Love marks & packaging

"Lovemarks reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can't live without. Ever. Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. Lovemarks are a relationship, not a mere transaction. You don't just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately. That's why you never want to let go." - Saatchi & Saatchi[1]

Lovemarks is a marketing concept that is intended to replace the idea of brands. The following are the key ingredients to create lovemarks:
Mystery: Great stories: past, present and future; taps into dreams, myths and icons; and inspiration
Sensuality: Sound, sight, smell, touch, and taste
Intimacy: Commitment, empathy and passion

The relationship between lovemarks and other selling concepts is through a simple schema based on respect and love. The full schema is as follows:

1. Mere products (commodities) command neither love nor respect. Fads attract love, but without respect this love is just a passing infatuation.
2. Brands attract respect, even lasting respect, but without love.
3. Lovemarks command both respect and love. This is achieved through the trinity of mystery, sensuality, and intimacy[2]

Coca-Cola
An example of a company that didn’t understand its customer’s emotional attachment and cultural significance or self-identity that people attached to the product is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is a classic example of a love mark.

Coca-Cola decided to change coke so they carried out market research including surveys and focus groups to find out if people preferred the taste of the 'new coke' or the 'old coke'. They never researched to find out the emotional connections people had with the classic (old) coke. All research pointed to people liking the taste of the new coke, so Coke pulled the classic coke and started selling the new tasting coke.

There was a massive backlash against them. ‘Company headquarters in Atlanta started receiving letters expressing anger or deep disappointment. Over 400,000 calls and letters were received by the company, including one letter, delivered to Goizueta (CEO), that was addressed to "Chief Dodo, The Coca-Cola Company". Another letter asked for his autograph, as the signature of "one of the dumbest executives in American business history" would likely become valuable in the future. The company hotline received 1,500 calls a day compared to 400 before the change. A psychiatrist Coke hired to listen in on calls told executives some people sounded as if they were discussing the death of a family member’.[3]

Other Lovemark examples:
Dove's campaign for real beauty:
‘You could argue that this campaign goes way beyond what we want and need when we're buying soap. But their campaign is certainly inspiring. And precisely because of that many people feel an intimate connection with the brand. They perceive Dove as a brand that's more inclusive, positively feminist etc. And they might always reach for Dove at the drugstore because for them that brand is a "Lovemark" that goes beyond a mere fad. They love the product, but also respect it.[4]

Benefit makeup:
"I just like standing in front of the Benefit counter looking at the packaging; that tells you something up front. The company has drawn up this funky, yet fun and feminine image that totally suits who I think I am and who I want to be. They allow high-quality makeup to be fun again, like it was when I was a little girl. Love the product, love the image and love the idea that I use Benefit cosmetics. Makes me happy every day when I put on my lipstick".[5]

Packaging your product:
The right packaging of your product is important not only to communicate your brand image and your product, but if your brand strategy is to become a ‘lovemark’ you need to ensure your product is lovable, and this is includes creating great packaging. Packaging is one of the ‘sensuality’ ingredients of a lovemark.

You need to ensure that everything you do, including your packaging design, is ‘loveable’ to your target market. People will love your product and your company if you provide them with a great product and great service, but you will need that extra ‘something’ to become a lovemark. This could include a great advertising campaign where you differentiate yourself from other brands and speak directly to your target market; like Dove’s ‘love yourself’ campaign featuring real women. Women were drawn to this because it speaks to them, makes women feel good about themselves, and the product is great.

Research, research, research:
If you don’t have a massive advertising campaign budget to do massive amounts of research, think about all the products you love. Figure out why you love them and figure out the regular themes: for example: I love Ecoya candles, because the product smells great, the candles are beautiful quality, they are packaged in beautiful, classy glass containers, that look amazing around the house. I love giving them as gifts because the packaging looks so expensive and lovely, and when I look at them, I feel happy.

Remember of course to check with your target market what their lovemarks are, if you are selling a product that you are not the target market of. For example if you are a male and your product is targeted at women, you need to find out which the women in your target market demographics love and why. As per usual, it all comes down to research.

If your product is great, your packaging is beautiful and your marketing campaign makes your target market feel great about themselves, then you’re on the road to creating a Lovemark.

Packaging quote:
“Not only will multisensory packaging make shopping a more exciting and fulfilling experience, but it has the ability to transform stores into theatres of dreams.” [6]

References:
[1] http://www.lovemarks.com/index.php?pageID=20020

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovemark

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/natasha-koifman/brand-strategy_b_1515858.html

[5] http://www.lovemarks.com/index.php?pageID=20015&lovemarkid=1096

[6] http://www.lovemarkscampus.com/tag/packaging/

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