Page 71 - Packaging News Magazine Sep-Oct 2019

September-October 2019
www.packagingnews.com.au BRAND & PACK DESIGN
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Dreamtime Tuka is an indigenous snack brand company based in Wellington, NSW using locally sourced, native ingredients for its range of snacks. Founder Herb Smith turned to design and branding agency Loop Brands to redesign the packaging for Dreamtime Tuka’s range and communicate the quality product on pack.
The brand name comes from Smith’s grandfather who would tell him that “if you have a full belly, you would dream better” and that good tucker meant good dreams. In the past two years, Dreamtime Tuka has expanded its reach, and is now available on Qantas flights and through Railways NSW services.
Loop Brands managing director Ed Kirk says a key objective of the redesign was to make the product do the heavy lifting through its packaging and effectively communicate this in the simplest way possible.
“The positioning for the brand was a modern celebration of indigenous food and culture,” says Kirk.
The design uses the ingredients graphics as windows on pack, as well as a Coolamon – an indigenous carrying vessel to collect food – as part of the logotype, making it a “really adaptable design but also really powerful”.
“One thing we’ve retained from the previous packs – apart from the name – is the hand, except this time it’s Herb’s,” says Kirk.
“When an indigenous person would spray their hand on the cave wall, it was an indication they were part of that country, but the hand on the previous packaging wasn’t Herb’s hand. So even from the client’s point of view, we are using Herb’s hand rather than just ‘a hand’ makes it so much richer for both Herb and the brand and it’s becoming a better reflection of what he’s trying to achieve.”
Dreamtime Tuka is looking to expand its product range, which includes biscuits, sliced products and pies, into more outlets and services, as well as help facilitate new indigenous pathways and careers.
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The sweet spot is when a client’s ambition is met by branding and packaging that exceeds their expectations...”
audit and gives a questionnaire to a client to answer not only what their ambitions are, but how they are go- ing to achieve it. Kirk tells PKN that despite being an advocate for brand- ing, the best brand and packaging is only 50 per cent of the equation.
“The other fifty per cent is a great product and motivated client,” says Kirk. “The sweet spot is when a cli- ent’s ambition is met by branding and packaging that exceeds their expectations, and they get re-ener- gised and more motivated to sell. It’s a true 360 degree view of how branding and marketing should work together.”
“I’m a believer in branding being an instigator of improved business culture – the idea that effective branding and packaging translates into more effective sales is because the people behind the brand believe it when they see a vision they weren’t expecting.”
THE AGILITY ABILITY
As many of Loop’s clients are going through transition, Kirk has also transitioned Loop Brands to a busi- ness model working with an experi- enced core team, supplemented by an extended agile team when re- quired. He says it has allowed him to call in the right people for the right jobs, and subsequently build teams around a given project. In addition, Kirk’s early production background helps him direct the tools, maintain quality control and get his team technically up to speed.
“It’s about making the most efficient team,” he says. “You know someone will produce something in two days or two weeks – there’s trust. On the
one hand you can work with clients to get the information you need, and on the other, we have team members who you know need to take eight hours or eight days to get the job done, which you can cater for and manage really effectively.”
Agile businesses are becom-
ing more common across the world, including Loop’s cli-
ents, says Kirk, right through
the manufacturing, the brand-
ing and marketing aspects of
the economy. This behav-
ioural shift is parallel with
the way consumers are en-
gaging with brands and the channels through which brand mes- sages are communicated.
“My teenage sons watch content online but not on TV. What they en- gage with is very different to what my wife and I engage with,” says Kirk. “Following that idea, with re- gards to packaging and brands, the web allows you to directly market to smaller and smaller target markets or sub-markets. The branding – if done well – can target that group very effectively, while the bigger householdnamesareplayingadif- ferent game and need to talk to every- body, so there’s this real challenge and dynamic between the two kinds of clients and their targets.”
What brand owners are doing more than ever is recognising that “a quick fix will not give them the long-term solution”, as the mar- ketplace becomes more educated on what effective branding means and entails. For Kirk and the Loop Brands team, the answer lies in developing solutions from the “packaging [being a] front line of defence and attack”, to further expanding the brand mes- sage into marketing communica- tions, websites and beyond.
“I love meeting challenges for the Kellogg’s of the world because it’s complex and makes your work hard. On the other hand, we can make a real impact on smaller clients creat- ing new brands and products,” says Kirk. “The approach for each client cross-pollinates. The effectiveness of the brand, the client’s belief in that brand, and how it all links to the pack are the true synergies and strengths of effective packaging.” ■
LEFT: Loop
Brands’ design for Dreamtime Tuka uses the ingredients graphics as windows on pack, aswellasa Coolamon, as part of the logotype.
FACING PAGE: The positioning for the Dreamtime Tuka brand was a modern celebration of indigenous food and culture.