Magnum Forever

Remember the movie Zoolander? In case you forgot, here's Zoolander in under 9 minutes:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHM53NnAaGc.

A side plot of this movie is that Derek Zoolander has been working on a new look for years called Magnum.  It's an update on Blue Steel, his signature look. At the very end, you get to see Magnum for the first time and everyone just goes WILD.  The male modeling industry thinks it is just innovative and edgy and fresh!  But to everyone else, it's the exact same look as Blue Steel.

In many jobs, you'll hear that the brand is going to undergo a "packaging refresh" or they are going to "overhaul" their look.  Some brands & companies do successfully undergo a total overhaul while staying true to their original brands (think Aussie hair products- newer purple, different shape, better text). 

Old Aussie Package

New Aussie Packages

Some brands completely abandon the old and start over (think Herbal Essences hair products- not even remotely the same).

Old Herbal Essences Package

New Herbal Essences Lineup

And then their are most brands, who nudge something a little, add a burst, put some "texture" on it and call it totally new.  These brands are my Derek Zoolanders.  You never really know who they are unless you work with them because their package never changes.  It looks the same for years and years and years- even when that look starts to become outdated. 

Food categories tend to suffer from this aversion to true change.  Check out the frozen aisle, for instance, and tell me if you can point out the number of frozen brands who have changed their package in the past 5 years.  I can only think of a few myself and Lean Cuisine is only significant change:

Old Lean Cuisine Package

New Lean Cuisine Packages

But otherwise, with food brands, you see a lot of the same packaging over and over again, but they definitely call it new in their office because this year they did a "refresh" and it's much more "modern".  

In a lot of these places, the cry to be more edgy, modern, fresh, etc. comes from a competitor in the category already doing something and seeing great results. When it comes to executing that change though, it's not so simple.  Above all, one must maintain the brand standards, even if the brand standards are outdated.  Afraid to be different or to completely change their look, they adhere to their standards and end up regurgitating the same design with a burst that says "new look!" or adding "texture" to a background.

To my little Derek Zoolanders, Magnum forever, Magnum forever.