On the 27 November 2008 John Mathers, COO of Blue Marlin Brand Design, spoke at The UK Food and Drink Entrepreneur Forum which were held in London.

The Forum is designed for entrepreneurial food and drink brand owners and management teams looking to grow and develop their businesses. As well as entrepreneurs, the audience included retailers and distributors, investors and suppliers all looking for the next big thing.

Other speakers included leading brand owners and industry experts such as Mark Palmer from Green & Black’s, Ben Cull from Yeo Valley Organic, Richard Reed from Innocent Drinks and Peter Farquhar from Dorset Cereals.

Under the context that 80% of all new product launches fail, Mathers focussed on five key branding areas of importance to improve chances of success:

Be compelling and true

In the current economic climate, consumers will be looking to brands they can trust and that are true to themselves – whether it’s talking transparently about how they are made, where their ingredients are sourced, or what they do for their community. You can have a great design, but can you back up everything you’re saying about your product?

Have clear point of difference

Some of the most successful new products of recent years have come from smaller ‘challenger’ brands. Innocent isn’t a success because it makes nice smoothies (although they are) – it’s asuccess because it has a different tone of voice, and a ‘personality’ that’s lacking in many new brands launched by big companies.

Customer need is king

Make sure your product is fulfilling a real consumer need, not innovation for the sake of it. New Coke was a classic example of a product that failed because there was no need for it. People won’t buy something just because it’s new, but they will buy something new if it offers them a new benefit. Think Red Bull, which started a whole new category of functional energy drinks.

Communicate consistently

Does the look and feel of your web site chime with the design of the product and packaging? Is your above the line advertising conveying the same things as your brand identity? Don’t try to diversify or grow the brand until you’ve got this right and your brand is firmly established in consumer minds.

Packaging is the moment of truth

You may not be reinventing the wheel with your product, but you can reinvent the category from a branding point of view. A strong design can give you that extra standout you need to succeed. Dorset Cereals didn’t invent muesli, but gave a much-needed kick up the backside to cereal packaging and Gu created a new space on the shelves for instant chocolate puddings with high end photography and quality packaging that gave the category a touch of class.

via Blue Marlin Brand Design