🧠 Billion Dollar Branding on a Budget

Hey there, 

Welcome back to the 38th edition of Brandish, 

Your guide to crafting an iconic brand. 

While today’s story is on a very specific moment in my journey with Obvi, 

The lessons you’ll learn can be applied to ANY stage of your branding. 

Read between the lines and pay attention to the fundamentals, 

Because what I’m talking about today just might save your life. 

(Not literally, but whatever. Cue dramatic effect)

With that being said, 

Kick back, 

Grab your Brez, 

And let’s talk about what I learned (and am still learning) from taking Obvi’s branding from a small e-commerce website to the world’s biggest retailer. 

The Devil Is In The Details… Of Your Packaging

Listen, retail is an entirely different animal from digital. 

Once you have your product on the shelf, 

EVERYTHING you use on your site to sell your product is stripped away. 

Landing pages, 

Product pages, 

Product descriptions,

Everything. 

If it’s not already on your packaging then it will be of zero use to you. 

When we were moving our first product into Walmart I made sure to focus on what was absolutely essential for our packaging: 

• Branding (obviously) 

• Making the value props POP and in clear view

• Using the remaining space for any other info I could add to make sure it sold on every front

One thing you have to assume at all times is that the customer knows absolutely nothing about your product - so it’s up to you to identify the 80/20 on what you need to get their attention, 

To visualize your benefits, 

And grab one (or two) off the shelf. 

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency

Eventually, you’re going to scale up your offerings to include a lot more than 1 product on the shelves, 

SO KEEP YOUR DESIGNS CONSISTENT. 

It blows my mind how many brands have completely different looks for each of their products.

Yes - you want your customer to be able to tell the difference between product 1 and product 2. 

But you shouldn’t make them so different that they think product 2 comes from an entirely different brand. 

Everything from: 

• Color Palettes 

• Typefaces

• Messaging 

• Etc

When you’re selling digitally,

You can continuously tweak and edit as needed to refine your product’s design and presentation, 

But not in retail. They do not f*ck around. 

And this isn’t because of policies and the costs to do so - if you’re putting out a bunch of products and variations that always look different,

Then you are going to struggle with holding your customers’ interest. 

Think about it - as much as we deny it, we’re extremely superficial beings. 

If they feel like you can’t decide on one consistent look, then they will not respect you,

Your brand,

OR your product. 

Get everything ironed out and planned FIRST, then start stocking the shelves. 

Drive A Toyota, But Convince Everyone It’s A Porsche

Alright - you’ve identified how to structure your packaging, triple-checked that all of your designs and messaging are consistent,

Now you have to tackle looking like a solid competitor against the top dogs.

And just like in retail, 

They do not f*ck around. 

You’re competing against billion-dollar brands with A LOT more resources than you, 

And I’m not saying their products or their packaging are fantastic, 

But they’re legacy - they've been on these shelves since before your brand was even an idea. 

So when you’re working on your designs, packaging, whatever - keep that in mind. 

Get creative.

Search for new angles that will keep you at the same level of professionalism while making sure you stand out.

You’re not working with the same level of resources as they are,

But they don’t have to know that. 

Drive a Toyota, but make EVERYONE believe that it’s a Porsche - and you’ll be giving your competitors a run for their money,

And your customers eager to give you their wallets. 

Tool of the Week

Building off of everything we’ve talked about today,

I can’t help but highlight a tool that helps me to keep our content consistent for our retail, websites, ads, mockups - you name it.

And I like giving out the sauce - why else would I write this newsletter?

So picture this:

You’re finally in retail. You’ve passed the point of no return, and you need your content to align with being a TOP competitor on all fronts.

And to do this - I seriously recommend using Soona.

They are one of the most important tools that I use - a totally virtual product photography studio.

We’ve made some KILLER creatives with the help of Soona, and they’re some of the best at maintaining the consistent messaging and design that you need for your brand.

If you want to give it a try, you can test them out for free HERE.

Wrapping Up 

And that’s a wrap for this week!

While this was focused on retail as a whole, the lessons here can be applied to every other stage of your branding journey. 

No matter where you are - spotlight your USPs, keep everything consistent, be creative & resourceful,

And there should be no reason you can’t swap your Toyota out for a real Porsche in no time. 

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next week!

Ankit