It's that time of year... fall is right around the corner, which in the marketing world means we're prepping for the busiest time of year (hello holidays! 👋). This week we're breaking down why sometimes you *should* judge a book by its cover, Hailey Bieber's partnership with Krispy Kreme (??), and tips and tricks to ease the load of holiday marketing — you deserve a #BreefBreak!
So let's get you up to speed — here's everything you need to know now within the marketing + creative space.
Consider this newsletter a resource for marketers, by marketers. Enjoy!
Standout Packaging Design – and the brands that are owning it
Social is an endless scroll. Where to stop? Here we analyze relevant moments, cultural trends and the marketing geniuses behind it all.
We all know the saying, 'don't judge a book by its cover' — but with consumer packaged goods, it's inevitable. There are lots of CPG brands with beautiful packaging, but sometimes beautiful doesn't cut it — you need to stand out.
Standout packaging has become a key pillar of product differentiation for many brands. These brands are looking at what's on the market visually, and finding ways to make themselves different and stand out amongst their competitors. Here we'll break down some of the brands that are crushing differentiation through packaging — and how they're doing it:
Liquid Death Builds a Fierce Fanbase Around Water
Liquid Death is the prime example of standout packaging. Water is a difficult product to differentiate, but when walking down an aisle of clear, blue plastic water bottles, Liquid Death stands out. Not only has Liquid Death fully leaned into their brand through packaging, they've delivered a function — many consider Liquid Death to be an alcohol alternative as its packaging doesn't stand out at social functions. Though water may be tough to make different, Liquid Death has gained a cult following largely driven by their standout packaging and steadfast branding.
Graza Stands Out With Fresh Form And Function
Graza is another brand that has mixed form with function for packaging that boldly stands out next to competitors. While most olive oil shelves are filled with glass bottles with labels featuring a nondescript Italian countryside, Graza burst onto the scene with a squeezable bottle, adorned with quirky illustrations and fonts. Visually, this product is distinct, and functionally, the packaging is easy-to-use and mess-free — something most olive oil bottles are not.
Fulton Proves That Sometimes Simplicity = Standout
Though standout packaging is often seen in the food and bev space, Fulton brought it to a unique category: shoe insoles. In a category not known for glamorous packaging, Fulton stands out with chic colors and clean lines, making arch support sexy. Fulton's packaging also exemplifies that 'standout' doesn't have to mean bright or bold — if your category is filled with packaging that is busy, complex or colorful, simple and clean can make your product shine.
Plenty Brings Bright Colors and Bold Fonts to the Veggie Aisle
What color do most people think of when they hear 'greens'? You guessed it — and so did every other veggie brand... until now. Plenty's shaking up the produce section by bringing bright hues and bold fonts to leafy greens — their packaging can only be described as eye-catching, drawing consumers in and flying off the shelves.
Though the principle of standout packaging applies to any CPG brand, these brands show that the execution looks different for everyone. In some categories, going bright and bold may be the secret sauce to show-stopping packaging, and in others, clean lines and muted tones jump off the shelf. However you stand out, we love seeing brands experiment with packaging that contrasts the rest of their category.
Celeb-founded brands that are doing it right
It feels like every week there's a new celebrity-founded brand popping up on our social feeds. While some fizzle, others are a slam dunk. Let's take a look at a few of our favorite celeb-founded brands, and how they're crushing it!
OUAI
Founded by Jen Atkin, OUAI has the haircare (and the marketing) of our dreams. Though OUAI does so much that we love, their social-first strategy stands out — and they lean into it in more ways than one. Of course, OUAI's produced content is killer, however, they use social for so much more, leaning heavily into community engagement, product ideation, consumer experience, and giving a peek behind the curtain with BTS. It's clear through their content that the OUAI team loves the brand, the products and their community.
Casamigos
Casamigos quickly became a favorite tequila brand when launched by George Clooney and friends — and was eventually sold for $1 billion. So what has Casamigos gotten right? Over the years a massive marketing pillar of theirs has been sharing their company values and origin story — all with the goal of authenticity. The story of the brand's birth can be seen across various ad campaigns, TV spots, on social and in their tagline, 'Brought to you by those who drink it'. With celebrity-founded brands, it's easy for consumers to feel that a celeb simply slapped their name on a product with no real interest, Casamigos' approach of sharing their origin story pushes back against that narrative.
BÉIS
Several years ago, Shay Mitchell took the luggage scene by storm with BÉIS — it was an unusual category for a celeb-founded brand (with beauty, wellness, fashion and alcohol being the categories we typically see), however, BÉIS brought a modern twist to a functional product, and with strong marketing strategies, they've been unstoppable. So what does BÉIS get right? Certainly a lot, but a standout strategy is their focus on community — through social and beyond. BÉIS does everything from sending prototypes to consumers for testing in the development stage, to show-stopping activations and pop-ups like The BÉIS Hotel — keeping their community at the center through it all.
Celeb-founded brands come and go, but a strong marketing strategy has staying power. We're excited to see what these brands do next — and will be on the lookout for more celeb-founded brands on the horizon. 😎
Marketing Wins We <3
Who doesn’t love a marketing win? Below are recent marketing moments we couldn’t help but share — and their main takeaways.
McDonald's Portugal Gets Strategic With McFlurry Merch
This summer, McDonald's Portugal dropped a merch line that camouflages McFlurries as you're eating them, so that no one will ask for a bite — talk about merch that makes a point! This campaign lived across channels — on social, in partnerships, in print and more.
💡 Takeaway: Make your merch work smarter — not harder. Branded merch is great, but branded merch that perfectly marries up to a multi-channel campaign? Even better.
Rhode Skin x Krispy Kreme — 'Glazed Donut Skin' Meets Glazed Donuts
While many turn to Rhode for the now viral 'glazed donut skin' look, with their most recent drop you can look like a glazed donut and eat it too. 😉 This week Rhode launched a strawberry lip treatment, and to celebrate, Krispy Kreme is relaunching their strawberry glazed donut for a limited time.
💡 Takeaway: Look for synergy in unexpected places. Though to most, skincare and donuts may seem like a misaligned partnership, Rhode and Krispy Kreme capitalized on the viral 'glazed donut skin' trend to come together for a partnership that just makes sense.
Extend your Holiday Marketing Budget with Breef(Pay)
It's that time of year... 'tis the season for holiday campaigns. This year, we want to help you take the load off, so we'll be sharing tips and tricks to help you maximize your holiday efforts while minimizing your stress — because everyone deserves a #BreefBreak.
The Tip: Extend your holiday budget with Breef(Pay), the buy now, pay later product for all marketing spend.
The Details: Holiday marketing requires agencies that drive strong results, but budgets are dynamic and continually changing — especially at this time of year. To help, there's Breef(Pay) — an industry-first payment infrastructure that allows you to stretch your budget further by investing in agencies now while paying over time.With Breef(Pay), you’ll gain financial flexibility to prioritize marketing projects without jeopardizing quality or spend — i.e. grow now, pay later. For our agency community, this means more project opportunities and payment security.Breef(Pay) is easy — here’s how it works:1. Find your dream agency on Breef2. Activate Breef(Pay)3. Pay overtime + grow your business — that’s it!Learn more about Breef(Pay) at breef.com/breefpay.
Marketing Jargon
In marketing, it feels like there's a new term being thrown around every day. We've got you! Here are a few you should have on your radar (and mention in your next meeting).
Shoppable TV: A shopping experience that allows consumers to make purchases on their TV — often through QR codes or features that have been added to streaming platforms. Examples of this include Roku's recent partnership with Shopify and Peacock's AI integration that allows users to shop for products that they see in their favorite shows.
Supply-Side Platforms: Commonly known as SSPs, supply-side platforms are adtech platforms used to manage the distribution of ad inventory. Also referred to as sell-side platforms.
Incrementality: Measures an event that wouldn't have occurred without an action being taken (ad click, social interaction, etc.), that leads to a desired outcome (website visit, purchase decision, etc.). Incrementality is used to measure the growth that can be attributed to marketing efforts above growth that would have occurred without said marketing efforts.
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That wraps issue no. 6 of The Breef POV! Keep an eye on your inbox for the next edition. In the meantime, browse more on The Breefing Room.
