www.smarties.ca
If you haven’t noticed already, Nestle’s Smarties has come up with a new campaign called ‘Gimme Colour’ which is a design contest where the best 10 will be chosen and sold nationally. When I first spotted their ad I automatically thought of similar CGC (Consumer Generated Content) strategies from brands like Nike and Adidas. However I do think it’s a smart move for Smarties which has a larger audience and demographic vs. per say the fashion industry. The contest is very liberal in which anyone can participate despite gender age and so forth - the catch is of course, you have to buy a pack of smarties to enter the pin number online. In terms of helping their brand, it really compliments their ‘fun’ identity, and focuses on consumer interaction diverting from their true tried and tested - “Do you eat the red ones last?” This campaign is fully taking advantage of consumer participation through media and web-based branding.
http://www.designedgecanada.com/newsarchives/2007/200707.html
I did come across an article on the website Design Edge Canada that criticized this CGC strategy for Smarties. Critics have felt it was an insult towards the profession of graphic design and branding because they feel that the strategy and thought process that goes into a successful brand has now become a layover for ‘anyone’ to work on with a click of a button.
Quote: “Their suggestion that a tool allows the operator to become a designer suggests that all we really need to do is to give everybody in the world a copy of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator and they are designers,” says McNeill, based in Halifax. “Or perhaps if we were to just give everyone a cheque book they could become marketers. Or everyone a pen, they can become writers.”
They also mention that it could hurt the brand than do much help.
Personally I feel that this campaign is perfect for Smarties. The brand strategy allows consumers to interact and (re)gain a sense of personal connection with this veteran brand…and what can be more thrilling than to have a chance for your design to be sold nationally. Nestle decided to give it a try for Smarties, and despite its perfect rectangular packaging and already successful brand identity, I don’t think any other brand (candy) could have been cool enough for ‘Gimme Colour’.
GIMME COLOUR
2 comments:
I'd have to agree that while it has the potential to injure Smarties' brand, i think the execution was thought through enough that it wont. you're right, Smarties is cool enough with a strong enough brand, and has certainly been around long enough, but they still built in a few safeguards.
My best friend had come across this during the summer and bought a pack each to try this out. their design tool works with a bunch of preset backgrounds and images, perfect for kids as it's easy to use, however does not really stray from the Smarties image too drastically. they all had the same tone in my opinion. there were a bunch of themed Smarties logos you could choose from, and you could litter your design with Smarties themselves as well. If they had used some sort of "freehand" tool they would have been in some trouble for many reasons, but all the possible designs worked with Smarties so well, i think the critics were not versed in what exactly was going on, ,and if i may say, it sounds like they were venting their frustrations on the topic of untrained high school students with a pirate copy of photoshop taking jobs away from legitimate designers, which is another subject entirely.
like i said, i agree, Smarties is not only cool enough to pull this off but evidentially Nestle is smart enough to keep a leash on it too.
I can see where designers and branding specialists would cringe at the idea of just letting anyone and their uncle have a go at the smarties box.
I think this is a great way to get people to interact with the brand on a new level. They finish eating the candy but the experience doesnt have to end there. Also the consumer feels like they potentially have a real and direct effect on the product.
Smarties (Nestle) has been around long enough to know the importance of branding and maintaining it so I really dont feel there is any cause for concern. The Smarties branding and advertising has been solid for as long as I can remember.
It doesnt matter if there is a slightly new layout to the box as long as I still get to eat the reds ones last.
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