Redesigns fail. Here’s why…
Why redesigns fail in impact. Four by Fore
Millions are invested in creative pack solutions every year. Very likely, your testing process successfully filters out the obvious failures. Good start, but is that enough?
Pushing forward the safe design is unlikely to rock the status quo, but the effective one will help drive behavioural change.
At Fore, we have witnessed four common process mistakes inhibiting success in retail channels, risking fatal blind spots into decision-making,
1. Mistake: Designing in a vacuum
Designers and marketers view a redesigned pack on a large, clean screen where they can easily judge it by its intention and rationale. Shoppers never see that deck. They only see the pack for a fraction of a second in a cluttered aisle or e.com channel. They are busy, stressed and distracted.
The Fix: Design rarely fails in the meeting room. It fails in context. A design must be evaluated under pressure. That means flanked by rivals, under time constraints and in the real context of the retail environment.
2. Mistake: Redesigning without true purpose
Redesigns without a clear, evidence-based problem are costly vanity projects. Often re-designs are trying to fix what is not broken. Redesigns work best in solving underperformance, or to exploit new opportunities. A redesign represents risk
The Fix: Discretionary redesigns need to start with a commercial problem, that influence the creative brief. All design and evaluation efforts need to stringently, yet realistically, follow the criteria for success
3. Mistake: Getting buried in numbers
A dashboard that tracks twenty KPIs is not a strategy. It is clutter. Too many brands get buried in numbers and starved of commercial judgement. The creative brief risks getting lost in the evaluation outcomes
The Fix: Data should sharpen judgement, not drown it out. Keep the diagnostic measures simple. Focus decision making on what you set out to do alongside risks that link directly to conversion: Visibility, Findability and Clarity. Be prepared to lose on values in order to win on perceptions that matter and are ownable
4. Mistake: Walking away from distinctive assets
Brands maximise their impact and longevity through Distinctive Brand Assets (DBAs) This often represents years of built-up shopper recognition and trust. Failure can arise when brand disregard the non-negotiables or don’t plan to enhance what they own
The Fix: Understand how consumers define and understand your DBAs. We can change assets but understand the cost (as we change) or the advantage as we enhance. The goal is to ensure you take the consumer with you
Progress through Purpose
These four process mistakes have a single root cause: a disconnect from consumers and commercial reality
The most successful redesigns follow a clear, evidence-based approach. They succeed by staying laser-focused on their "north star", rigorously avoiding the traps and keeping evidence of shopper behaviour at the heart of every decision