{"id":6513,"date":"2026-03-11T16:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/?p=6513"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:36:13","slug":"brandxpackagingdesign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/brandxpackagingdesign\/","title":{"rendered":"Brand x Packaging Design: SpongeBob, Wittgenstein and the yellow ketchup\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
from Christian Prill<\/strong> and Samuel West<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

We recently spotted these SpongeBob and PAW Patrol sauces in a German supermarket.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are a masterclass in visual confusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The ketchup<\/strong> The bottle is mustard yellow. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • The Mayo<\/strong> bottle is \u201cshampoo blue\u201d with bubbles. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      As Ludwig Wittgenstein famously wrote: \u201cIf people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done.<\/em>\u201d" Innovation requires experimentation, and that means also testing seemingly silly things. But these bottles are now headed for the \u201cdiscontinued" bin. Here are some reasons this experiment likely did not do well on the supermarket shelf <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Licensing Vampire Effect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      The licensed characters didn't just support the brand, they swallowed it. While Sponge Bob shouted, the actual brand (Hellotaste) whispered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      User vs. Buyer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Kids may love the playful colors, but they aren't the ones checking the back label of the package. By prioritizing novelty over quality cues, utility, and nutritional information, the packaging failed to convince the adult buyers.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Safety Trap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Organizational psychology tells us that teams tend to over-index on safety signals. A big license feels like insurance to a stakeholder, but in reality it does not guarantee anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Shelf Visibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      In a busy supermarket, contrast, hierarchy, and readability<\/strong> beat Sponge Bob details every time. Recognition is king: from three meters away, a shopper's brain looks for red ketchup category cues, with a yellow bottle, the brain registers mustard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/div>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      <\/div>\n\n\n\n

      Christian Prill <\/strong>is the honorary managing director and chairman Germany of the Brand Club. His main job is to support agency owners in developing their agencies and their clients in matters relating to brand strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Samuel West<\/strong> founded the Museum of Failure. He is particularly interested in why brands fail and how organizations can learn from this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      von Christian Prill und Samuel West We recently spotted these SpongeBob and PAW Patrol sauces in a German supermarket.   They are a masterclass in visual confusion: As Ludwig Wittgenstein famously wrote: \u201cIf people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done.\u201d Innovation requires experimentation, and that means also testing seemingly silly things. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[15,55,18,19,54],"class_list":["post-6513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-markenthemen","tag-brand","tag-design","tag-marke","tag-markenexperten","tag-packaging"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6513"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6593,"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513\/revisions\/6593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brand-club.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}