Shoppers come equipped with their own object detecting systems. As they walk the aisles, their radar screens pick up signals that come from only the most relevant brands; weaker ones hardly register a blip. Of course, larger brands have the help of in-store marketing to send pulses out to shoppers. But independent brands, on smaller budgets, usually don’t have that luxury. In these cases, it’s packaging that does all the work. That’s what makes the following five brands so special. Despite their miniscule budgets, they’ve developed innovative, functional and beautiful packaging that sends such strong signals that shoppers can’t help but snap them up. And because these brands have not only made it onto shoppers’ radars, but also our own, we’re naming them our 2010 “Brands to Watch.”

Frazer Parfum

Frazer Parfum’s Haute Parfum and Parfum Solide lines are completely handmade, showcasing local talent in South Africa.

>SOUTH AFRICA
Some of the greatest ideas are inspired by the past. In 1998, German automaker Volkswagen reintroduced the Beetle, based on its original Type 1 car from the 30s. In 1919, Orville Redenbacher began growing his own popping corn, just as the Native Americans did thousands of years ago.

Tammy Frazer, founder of Frazer Parfum, also looked to the past when creating her line of natural and organic fragrances. Her newest range was inspired by the 18th century traditional method of perfumery – infusing fragrance into wax. Available in nine scents, or Chapters, the “Parfum Solide” collection is entirely handmade – perfume, packaging, and all. Each scent comes in a compact made from hand carved, sustainable African Blackwood, one of the world’s rarest and most expensive hardwood trees, known for its natural sheen.

But the ancient art of perfumery isn’t the only factor from the past that influenced Frazer’s creations. Her grandfather is the chemist who created Oil of Olay and her father worked at Swiss fragrance company Givaudan. Add that to her background in finance, communications and sustainability (her master’s thesis was on sustainability) and you have a recipe for perfumery success.

Frazer started her company in January 2008, based in South Africa, with a line of ultra-concentrated “Haute Parfum” liquid extracts bottled in hand-blown glass flacons. This line introduced the same nine scents now featured in the solid perfume range, but in a more concentrated form.

When deciding how to package her perfumes, Frazer notes her three most important considerations: form, function and design. The Haute Parfum bottles make use of a stopper, she says, since only a few drops are needed. And colored glass is used to protect the perfume inside from temperature and light.

Across both formats, Frazer’s fragrances represent her travels to the source of the raw materials used to create each scent. Both lines also are completely handmade by South African workers and artists, showcasing local talent while supporting local businesses. The artistic function of the perfumes was also vital to the sustainability aspect of the brand. The bottles and compacts were made to be kept and reused (the solid perfume format also makes the range convenient for travel).

It wasn’t long after the business started that the company began to expand. After 10 months of private sales and R&D, Harrods London picked up Frazer’s Haute Parfum line. The retailer not only began selling the perfumes in its stores, but it featured them in the private Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie on the fifth floor, dedicated to extraordinary fragrances from around the world. Retailing for £545 per bottle ($782 USD), the Frazer Parfum line has sold out every month.

Next, both ranges joined the ranks at Annindriya Perfume Lounge in Amsterdam’s posh Oud-Zuid district in the Netherlands, the country in which Frazer’s grandfather opened one of the first Oil of Olay factories. And most recently, three scents from the Parfum Solide line made it onto shelves in Anthropologie stores in the United States.

Meticulous in everything she does, Frazer says she is selectively expanding. In the near future, she expects to enter markets in Switzerland and the Middle East. Plus, there are a couple of new products in the works. First is a new Parfum Solide shea butter fragrance in a cedar wood compact. She also plans to unveil a new spray perfume range, and, as she travels, more in the Chapters collection of scents.

Frazer’s goal isn’t to make a huge margin on her products (she’s currently putting everything she makes back into research, production and design), but she does believe “when you do grow, never ever compromise on creativity.” For her, innovation, quality and luxury continue to be the next “chapter.”

Gü Chocolate Puds

Food photography steals the spotlight on Gü packaging, but the sleek, black background and humorous copy make the brand approachable.

>UNITED KINGDOM
Many brands conduct a good deal of research before launching a new product into the marketplace. But Gü is not like most brands. It made its debut on shelves in 2003 without a stitch of research. Well, not officially.

Once the packaging concept for the high-end pudding brand was developed, founder and managing director James Averdieck managed to slip a few sample boxes onto the shelf of his local supermarket. When he noticed shoppers picking up the box within the first five minutes, he knew the brand was destined for success.

UK design firm Big Fish was responsible for the brand name, brand mark and packaging. Like the Häagen Dazs brand name, Gü has no foreign origin or meaning. It simply stands for a sophisticated chocolate experience. And the packaging reflects just that.

Gü’s packaging features a deep black background with large, enticing food photography front and center, plus the Gü brand name in white. And, to have a little fun with shoppers, the boxes display humorous copy on the back panel – not to mention that the “ü” in the brand mark forms a smiley face.

“We shot [the products] with the same care and visual attention as we would a £10,000 Swiss watch or a diamond necklace,” Averdieck says. “The result was a simple, dark seductive brand that had a cheeky smile.”

That approach has also helped with shelf blocking, brand recognition and shoppability.

“The visual mayhem of supermarket madness allowed us to create a visual pause and catch the eye of the discerning buyer,” Averdieck says. “Gü stood out by being single-minded and not bowing to conventions.”

In 2005, Gü took its single-mindedness one step further and introduced a little sister: Frü. This move enabled the brand to get into fruity indulgent desserts. As the ying to Gü’s yang, Frü’s packaging features a solid white background with a black brand mark and appetizing photography.

It was only a matter of time before another company would want a piece of the pie, or cake. This past January (while we were developing this story), privately held Noble Foods bought a majority stake in Gü. The acquisition should help secure additional distribution for Gü, as Averdieck reports that Noble Foods will be investing heavily in advertising and promotions to accelerate the brand’s growth. Noble Foods is also interested in international expansion. Currently, Gü and Frü are available in the UK and France, but in the future, consumers can expect to find them in more locations.

Since the business began seven years ago, it has grown an average of 60 percent per year. Sales are now at £25 million ($40 million USD), 80 percent of which comes from the UK, and 20 percent from France. And the brand has expanded from its initial chocolate pudding concept to 25 products in the desserts, cakes and confectionery categories.

Inspired by a chocolate patisserie in Brussels, Averdieck is a chocoholic turned successful entrepreneur. With innovation at the heart of his business, things can only get sweeter.

Just BARE

A transparent, plastic tray presents a nearly 360-degree view of the product and features leak-proof and easy-open qualities that offer better food safety for consumers.

>UNITED STATES
Gold’n Plump Poultry has a history of innovation. It was the first poultry company to offer fixed-weight scannable packages, remove fat from fresh tray pack products, place a freshness date code on an entire line of chicken products, and use automatic chicken catching equipment, says Tracy Miller, the company’s director of product development.

In September 2008, the company introduced a new brand, Just BARE, to tap consumers’ growing interest in the source of their foods.

“The goal for this particular brand was to really meet the needs and wants of an emerging group of people out there who are looking for a lot of information on the foods that they eat,” Miller says. “They want to know where the product comes from, and they’re more interested in what’s not in their food than what is.”

The first two things pointed out on the label below the brand name, “No Added Hormones” and “No Antibiotics — Ever” show what’s not in the product. And, a Family Farm Code appearing on every package allows consumers to trace their bird back to the family farm where it was raised.

Just BARE was made to be as transparent as possible — inside and out. The brand worked with Minneapolis-based Periscope to design a package that would be “crystal clear” about the brand’s values.

Unlike other packages in the industry, which feature polystyrene trays, vacuum pouch packages or plastic wrap, Just BARE products are packaged in transparent, plastic trays with a clear film lid, giving consumers almost total view of the contents inside. Plus, a paperboard sleeve displays product photography and additional information about the chicken.

Consumer research showed consumers were looking for a freshness date, which Just BARE displays right next to the Family Farm Code, and leak-proof packaging. As a result, Just BARE chicken packages feature sealed trays that are leak proof, not leak resistant like other packaging in the market. And, the brand goes above and beyond by also making the tray easy to open, limiting the contact between the consumer and the raw chicken and juices.

As with all Gold’n Plump products, Just BARE consists of fixed weight scannable packages, making it easier for retailers to assign one price per variety, and giving consumers consistent piece sizes and cook times. And to really take the transparency value home, Just BARE products feature a nutrition label, which is not yet required by the USDA.

Although packaging isn’t the brand’s only marketing tool, it is drawing consumers.

“There [are] more people that are not brand aware than are at this stage,” Miller says. “So [the Just BARE packaging] pulls them in first and gets them to spend more than the traditional six seconds. Once they read through the attributes, if this is what they’re looking for and it meets all their other requirements, then we are seeing a higher trial rate.”

So what’s the next step for Just BARE?

“What we’re really striving for is that lighter touch on the earth,” Miller says.

Currently, the plastic trays are made from PET plastic, which is recyclable; the paperboard sleeves are also recyclable. While it’s difficult to find more sustainable packaging for products going into a wet, cold environment, Miller says the brand is working with manufacturers “doing heavy R&D to find that silver bullet.” “We’re going to get there,” she says.

eos Products

eos Products’ packaging features unique structures, textures and colors to enhance consumers’ experience with the brand.

>UNITED STATES
“From the beginning, we knew that packaging would always play a core role for the brand,” says Jonathan Teller, founder of eos Products.

That’s easy to tell from the brand’s innovatively designed lip balm and shaving cream products.

Launched last year and rolling out nationwide this year, the company’s newest product, a shaving cream, features a soft touch, ergonomic plastic bottle that’s made specifically for women. And it’s just about as pretty as shaving cream can be. But aside from the bottle’s intended aesthetics, it’s functional as well. The custom pump dispenser and bottle contour make it easier to hold and use when wet. Plus, because the packaging is unlike competitive shaving cream products that come in metal aerosol cans, it’s rust-free.

The company’s smooth sphere and smooth stick lip balms make use of the same soft touch plastic and, like the shaving cream, feature bold colors to clearly call out the flavors or fragrances of each variety.

“While colors cue fragrance [or flavor], our motivation for using them is that our packaging needs to communicate positive emotional cues to the consumer when they use it every day,” Teller explains. “Most packaging is used as a billboard for the brand — and while that’s great on the store shelf, it’s not as good for the consumer once they’ve brought it home.” As a result, eos only uses bold colors where they’re appropriate.

These products all sparked from an idea in 2007, when Teller and a small group of friends realized an opportunity to develop a new kind of personal care brand for women.

“We wanted to create a modern brand that gives women great products along with self-expressive benefits that we felt weren’t available from other products in the marketplace,” Teller explains.

Today, eos’ personal care products are in more than 20,000 U.S. retail stores. They’re also distributed in seven countries outside the U.S. And, the brand’s lip balm is the fastest growing lip balm in U.S. drug stores, according to ACNielsen.

Teller attributes much of the brand’s success to its formulas and packaging. Retailers have always been attracted to eos’ packaging, he says, thanks to its significant shelf stand-out.

The brand even focuses its advertising around the packaging. Print ads for the brand’s smooth sphere lip balm feature the products in unexpected places, highlighting the unique shape of the packaging in a fun and memorable way. For instance, one ad features three sweet mint spheres sitting in a bird’s nest; another shows a summer fruit sphere hanging from an apple tree.

Of course, the products aren’t actually found in such settings, but they were designed to be earth-friendly. The shaving cream bottle is made from 25 percent post consumer recycled materials, and the packaging for all eos products is recyclable. The company plans to search for ways to increase the amount of post-consumer recycled materials in its packaging.

The company’s next step is to introduce a body lotion in the second half of 2010. While the project’s packaging is still under wraps, one thing is for sure: It will be “pretty remarkable and remarkably pretty.”

Mighty Leaf Tea

Mighty Leaf Tea boxes and pouches were made to showcase the product inside.

>UNITED STATES
It says something about a brand when two different artists create dresses from its tea bags. The fact that Mighty Leaf Tea’s pouches were beautiful enough to make into dresses is one thing. That they were designed to serve high quality tea says something entirely unique about the brand.

When husband and wife team Gary Shinner and Jill Portman decided to turn their love for tea into a company, they wanted to make something high quality that would bring tea back to its origins. Luckily, the two go hand in hand.

In ancient days, tea was made from whole tea leaves in a clay pot (whole leaves equate to the highest level of quality), Shinner says. But, beginning in the 1900s, manufacturers began crushing the leaves and stuffing them into paper bags.

Shinner and Portman pioneered the whole leaf tea pouch, expanding on the easy-to-use functionality of traditional tea bags, but in a roomy format that houses whole tea leaves and without the glue or staples. Instead, the pouches are stitched with unbleached cotton, making them entirely biodegradable. The innovative pouches, which feature a proprietary design and manufacturing process, were immediately trademarked.

Unlike other tea bags, the Mighty Leaf Tea Pouch is transparent, adding to the consumer experience. First, consumers are presented with a visual of the box on-shelf. When consumers open the box, they’re immediately overwhelmed by the scent. Then when they open an individual packet, they’re able to see the quality tea ingredients through the pouch, and take in the artisan-like feel of the bag. Once they soak the pouch in hot water and take their first sip, the multisensory experience is complete.  

Shinner and Portman opened their own teahouse, Tea & Company, in 1996, where the infamous tea pouch made its debut. After four years, Shinner and Portman decided to change their business model and make their products more widely available. To do so, they left their store behind and entered the foodservice business.

Three years later, Mighty Leaf expanded with the introduction of ML ultra super premium teas, for sale exclusively in five star hotels and restaurants, specialty retailers and boutique stores. Foodservice allowed Shinner and Portman to sample and refine their products. And after more than tripling sales from 2002 to 2006, reaching $13.6 million, they were more than ready to take the next step.

The couple began selling their products in the mass retail market in 2007. And after entering 7,500 retail stores, the brand is still holding its own. Mighty Leaf Tea now exceeds $20 million in annual sales.

But that’s not to say getting into retail was a walk in the park. The team had to make sure its packaging would clearly communicate the unique, quality product inside.

“Because of the significant differentiation in our experience, it could be a challenge for a company to communicate that through the packaging,” Shinner explains.

Thus, designers placed an image of the Mighty Leaf Tea Pouch on the boxes, along with professional culinary photography of the ingredients. And to keep up with the environmental values of the brand, the boxes are 100 percent recyclable and printed with soy ink. The boxes also showcase a natural look, a reference to the handmade and artisan feel of the tea pouches.

“With our brand, I think uniquely, you can’t separate [the packaging from the product],” Shinner says. “Because a box is integrally a magnet to the tea pouch, it reflects the same innovative design of what’s inside.

When it comes to innovation, Shinner and Portman are pioneers — that’s a certain-tea.  BP

Where to go for more information...
BRAND IDENTITY AND PACKAGE DESIGN
Big Fish (www.bigfish.co.uk)
Periscope (www.periscope.com)