A new look with added luxury

Food marketers fiddle with packaging in an ongoing effort stand out on the grocery store shelves. The colours they use and the package design are intended to evoke certain emotions and reactions from consumers.

Peek Freens Assorted Creme packaging, 2013

The "beauty shot" of the biscuits and the purple background both make these Assorted Creme biscuits, or cookies if you prefer, look great. But apparently the marketers at Peek Freans were not happy with the existing design and decided that a tweak was in order.

Peek Freans Assorted Creme packaging, 2014

And the result of the tweak? A brighter photograph of the product. A new sans serif typeface for the product name. A change from the plain purple fabric background to the brocade design. Gold trim around the name and at the top of the box.

And the most important change? The contents have been reduced by 50 grams. The box is exactly the same size, but the new plastic liner tray is smaller and holds 50 grams less.

So, fewer biscuits for the same money. This translates into an almost 15% price increase. And, I wonder, who will even notice.

Tell them with colour

Window sign at Zennkai Salon, Vancouver, BC

Colour is one of the most popular signaling methods for retailers. In North America red almost always indicates that there is a sale going on.

But what about bright? Is there some objective measure of "brightness"? Well there is for photocopy paper, but it is an indicator of the "whiteness" of the paper. I would assume that in this case the "brightness" is how fluorescent the sticker is. So, the more the sticker resembles a "hi-viz" safety vest the better the price.

Why a bull?

Kelowna Dodge, Kelowna, BC 

Dodge has hitched its brand to an animal. "Ram Tough" has been the image that Dodge cultivates for its trucks for years.

So, why is there an inflatable bull on the roof of this building?

Out of date. Should I care?

Chevrolet Cruze, June 17, 2013

This is a bit old, but I've been digging through some old photos and found this one.

This is in in-dash display on a Chevrolet Cruze. (I'd rented the car last year.) Nothing remarkable about it really. Well, apart from the fact that the system date is 10 months behind.

Will this be a problem? What is the car's computer system uses this system date to alert the owner to things like oil changes and other routine maintenance?

It was quite a few years ago that the value of electronics in cars surpassed the value of steel. While steel never goes out of date, is the electronics getting more unreliable every day? The increasing reliance on computers in cars may bring a whole new meaning to the term  "car crash".

Why did the lawyers agree to this?

Coca Cola water bottles, cafe at Vancouver International Airport, Richmond, BC

This is one of the oddest pieces of licensing that I've seen. The Coca-Cola company is notoriously protective of the of the brand. The firm also sells both the Coca-Cola soft drink and Dasani brand of bottled water.

So why would Coca-Cola license its name for reusable water bottles? If consumers buy and use these water bottles, then the sales of Dasani are likely to go down.

I just don't understand it, unless of course Coke would rather make the $20 sale of one of these bottles than the $2 sale of a can of Coke or a bottle of Dasani.

What they don't tell you

Sign for Nestle ice cream in the shop window, Union Steam Ship Company, Bowen Island

This ice cream must be good. There are "No Artificial Colours!". It's "Real Ice Cream".

That is wonderful. All pure and natural. It must taste great. But wait a minute. The information is not complete. Perhaps we need to read between the lines.

Colour is certainly one important aspect of food, but we do have a few other senses.

• Sound? (Well not really part of my decision to buy ice cream.)
• Touch? (How about texture of the ice cream? Feel nice on the tongue.)  
• Sight? (It looks pretty tasty.)

It looks like we are missing the two most important factors. Smell and taste. But, surely if this is real ice cream there won't be anything artificial going on, after all there are no artificial colours!

And I'm sure if Nestle had eliminated artificial flavours from the ice cream then that would be proudly announced on the sign. But, since there is no such statement I can only assume that this ice cream is chock-a-block with artificial flavours.

Oh well, it was too good to be true.