SBR 65: Surprise and delight down the coffee aisle

I love a little ‘surprise and delight’ on a piece of packaging – especially in the mundane moments of the everyday…

A little detail not everyone will notice! It won’t necessarily drive choice or hit a measurable KPI, but it is what separates brands from products. It’s about bothering to try to create a relationship with the consumer after you got them to take you home…

I thought the Dark Woods pack was a great example of this. It was on the shelf at my  local coffee shop @Woodlawn.

Like craft beers, craft coffees are fighting the good fight against many other independent, quirky and distinctive packs. The bold yet simple yellow and black with ownable illustration style draws the eye to Dark Woods and makes them easily recognisable.

But what I really loved was this little detail – in the aperture of the clip (clip a genius idea BTW, elevates pack, keeps the product tasting good and hangs around the home - maybe even on a competitor product! -  keeping the brand front of mind).  This little message. Warm, inviting, slightly hidden – like being asked to join a secret club.

A similar example is the Who Gives a Crap loo wrap. Each one is different. Some include info about the product but others quirky bits of on-tone banter – the ‘ode to the commode’ poem, a gift tag so you can gift to a friend, the Xmas special ‘Gnome on the Throne’ box with mix and match elf head, body and legs. They might not drive initial purchase but it certainly makes going back to Andrex feel like a downgrade and I feel I’d miss that little bit of fun and joy (I didn’t know I needed) on the loo!