New Product Development / Creating a competitive product that stands out on shelf

Child’s Play? The Importance of Branding and Design in the New Product Development Process by Graham Childs

There are a lot of small businesses not taking themselves seriously and failing to realise that they can do a lot more to compete with the ‘big’ brands. There is sometimes a feeling that small budgets and being an small business means that a brand identity is difficult to achieve and a little too corporate.

However, a lot of this comes down to the self-confidence a business owner, product developer or service provider has when trying to compete with well-established and sometimes much larger brands.

A well thought out identity and vision for where an owner wants their business to go feeds into branding, marketing, customer loyalty and the sales and idealised listings that come as a result.

This process does not have to be expensive but it does require thought and planning.

Many start-ups realise the benefit of social media, even if a few try to oversell, but neglect the importance of having a visual identity to support their digital work. Many are struggling to fully understand the marketplace, who they are selling to and fail to communicate their values, if they have defined them, effectively.

There comes a time when new businesses, new product developers or service providers understand and define who their customers are, where they want to sell their product and how they want them to be perceived. When this point is reached, brand owners must appreciate that a product’s branding, packaging and promotional collateral, must target the area of the market desired.

Visual differentiation and the story behind the brand and the product are key elements to creating a competitive product that stands out on shelf.

A bit of thought, planning, commitment and ambition can provide great results.

I will be speaking at the NPD food conference on 9 July, where I will discuss how careful thought about design at the start of the product development process eases future growth.

I’ll also talk about the importance of branding and using appropriate communication channels as well as some of the practical considerations involved in trying to make products stand out on shelf.

The event will take place at the Kingsgate Conference Centre in Peterborough, full details of the conference with details of speakers, subjects to be covered and booking links can be found here.