Earful!: Designer mint candy

Last night I saw a TVC for Polo mint. It was bizarre.

The punch line "The Mint with a hole" was missing.  The Ad had models walking up and down a makeshift ramp with the camera zooming in on the curves and clothes. At best it could have passed for a clothing retailer's Ad. And then I spotted him. Fashion designer Wendell Rodricks, doing a jig.

The next 10 seconds were a blur as the ramp quickly seemed to morph into a Polo packet of myriad colors.  Polo and Wendell?  Yes. Wendell Rodricks has designed the packaging for four new Polo flavours.  This is a first for Polo and certainly for Wendell who has been selective of his partnerships.

What does this mean for brand Polo and brand Wendell?

Let me tackle Polo first. It is widely acknowledged that consumers first buy a product and only then use it. Therefore a product needs to be attractively designed and packaged at the point of sale. But will revamping the design and packaging significantly alter mind share and market share for an item priced at Rs 5?

A look at the mint candy market will show that three primary product designs dominate– The sachet pack (Minto-Fresh, Mentos, Chlor-Mint), the stick pack (Polo) and the box (Tic Tac). Polo's stick pack and its colors (green and blue) have been integral to every Ad as they complete the experience of tasting a Polo candy. Now, the same stick pack has more colors on it, presumably signifying fun and merriment.

Do teenagers care for color? Considering this is not a cool item, perhaps not.  Will the flashy design attract young children? Maybe, if they went grocery shopping and realized Mommy wasn't looking. In that case, they would pick every color of candy on the shelves. The middle-aged are switching to Orbit gum.  And the old don't care much – with or without Wendell.

That brings us to Brand Wendell.

Fashion designers have, as a brand extension, often lent their names to allied ventures such as home furnishings (JJ Valaya), car interiors (Valentino for the Limited edition Lincoln Continental), Jewellery design (Rohit Bal for Kirtilal's), Bollywood costume design (Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherjee) and photography (JJ Valaya). Few such as Versace have even designed Mobile phones. All these products reflect the style of the designer.  For instance, JJ Valaya's photography, much like his clothes, reflects the glory of a by-gone era.  

Wendell Rodricks' fashion is far from the garish stuff the models strutted in, in the Polo Ad. His style is defined by three key elements – fluid, earthy and natural. The Polo packaging reflected none of this.

Fashion designers have traditionally worked on limited number of pieces so as to enhance the brand value of the product through their inputs. By designing for Polo, Wendell has overturned this covert rule.  What did Wendell see in Polo? I am not sure. Is he looking at re-positioning himself as a colorful chap? I hope not.

It will be worthwhile to see if this advertising translates into sales.

While the Ad itself may not have impressed me, it brought back the question I have asked brand/ marketing managers many a time – Do you need a celebrity association to sell/ endorse you product?