Echo news & views

Philip’s beautiful Mr Jackdoor - a doorstopper that comes to life

Half the can size, double the design effort

Our designs for the new compressed Sure for Women deodorant have now hit the shops and the headlines. An innovation leap for Unilever, and a design challenge for Echo, required sensitively translating the existing brand equities from a 150ml can to 75ml without losing any of its brand value and clear consumer communication - definitely not as easy as it might sound!

Read more about the launch as reported in Marketing Magazine

“The new 75ml cans’ selling point is that they are half the size of a standard 150ml can, but contain the same amount of product with 28% less packaging.

Unilever also claims the cans result in a 25% smaller carbon footprint than the standard-sized containers.

The cans are being rolled out across Unilever’s Sure Women, Dove and Vaseline Intensive range, supported by a £12.8m above-the-line marketing drive including TV.

Unilever believes its marketing activity could shake up a deodorant sector in which aerosols account for 80% of sales.

The new can sizes will initially be rolled out solely across women’s products. However, should they prove successful, they will be introduced more broadly.

Unilever believes that as it is the biggest provider in the sector, it is its duty to drive innovation.”

See move coverage here:

The Grocer

The Telegraph

Materials Recycling World

Packaging Europe

Cosmetics Design Europe

Posted 3 months ago

design, innovation, sustainability, packaging,

Molson Coors to launch its first British cider, a 4.5% abv premium drink, exclusively into the off-trade, in March.

Echo’s designs of the primary and secondary packaging will be sold in 500ml and 275ml bottles and supported with marketing activity that will include TV and digital support.

Jeremy Gibson, brand director for Carling at Molson Coors UK, said: “Our aim was to make a product that beats the competition on taste and refreshment, and Carling British Cider has done just that. The consumer response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Molson Coors, Carling, cider, design, packaging,

New bar font for Carling provides 270 degree bar experience

The new Carling font we designed for Molson Coors, is being introduced in pubs, bars and clubs across the UK, backed by a £5 million investment in a bid to strengthen Carling’s position as Britain’s favourite beer and enhance its prominence on the bar.

The new font is the final element of Echo’s rebranding work with Carling, with the ‘Brilliantly British’ positioning rolled out on packaging and glassware over the last year.

Briefed on the project in 2010, Echo created a unique shape for the font delivering a 270 degree branding view to improve the ‘at bar’ consumer interaction.

Jeremy Gibson, Carling Brand Director, said: “Carling is the UK’s bestselling lager, a position it has maintained for over three decades, and we’re committed to working with publicans and bar staff to ensure their customers get the perfect serve every time, investing in a new font and glassware is just part of this commitment.”

Posted 4 months ago

Fresh Thinking for the Home Front - the sector that’s ‘playing it safe’

Using our insight work into the world of household care, Packaging News’ Simon Creasey spoke to Echo about the sector that’s ‘played it safe’ in terms of packaging and those, like us, who are ready to challenge the household goods market’s standing.

(Extract) “But what’s the best line of attack for brand owners? One radical solution put forth by design consultancy Echo to revive the category’s fortune is for brands to cash in on untapped consumer segments that are more reflective of today’s societal trends.

Take men, for example. According to Mintel research the number of men who clean the home has risen by 14% over the last five years, with Mintel senior analyst David Lockwood claiming that “men remain an under-exploited household cleaning target”.

Echo concurs with Mintel’s assessment that there’s a major opportunity for brands that are specifically designed to appeal to men - it’s even come up with concept designs to show how it would approach this market (microwave cleaning grenades, anyone?)”

If you’d like to see our household care insight and concepts in full, drop rachel@echobranddesign.co.uk a line and we’d be happy to share them with you.

Read the article in full here

Posted 5 months ago

Echo and Unilever wish Kimi a Happy Birthday!

To celebrate Lotus Formula 1 driver Kimi ‘Iceman’ Räikkönen’s 33rd birthday, Echo and Unilever’s Rexona Team (Sure in the UK) designed his very own deodorant can - birthday gifts don’t get much more individual than this…and our design achieved more than 200 retweets in 2hrs.

Earlier this year, Unilever announced its exciting and ambitious sponsorship of the Lotus F1 Team. At the time Pablo Gazzera, Rexona Global Brand VP said: “We empower our consumers to be daring, to be adventurous and push the limits, offering the best protection throughout the day. We tap into our consumers’ passions – cars, sports, extreme adventure – in order to engage with them. The thrill of speed and fierce competition of Formula 1 racing falls right at the heart of what our consumers are passionate about.”

Happy Birthday Kimi from the Team at Echo.

Posted 7 months ago

1 note

Unilever, design, Formula 1, Kimi, Conceptual design, innovation,

Responsible packaging: the downside of a litigious society

Echo’s creative director Bic responds to Britvic’s recent Fruit Shoot recall challenge and takes a more holistic view of the impact of a protective society on packaging innovation.

Like everything else, any product, including packaging, made available to the public should comply with basic safety requirements and present no danger to the user whilst it is being used for its intended purpose.

But there is always the opportunity to inadvertently injure oneself or others through misuse or carelessness and it is perhaps not entirely fair to always point the finger of blame at the item in question.

How many times have we cut our finger on the edge of a baked bean can? And yet we don’t see for the wholesale recall of cans from the market. And how many times have we bled whilst clearing up a broken jar? And yet we don’t see a campaign for the abolition of glass – surely a material that should be banned immediately in the interests of public safety.

There are occasions when it is the right decision to create a fuss about potential safely and health threats relating to packaging but in this case the hysteria and subsequent damage to the Robinsons brand was not, in my opinion, proportionate to the threat it caused.

Read in full here: Packaging News

Posted 7 months ago

1 note

Echo designs new east London tea brand, Joe’s Tea

In a bid to make Britain’s favourite drink cool again, Echo teamed up with east London based tea man, Joe Kinch.

The design took inspiration from traditional ‘City of London Liveries’ protecting the professionalism of key trades (e.g. the candlestick maker, butcher, baker) and added a contemporary twist. Led by Echo’s in-house designer and illustrator James Pearce, a range of ‘Joe’s crests’ were created to characterise individual flavours and enhance the expertise behind each blend.

Christy Davies, senior designer at Echo said: “In highly competitive markets such as tea, design and brand personality play an even bigger role – the beauty is taking all of the smart thinking you do beforehand and creating something that looks so comfortably simple, yet each layer reveals a deeper chapter of the brand story.”

The design has been rolled out across a range of ten different blends, all promising to excite and surprise anyone who loves a brew!

Read more about it at Popsop, The Drum, Design Week & The Dieline or visit the Joe’s Tea website.

Posted 8 months ago

Introducing the first intelligent chocolate

What began as a conceptual project is starting to be realised in the world of confectionery. With the announcement that Barry Callebaut (one of the world’s largest cocoa buyers) has received backing from the European Food Safety Authority to make health claims about the natural benefits of quality cocoa.

Which is incredibly timely…. as we’ve just launched our latest insight project on this very notion.

Echo developed IQv: a premium, brain boosting chocolate that combines cocoa’s natural qualities - high in flavanols and antioxidants - with physiological responses. It aims to be the first indulgent chocolate to sit alongside supplements in health food stores.

We’re excited about the possibilities of our idea. If you’d like to see the full project please email rachel@echobranddesign.co.uk we’d be delighted to share it with you.

IQv - the intelligent chocolate - immersing confectionery into a new health category.

Brought to life by intelligent thinking from us, Echo.

Posted 10 months ago

design, chocolate, packaging, branding, innovation,

Carling and Echo drive home British message this summer

Carling’s “Brilliantly British. Brilliantly Refreshing” campaign is ramping up ahead of a momentous summer for the UK.

Echo has designed a new creative visualisation for Britain’s number one lager, that will feature across Carling’s outdoor, press advertising, at the end of its current TV advertising campaign, and also on limited edition packs for Sainsbury’s.

Michelle McQuillin, Carling Brand Manager said: “We are really excited about the new design delivered by Echo – it perfectly captures the essence of Carling as the perfect refreshment with which to celebrate a truly memorable summer for Great Britain.”

Read more about the work in The Drum and Popsop and Packaging News

Posted 11 months ago