Design Consultancy
Parker Williams Design Consultants
Kate Bradford
020 8995 6411
kate@parkerwilliams.co.uk
www.parkerwilliams.co.uk
The Challenge
Supermarkets’ premium food ranges account for 10% of the food and grocery market, with sales of £5billion (Euro 7.34billion) annually. By the second half of 2006 all top grocers had re-launched their premium private label lines and Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference was looking tired. It had also expanded from 250 lines at launch to more than 1,100 and rigid design standards were not differentiating the products clearly enough. Sainsbury’s had also introduced competition itself by redesigning its core ranges and introducing SO Organic, another premium tier range.
The Brief
Parker Williams Design was asked to take Taste the Difference into the future, creating a contemporary design to match the ambition to be a £1billion (Euro1.46billion) premium brand. The design needed to shout product quality, communicate what the Taste the Difference brand stands for with the heart and soul of a passionate enthusiast, and build loyalty. As well as helping customers to appreciate choice, the designs had to allow for the flexibility to absorb new food trends, enter new categories and grow in range size.
The Design
Taste the Difference’s signature burgundy colour was retained, but deepened to an aubergine to reflect the ‘smart but not snooty’ brand personality. The logo was re-drawn, split and contained in a panel to create a ‘brand badge’. Tall, elegant shapes and best in class materials and formats were introduced into the packaging to emphasise premium brand qualities. The product story is communicated on the packaging in a flexible range of ways including photography, illustration or approachable and engaging copy.
The Results
Taste the Difference was re-launched in September 2006 and the range exceeded 2006/07 forecasts by 6.2% to reach a record £888million (Euro1,304million) in sales, a lift of 23%. The investment of £830,000 (Euro1,220,000) in design fees was recouped in just under three months of trading and sales are currently growing at above 20%. More than 4 million customers a week bought Taste the Difference products during the six week re-launch period, an increase from 2.8million per week the previous year, and six months after launch 23% of all Sainsbury’s transactions came from the range. Taste the Difference’s share of the premium private label market is up 9.5% year on year.
