No, it’s not for the city of Brooklyn, New York. This package design contest is for Bond No. 9’s newest product – a unisex cologne called Brooklyn. The company already has a cool looking graffiti bottle for Brooklyn, but to let consumers take control, the company is asking consumers to come up with their own package designs for Brooklyn. The only rule is the package design must be reminiscent of some aspect of Brooklyn or Brooklyn overall. How would you evoke the essence of Brooklyn through a cologne bottle design?
I met my husband when he was living in Brooklyn, so I have great memories of the time I spent there. I can’t wait to see some of the designs that people come up with for Brooklyn perfume.
From a branding perspective, I love package design contests and events. It’s such a great way to drive an emotional connection between consumers and a brand. Events like package design contests allow consumers to “touch” a brand, get more involved with it on a new level, talk about it and experience it in a new way. These types of events always work well for established brands (think of the Coke can redesign events surrounding the Olympics in 2008), but it’s not very often that a smaller brand achieves success with them. I think Brooklyn is getting a buzz going about this new contest because the subject is tangible and has so many interpretations.
Do you think anyone will come up with a Horshack design (my hat tip to Welcome Back Kotter)?
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
I vote for packaging that shows the subway lines in Brooklyn, then again when I think of subways, I don’t necessarily think of nice cologne smells…
I’m torn as to which images of Brooklyn you’d want to evoke. While the image in your post is appropriate, it seems to harken to the grungier image of the Brooklyn ala “The Warriors” and they’ve been revitalizing the borough. So much of this depends on the intended audience, so I guess I’m curious to see what imagery that younger crowd associates with current Brooklyn.