Ulrich R. Orth & Keven Malkewitz
Executive Summary
Firms develop, differentiate, and position brands and products to target desired buyer groups and to create value. To create and convey meaning, advertising and pricing are the two most frequently researched and commonly employed methods. In contrast, the design of a package has received relatively little attention as a means to create and convey brand meaning. For example, numerous product categories include package designs that appear massive, natural, or delicate, at least relative to each other. However, there appears to be no common taxonomy assisting design stakeholders in communicating holistic types of design. Even worse, a lack of insight into the relationships between key types of package designs and generic dimensions of consumer response leads to inefficiencies in achieving brand management objectives and leaves managers and designers in the dark on what design to use to stimulate desired responses. To leverage design, companies need guidelines for achieving brand management goals, including information on key design types to help them consider the range of design options and resultant messages available to them.
Against this background, a series of seven studies identifies five key types of package designs (including the design factors and elements that differentiate those designs) and determines how these holistic types are related to generic consumer brand impressions (i.e., five dimensions of brand personality). For two diverse consumer populations and across two product categories (wine and fragrances), consumers are found to infer impressions of low sophistication and only average sincerity from “massive” designs. “Contrasting” designs generate impressions of excitement and ruggedness but convey little competence, “natural” designs evoke impressions of sincerity and sophistication, “delicate” designs score high on perceived competence and sophistication, and “nondescript” designs score low on sincerity, excitement, and ruggedness.
This research is informative for managers in three ways. First, it provides a taxonomy of holistic designs and generic design factors that can facilitate communication between designers and marketing managers. Second, the relationships identified between holistic design types and generic dimensions of consumer response enable design stakeholders to use package design better for achieving desired brand impressions. Third, the finding of clusters of packages appearing similar to consumers (i.e., the concept of visual competitors) supports managerial brand positioning and brand design decisions.
Biography
Ulrich R. Orth is Professor of Marketing and holds the Chair for Agribusiness and Food Marketing at Christian-Albrechts-Universität (CAU) Kiel, Germany. Before joining CAU, he was Associate Professor of Agribusiness and Food Marketing at Oregon State University and Professor of Agribusiness and Food Marketing at Mendel University Brno (Czech Republic). Ulrich Orth holds a doctorate in Agribusiness Management (1993) and a Super-PhD (Habilitation 1998) in Agribusiness Marketing both from Munich University of Technology, Germany. His research interests include design, brand management, and cross-cultural consumer behavior and psychology. He has published in Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and Journal of Social Psychology. Professor Orth is currently serving as editor of International Journal of Wine Business Research and is also founder and chair of the advisory board of C2C, a consulting enterprise that specializes in marketing and customer relationship management.
Keven Malkewitz is an assistant professor in the College of Business at Oregon State University. He received his PhD from the University of Oregon (Marketing) and undergraduate degrees in Business and English from Hope College in Holland, Mich. His research broadly examines product and package design, focusing on how the design of artifacts (packages and products) influences consumer behavior. Before employment in academia, Keven was a marketing manager for adidas for 15 years, with a keen interest in product design. While employed there, he worked in the United States, in Germany, and globally in various marketing management, new product development, and marketing research positions. He has extensive consulting experience in both product design issues and new product development activities. Keven Malkewitz and Ulrich Orth received the 2007 Academy of Marketing Science William R. Darden Best Research Methodology award for their research examining product design.
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 72, No. 3, May 2008
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