I’m now following Duke Stump’s blog and Twitter — he worked at Nike and was the CMO for Seventh Generation, two brands I love.
But a word to Seventh Generation — for the the majority of people to make a massive lifestyle change, you need to Make Green Sexy. If I were your product lead, I’d dramatically redo your visual branding. To be blunt: it’s generic and indistinguishable along side other eco-products. You need a visual language that communicates your eco-friendly essence, while throwing some sex appeal and differentiaton into the mix.
I’m not saying become the next American Apparel, and put half-naked consumers on your packaging. But being Green doesn’t always have to literally look green.
You’re right, there needs to be sexier green branding!!! (Like Bitopi did with Kazi & Kazi tea in Bangladesh.) But the deal is that a lot of people _like_ the clunky packaging and design. It’s part and parcel of being organic.
I’m an organic kinda guy and I always wonder at whether or not I like Dr. Brommer’s Magic Soap’s package design. On the one hand it’s traditional and symmetrical and that’s more than a lot of people can manage. On the other hand, every time I see the wall of text I feel like a homeless guy is talking at me or communists are trying to give me La Rouche. (I always just talk to them in Bangla, pretend that I don’t speak English, then wink and call them Comrade.)
My best guess is that people who like organic/green products like to be self-righteous (myself included), and so they don’t necessarily appreciate it when someone has obviously spent time or money on Good Design. Plus, maybe it’s reactionary to not have catchy design in the style of P&G or something, though both these things are changing and of course there’s a TON of good design out there for organic/green brands. We’ll see a lot more good green design as time goes by.
Speaking of which: have you seen the Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer? I swear to god I picked it up for the first time in years (I live next to a Whole Foods) and I read it cover to cover. What beautiful, glorious copy!!!!!