The "BrandAbout" process

Juxtapositioning is another tool to get customers to pay attention. And that's just what the merchants at Gardener's Supply Co. accomplished by thinking about the practicality of a product's packaging when developing its stylish and sustainable bamboo crock with removable pail.

“We designed this compost crock for good looks and convenience,” reads the selling copy. This product just might persuade some of those averse to kitchen composting to change their minds by selling “pretty” right next to “practical.”

What are some of your product “givens”? Is there any way you can mash up some new solutions and repackage your product to appeal to a new audience?

MAXIMIZING THE POWER OF COLOR: Fresh Produce Sportswear

This women's apparel company is all about fun, comfortable cotton clothes packaged in happy colors. Cofounders Thom and Mary Ellen Vernon take color seriously and package it as an integral part of their brand.

Their beach-inspired palette with names like Citrus and Sangria and South Beach Blue and Aqua Del Sol helps to position all their clothes as wearable art and evoke that sought-after vacation feeling.

These colors are used not just on their clothes, but throughout their entire company as an integral brand component. Offices are painted in these hues, teams are named by these colors, and fashion shows revolve around these colors.

Color increases brand recognition significantly. Whether it's the red of Target's bull's-eye, the green of John Deere's tractors or the all encompassing orange at Home Depot, color is an important packaging asset that is often underleveraged.

Does your brand own a color, or should it? Can that color be made a more vibrant part of your merchandising platform?

Use these examples to start your own packaging conversation and see if they may inspire a bit of propitious merchandising for your next product development sessions.

Look up, look out, look about! Go on your own packaging walkabout. You don't have to go all the way to Australia, though if you can, I'd highly recommend it!

Andrea Syverson (asyverson@ierpartners.com) is president of the consultancy IER Partners, and author of BrandAbout: A Seriously Playful Playbook for Passionate Brand-Builders and Merchants.