenworld

We use FSC approved paper throughout the office.

We operate and support the ride to work scheme.

We’ve installed centralised bins in each office to discourage needless waste (inconvenient but very effective).

We have a strict policy to turn off lights, computers and office machinery each night.

Bloom still has some way to go but we are committed to reducing our carbon emisions by 10% each year. It's not about saving the planet overnight more the incremental steps that we can all sign up to that will ultimately make a difference.  

Emerging markets: Adapting for adoption

A few weeks ago we looked at 4 different strategies for brands entering emerging markets.  This week we’d like to continue that theme with a look at how brands have adapted to become accepted. 

When discussing emerging markets we usually spend a lot of time talking about ourselves. How is growth in the East going to affect Western jobs?  How will our economy benefit from exports to Brazil? But we’d like to consider the reverse of the coin – what do consumers in emerging markets think of the West?  A cursory bit of research reveals that opinions are mixed. The West has defied the Chinese government (Google), come under scrutiny for dubious practices (Apple’s Foxconn factory) and, at its worst, deceits that have enraged both the developed and developing world (Nestle powdered milk scandal).

But the picture isn’t all doom and gloom. Luxury brands are doing a steady trade in emerging markets with BMW announcing this week that it is going to build a new plant in Brazil and is expanding its presence in other emerging markets.

However the luxury market is already quite developed in BRIC countries and the target market is relatively small.  The real opportunity for western brands lies in winning over the growing middle class.

Although the dynamics of every category are different, we’ve identified a number of ways that food & drinks brands can gain greater momentum in emerging markets.

Many luxury brands appeal to emerging markets through provenance of design, culture and status.  In contrast western food and drinks brands are generally better off playing down their roots. The following are a number of strategies that brands can use to win over consumers in emerging markets:

Adjust the product

Some brands are so iconic they can’t help but be associated with the land of their birth.  McDonald’s is one such example, but they’re not afraid to adapt.  You won’t find any beef burgers in India and in China you can order your McDonald’s to be delivered by a man with a backpack on a bike.

 

Adjust the proposition & positioning

Maggi has achieved success in India by tailoring its offering to meet consumer needs.  In Europe it’s primarily used as a seasoning, akin to Knorr.  With the Indian palate being so different, this strategy was never going to translate directly.  Instead Maggi launched into the Indian market as a range of instant noodles, becoming hugely popular and creating a brand that it is now worth over $4billion.

As in the West, Maggi still positions itself as a helper in the kitchen, but it has focused its proposition on simple solutions (noodles, soups, pasta) that take the worry out of meal times. It has also tailored this message to the Indian idiom with ads that feature local celebrities and it has dropped the foodie cues that feature in western markets. Maggi took advantage of the fact that, unlike MacDonald’s, it had the flexibility to really behave like a native in order to win market share.

 

Reinvent the positioning

Although Horlicks has been in India since before the market was labeled ‘emerging’ it still provides an excellent example of how brands can undergo a quite radical transformation in order to succeed in new markets.  

Although marketed in the UK as a sleep aid, Horlicks positioned itself in India as the ‘Great Family Nourisher’, a nutritional supplement akin to Activia or Actimel.  This position was better suited to India’s dietary needs and has stood the test of time. Horlicks now owns over 50% share of the health food & drink market in India.  Additionally the occasion extends beyond bedtime - Horlicks is served regularly at cafes, both hot and cold, as well as being sold in biscuit and energy bar form.

 

Contribute to the community

Thinking beyond the brand itself, western corporations have also earned respect in emerging markets by embarking upon sustainability initiatives. Unilever has gained a lot of kudos for its program to alleviate poverty in Ghana and Tanzania by planting allanblackia trees whose oil can be used in their spreads.  This genuine impulse to improve the lives of locals generates positive press and stimulates the emerging middle classes in these markets to invest in these products as well as others that feature under the, increasingly prominent, Unilever banner.

To win in emerging markets food and drinks brands can adapt, immerse and, if all else fails, extend the hand of friendship.

 

Greener branding

Sustainability has been a hot topic since the 1960s. But should it just be confined to boardroom discussions or should all brands have sustainability at their core?

Changes in consumer behaviour and the commercial environment mean that businesses and brands would be foolhardy to ignore sustainability altogether. This shift has been influenced by:

• The maturation of the flower power generation.  Their original principles have lost their anti-establishment edge and entered the mainstream.  In fact many former hippies now run some of the world’s biggest corporations.
• Consumers are able to navigate brands better, are more concerned about making the right choices and are more sceptical of brand promises.
• Digital has helped make consumers more brand savvy and given environmentalists a tool they didn’t have in the 60s. Consumers can immediately access a depth of information about a product.  If they have objections they can readily link to other like-minded people, strengthening their voice and making it difficult to ignore.
• Increasing regulation. For example the UK government’s 2008 Climate Change Act. Corporations need to stay ahead of the curve if they want to avoid government intervention.
• The economic downturn. Businesses are learning how to make their operations more efficient and less dependent on finite resources for long-term profitability.

A number of very successful enterprises have sprung up in the last 20 years that have shown strong ethical values needn’t preclude commercial success.  The pioneering work of The Body Shop, Pret and Innocent have paved the way for other brands to build their businesses around ethical principles.

But it is not just entrepreneurial outfits that are making a difference. Big corporations are transforming the way they operate to become more socially and environmentally friendly. 

Wal-Mart, the American behemoth, has instigated an exhaustive sustainability initiative.

1. Own Store Sustainability - Plan to run all of their branches off of renewable energy - that’s over 3,000 stores. 
2. Changing consumer behaviour - They have also created a new retail category ‘home efficiency’, an aisle in store where consumers can find everything they need to make their home more environmentally friendly. 
3. Supplier Sustainability - Wal-Mart has also been putting significant pressure on its suppliers to make their operations greener.

 

Wal-Mart’s efforts to go greener are not purely motivated by altruism, they are also trying to make their operations cheaper and more efficient - just one example of how sustainability can act as a cost-saving exercise. Increased efficiency and reduced dependency on finite resources can result in massive savings and shield businesses from the fluctuations of the market. In 2006 Boots’ changed its transport strategy, which reduced carbon emissions by 5% and saved the company £1.4 million in fuel costs.

Businesses are also using sustainability to inspire employees to devise innovative solutions as PepsiCo has recently.  Sustainable products’ social kudos also helps them stand out in a market saturated with new formats and flavours. Consumers are grateful to find brands that cut through the clutter and offer them simple ways to buy into environmental sustainability.

For many new businesses sustainability is as much a consideration as delivering value.  But how far should it lead your strategic growth plan? Tom’s Shoes has sustainability at its core.  It stands out from other shoe brands with its clear 'One for One' message and has made the espardrille hugely fasionable. Isklar Water on the other hand, is a carbon neutral company but their message is centred on the story of their exceptionally pure glacial mineral water. Isklar’s eco-credentials are useful for counteracting critics of bottled water but they’ve cleverly focused their communications around the most compelling idea for the consumer.

 

For established brands, embracing sustainability is a much greater challenge. Increasingly it’s the responsibility of big blue chips to drive the agenda. But commitment must be 100% as consumers and the media are very aware of green washing, as Tesco recently experienced in Hugh Fearley Whittingstall’s Fish Fight.

It’s crucial to take the long view when determining the value of sustainability initiatives.  Many of them demand significant investment upfront and often the benefits of such initiatives are not black and white, making them difficult to sell in to finance directors. Businesses need to balance the size of the investment required to carry out their sustainability plans against long term ROI in brand value.  It’s difficult to measure but not impossible and a recent white paper from Atos Origin gives a number of useful tips on how to get started.

All to often sustainability gets passed over by politicians and brand managers alike in favour of more immediate priorities.  But the way the market is going, with changing consumer priorities and increased pressure on raw materials, brands that refuse to embrace sustainability will become increasingly untenable.

keep cup

Thanks to Sense Worldwide and the Quiet Riot for inviting us along to their sustainable design talks last night. The atmosphere, speakers and beers were great.  

One product stuck out as a simple and clever piece of innovation that's on a mission to change consumer behaviour for the better. It’s one of those, ‘why didn’t I think of that’ ideas.

Keep Cup is simply a coffee cup you keep and re-use again and again whenever you pop into Starbucks. We chuck away a scary number of paper cups every day and not one of them gets recycled, not one. This little cup reduces landfill, CO2 and saves trees.

If that’s not enough, Starbucks even give you 25p for saving them a cup. Pretty nifty.

all you need is glove

Now here's a cleverly creative idea helping save our planet, one glove at a time. The team at Glove Love take in abandoned lonely single gloves that have lost their original partner. After some cleaning and sewing TLC they're paired up, giving them a new lease of life. The result is a never-ending supply of one-of-a-kind sustainable winter warmers that live happily ever after. Ah, that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

handy rubbish

Some of us at Bloom are a tad obsessed with Nahui Ollin's handbags. Made from old sweet wrappers, they're perfect for eco-conscious fashion fiends or anyone who just likes something a bit different.
 

Designing from rubbish looks set to become a growing trend with Ecoist's version of sweet wrapper bags now being sold in big retailers such as John Lewis.