We are hearing a lot in the package design community about giving your brand an identity the consumer can relate to by supporting some social cause they can feel good about. Corporate branding and social responsibility walking hand in hand is especially strong with younger consumers, but many older shoppers are looking at the company behind the product to justify spending their post-recession paychecks as well.

Tropicana’s “Rescue The Rainforest”  campaign, launched last year is just one example.

The challenge for designers is how to use the package to both sell the product, and convey the social responsibility message. From Media Post.com, “Kraft Foods' Barnum's Animals Crackers are benefiting endangered Asian tigers -- as well as the brand's sales and image -- via a limited-edition, Lilly Pulitzer-designed package and a $100,000 contribution toward protecting the animals.”

The article continues, “The Lilly box design features animals drawn in her fanciful style and a pastel color palette -- a major departure from the nearly 100-year-old brand's realistic animal images and primary colors. The design incorporates a call-out for the brand's donation to WWF and WWF's panda logo.
One million packages of the special Barnum's boxes hit retail shelves nationwide in late March.”

Kudos to Kraft for daring to mess with a very iconic package and a 100-year-old brand, and joining forces with fashion world celebrity Lilly Pulitzer, who not only designed the package, but is selling them at her exclusive retail outlets—a very non-traditional channel for cracker sales!

Most of the marketing behind Kraft’s support for endangered Asian Tigers has been done via social networks, not traditional advertising channels, another trend we continue to see grow and will follow.

So now consumers can happily bite the head off their Animal Cracker tiger knowing that their support of the product goes to saving real tigers!

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