Quick Response (QR)
Just before you skip straight on, it’s worth noting that QR codes have massive scope for growth in the UK.
According to research by QR TIGER, in a global league table of Dynamic QR Code scans (Q1, 2022), the UK slides home in 4th place. But what’s remarkable is that we’re a vast distance behind the USA who take the #1 spot with an impressive 42.2% of global scans.
Given the ubiquity of smart phones and the ease of using a QR – point-camera-at-code-click-done – it would seem a no-brainer to drive traffic to brand website, recipe ideas or socials on every pack (and in other marcoms!), but it’s astonishing how many brands still don’t execute QR.
The French have gone one step further and made inclusion of a QR codes a legal requirement – forcing all supermarket brands to contain an on-pack QR with links to detailed packaging and recycling information.
Full Grocer article here
Winning or retaining that retail listing is what drives us all, so when you’ve nailed your Best-in-Category pack design what else can enrichen your customer’s experience of your pack?
To bring the power of QR to life with supreme ease, Barcode specialist GS1 has created the ‘GS1 Powered QR Code’. Snappy title aside, they provide a simple template that enables brands to rapidly deliver an array of neatly formatted data covering topics such as; Product, Recycling, Allergens, Sustainability, Nutritional, FAQ’s, Contact Info, Stockists and more.
For further information, check out GS1’s QR code page here
Next time we’ll share our latest thinking on Augmented Reality and some examples that have helped stepchange brand performance.
See you next Quarter!
Back to the Future
Readers of a certain age who recall pubs with sticky carpets, ashtrays and beer mat games, will likely also recall the Big D peanut Brand. Back in the day, the ahem, Lady Brand Ambassadors adorned the walls of many a bar via their pull-to-reveal hanging backboards.
The risqué designs were ditched into room 101 some time ago, and the brand has been languishing in the world of zero-personality pack design ever since
Not any more.
Big D are back with Retro-Space-Vixens protecting us from UFO invaders and galaxy-searing peanut asteroids.
The new direction certainly shakes up a fairly bland and worthy category where the centre-ground focus heavily on health. Let’s hope the redesign makes it back into Pubs. But you can keep those sticky carpets and used ashtrays!
Full Grocer article here
Pride
The UK is, politically, a simpler territory to navigate for Brands wanting to support Pride month. Global brands struggle with markets that are far less progressive. Even in the US, Brands supporting the LGBTQ+ community can experience a backlash - particularly in conservatives states.
One technique is to avoid promoting support in digital comms and instead just activating on-the-ground. Others have simply pulled out altogether.
Happily the UK continues to see support across multiple categories and there were dozens of inventive executions across the month. Bravo.
Tea Time
Hats off to Tetley who’ve dumped their impossible-to-recycle soft tea bag multi-packs in favour of good old fash cardboard cartons.
At roughly 25% smaller than competitor packs, the cartons maximise transport and shelf space. This reflects the standardisation trend within the DTC Recycle/Reuse space – forcing size uniformity into the process delivers manufacturing, transport and shelf space efficiencies.
Win. Win. Win.
Full Grocer article here
Greener Greenall’s
Is a paper bottle with separatable inner plastic liner more sustainable than a glass bottle?
Hmmm.
The answer will depend on your agenda and some trick mathematics to calculate energy and resource use. And even then, arguments for and against will persist.
The fact is consumers think paper / glass / tin / aluminium = Good. Plastic = Bad.
The reality is way more complex.
Here come Greenall’s with a bottle-shaped paper-plastic mash up. Albeit one where the substrates are easily separated. It’s the ‘Frugal Bottle™️’ and looks pretty natty. The method to separate the two parts looks nice and straightforward. The author assumes this is true even after the entire have been enjoyed.
The Brand promises all sorts of benefits. Five times lighter. 94% Recycled board. 77% less plastic than a plastic bottle. Six times less carbon than glass.
The inner bag is a foily-plastic that can’t be recycled at home (in the UK), which likely means it will end up being wish-cycled anyway. WRAP is working with governments and local authorities to increase the variety of collections from kerbside. In the meantime, it’s off to the local supermarket collection point. Just don’t ask what happens to it from there...
What happens to soft plastics collected by the Supers?
Read more here
Read the full article here
Source: Greenalls Gin
Safari
Chris and Jon visited Amman in Jordan in late June. The agency has been commissioned to reposition and relaunch a heritage food brand and enable it to better-compete with growing competition from the West.
The Safari included a full tour of the retail and wholesale scene and moderated a consumer panel hosted by Nielsen. Watch this space for full case study later in the year.
Stay tuned…
Keep an eye out for the next edition of SPARK…
To discuss your next project, drop Jon an email: Jon@threesixtydesign.co.uk
