Laurea’s trip to Santa Lane in San Diego has us going down memory lane.
Big news here: it’s our Sweet Sixteen. Occasionally, we may question our own maturity but not when it comes to packaging design; it’s been 1.6 decades of strategic thinking coupled with wild creativity.
So we’re tooting our own air horns (dub siren-style), saying buh-bye to the Holidays and doing a happy dance! ⚡️
Here’s what we do all day:
Then & Now
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
We ‘cut our teeth’ working for big CPG brands. 20yrs ago we helped launch Aquafresh Extreme Clean for GlaxoSmithKline. We’ve done similar for other big brands; Bausch+Lomb, Ace Hardware, HJ Heinz, Nestle, Daisy Brand, Unilever, Snyder’s-Lance, Solo Cup, Georgia Pacific, etc. We were ‘planners’ doing research & strategy: consumer psychology, shopping behavior, environmental dynamics, brand strategy.
We broke out on our own, melded with some rockstar designers and now work with maverick brands looking to realize big opportunities. We often say, design is a strategic business tool.
Consumer Research
INSIGHTS & VALIDATION
People make decisions emotionally vs. rationally. We know because we used to partner with an army of anthropologists, ethnographers, semioticians, and others (e.g. Eye Tracking experts).
Today, our methodology is simpler but still ensures ~97-98% market success rate. (In business parlance, that’s called big time ROI—and FASTER).
INNOVATION
SEE THE FUTURE
Navigating the future takes perspective and creativity and sometimes you need an extra set of hands, or heads. With 100+ years of collective experience, we help clients find opportunities in current categories and ancillary spaces.
We do customer journey mapping, evaluate manufacturing capabilities, understand consumer targets (lifestyles, pain points, need states), develop new product forms or help come up with unexpected limited time offers. This is skunkworks, R&D, strategic value creation, etc. it’s where new ideas are born and reminds us of one of our other favorite sayings, “evolution is hungry”.
Naming
START A CONVERSATION
When competing against category giants (e.g. Metamucil or Benefiber) a name can help you standout. A name can’t do everything by itself, but it can help communicate meaning, spark interest, sound good, and be memorable.
Occasionally we partner with other force of nature creatives like Joey Garfield or naming heavyweight, A Hundred Monkeys as we did for this new fiber brand, Victory Lap.
Wanna feel golden? Get 15% off your first Victory Lap order with discount code SEEDHOUSE15.
Brand Identity
VISUALLY TELEGRAPHING MEANING
Branding is storytelling. It’s communicated via all of the senses. And it starts with clear thinking and a well articulated strategy (the motor of design). From there design, messaging, photographs, video, etc., all work together to create a unified presentation of a brand’s intended meaning that is simple to understand & resonates with a target audience.
Packaging
YOUR SILENT SALESPERSON
Expressing brand meaning through graphic and structural design. This is the ‘first moment of truth’; a package has only a few seconds to grab your attention, make a connection and persuade you to make a purchase. It’s the hardest working medium bar none, and often the very best investment a brand can make in itself.
Line Extension
SYSTEM THINKING | DESIGN TO GROW
Every successful brand grows; new flavors, new sizes, new product forms, variety packs, etc. How a brand extends across multiple sizes and structures requires some flexibility to maintain continuity across an expanding line. Versioning, or product differentiation, is also critical so that the line is easy to shop. This is system thinking, and we’ve done this for large private label programs to broad line offerings (like La Michoacana, ‘the Baskin Robbins of Mexico’).
Cue the Music
POINTS OF PRIDE (IN ORDER):
- +16yrs in business
- 11.5yrs average tenure of current Seedhouse staffer
- +90% return rate; % of clients who come back for more work/new projects
- 125+ brands created (probably more tbh)
- 1,000s of designs (identity, packaging, displays, exhibit booths, sales material, etc.)
- 1 location (same building for the past 16yrs; Midwest is the best for CPG)
- 3yrs certified 1% for the Planet company (we give back bcs we make a lot of beautiful trash)
“Future is an attitude”
SPOTTED ON AN AUDI eTRON RALLY RACECAR
“Your attitude creates your reality”
ROBERT GREENE, THE LAWS OF HUMAN NATURE
“Boldness makes way for action.”
JAMES VICTORE, FECK PERFECTION
P.S.
“To kindness and love, the things we need most.”
– The Grinch
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