The Focus
Fonterra, the largest dairy producer in the Southern hemisphere, approached us to revamp the packaging for Pediapro to boost consumer awareness and strengthen their brand presence in Sri Lanka.
They felt that Pediapro’s nutritional value had to appeal to three target groups: non-category using mothers, lapsing mothers, and irregular buyers.
Our core brief was to ensure that the new design communicated scientific expertise while being aspirational and premium at the same time.
The Focus
The team at Elephant started off with emphasizing the scientific approach to reassure new mothers about how nutritionally sound and reliable Pediapro was for their children.
We emphasized the nutritional aspect by keeping the Iron and Omega-3 story front and center, while incorporating a vibrant palette and modernized fonts to maintain a premium, engaging look.
The resulting package blended emotional appeal and scientific elements. We featured a mascot and Pediapro’s iconic imagery to enhance cognitive AND physical development cues, reinforcing the ‘holistic development’ that consumers sought.
The Story
Our journey with Fonterra to revamp the Pediapro packaging for the Sri Lankan market began with a clear and pressing brief. Pediapro, a Growing Up Milk Powder (GUMP) targeting children aged 1-5 years, needed to reinvigorate its market presence. Customers were seeking alternatives that were as nutritionally potent. With Pediapro holding a major chunk of the market share, our challenge was to revamp the packaging to increase consumer awareness of the brand and its products, while driving purchases in the wake of declining sales volumes.
Our primary goal was to make Pediapro relevant to three key consumer types: non-category using mothers, mothers who had lapsed out of the category, and irregular buyers. These groups accounted for a significant portion of the market. Our task was to create packaging that instantly communicated Pediapro’s nutritional value, appealing to mothers who desired holistic growth for their children. The existing packaging failed to emphasize the product's scientific benefits and lacked an aspirational or premium feel.
Insights
To begin, we delved into the consumer profile: mothers with children aged 1-3 years in urban and semi-urban environments. We identified their primary concerns: illness, underweight children, lack of appetite, growth/height concerns, and lack of energy. They sought a well-rounded product that supported both physical and cognitive development. Our insights showed that while the existing pack had an iconic child portrait, regulations required its removal. We needed to retain the mascot on the Back of Pack (BOP) and shift the focus to technical expertise.
Blending the Scientific and the Emotional
Our design approach centered around highlighting Pediapro's formulaic and scientific strengths, specifically the Iron Omega-3 story. This became the core of our packaging redesign. We created a central element featuring an atom that attracted ingredients and nutrients around it, symbolizing Pediapro's scientific foundation. This visual cue was essential in communicating the product’s expertise and nutritional completeness.
We also aimed to address cognitive development more prominently, which was previously underrepresented in the graphics. We introduced mnemonics and a vibrant, engaging design to avoid making the science appear dull. Retaining the characteristic gold of Pediapro, we added a vibrant palette and modernized the fonts to ensure the packaging looked premium and appealing.
Mascot in Focus
A significant addition was a new mascot: a lion engaging in various cognitive activities like building blocks and reading books. This mascot resonated well with our target demographic and visually represented the product's benefits for cognitive development. We retained the iconic child used in TV commercials but moved it to the BOP, maintaining brand continuity while adhering to regulations.
Our final design was a perfect blend of emotion and science, resonating more deeply with the target demographic than previous designs. We ensured the packaging was vibrant and modern while maintaining a sense of premium quality. Each variant's central element changed colors to indicate the product's stage and age system, making it easier for mothers to choose the right product for their child’s age group.
In conclusion, our design solution transformed Pediapro from 'just another milk powder' to a specialized, nutritionally complete, scientifically aligned, and premium product for the holistic growth of toddlers. The strategic changes we made had a substantial impact, ensuring that Pediapro stood out on the shelf and appealed directly to mothers seeking the best for their children. This project underscored our commitment to creating designs that are not only visually appealing but also strategically aligned with consumer needs and market demands.