Tag Archives: Mark Oliver Inc

The king and his sweet court.

King’s Cupboard had an unusual problem. Their chocolate and caramel sauce packaging was too pretty. Designed mainly for high-end food boutiques and gourmet shops, the client felt it lacked the necessary impact to attract the consumer in regular grocery aisles, either natural or conventional. As the fastest growing arena of sales for the successful Montana-based business, the advantages to be gained by making changes to the packaging were compelling.

The firm asked the branding team at MOI (Mark Oliver, Inc.) to come up with a solution that would punch up the product’s presence on the store shelf. We told them that consumers spend less than 2.5 seconds considering a product, that what works visually has to work immediately, that there are no second chances — and that differentiation is key.

Our segment review showed that 90% of the competitive set did not include a photo of the product in use; however the best-selling brands did. Another find was that consumers guiltily admitted eating the product by the spoonful straight from the jar. The wonderfully natural human behavior trait became part of our copy and broadened the appeal of the product.

King's Cupboard Branding and Packaging

The design solution for the primary display panel was a visual narrative showing photos of the product in use, the “spoonful” copy, modified visual cues that would maintain some the old brand equities, and product color coding. A warm, appealing story completed the backside narrative. The brand redesign covered all the products and corporate identity materials.

Personal care products packaging design: the wrappings of enchantment.

The promise of looking fresh and youthful is beguiling. The demand for products to achieve those looks is constantly growing. Personal care products that deliver results using healthier and more pure ingredients are a fast growing segment of the competitive category. Now, more than ever, people seek brands containing all-natural ingredients. While Earth Science was ahead of the pack in recognizing this important lifestyle trend, they faced competition that constantly updated positioning and graphic imagery. Earth Science made a proactive decision to maintain a leadership position by refreshing their own brand and packaging.

Earth Science Branding

The team at MOI (Mark Oliver, Inc.) audited the line and the competition and proposed these objectives: Redesign the trademark; create a system identity that the consumer could quickly recognize; and prioritize and simplify label information, making the redesigned trademark the #1 point of the packaging line. The design team set about creating multiple designs reflecting the objectives. Once finalized, MOI handed off the project to the firm’s in-house group to implement. “The new, unified packaging program has provided the product line with a far greater shelf presence,” noted Mark Oliver, principal of the firm. “In a busy category, organization of packaging is crucial. This design program nicely balances organization and creativity.”

Earth Science Packaging.

Wine label design: Flying goats and floating bubbles.

Humor can be a great salesman (and the the packaging for the wine industry could certainly use some design levity).

Two pet pygmy goats, named Never and Epernay, loved to jump from heights. With their unrestrained spiral loops, flipper turns and straight-legged leaps they were a constant source of entertainment. When choosing a name for his new brand of Santa Barbara County wines, Norman Yost wanted to project fun, enjoyment, and happiness. Norm is a playful spirit so he opted to name it after his flying kids, Flying Goat Cellars.

When it came to his all natural sparkling wines, with a wry sense of humor Norm called them “Goat Bubbles.” He gave the packaging design and branding team at MOI (Mark Oliver, Inc.) poetic license to come up with innovative wine labels. With a name like that, the graphic design was pretty obvious. We put a goat illustration within its own bubble, each goat positioned a little differently in each bubble, all of them floating up from the bottom of their bottles. The creative result is playful and an unusual design solution as well.

Goat Bubbles

The four-part label is unique from a wine label production standpoint, too. The printer had never created a multiple element label of this complexity and tests were conducted to assure the label film would adhere properly during production. Finally, each of the wines has a hand-dipped colored wax crown that matches the label color. The result? Adults love it. The kids, too.