Our
client came into our lecture, where he did a presentation about the
company, Edward Bulmer: Pots of Paints Ltd, and answered some of our
questions.
He started by
explaining that Edward Bulmer was an interior design company and their
paint specialised in restoring big buildings and being used on
stately homes. Their paints are made from purely natural ingredients
and they currently have fifty colours, including white.
Their
target audience is the upper-class, which became even more clear
during the presentation, as the client kept referring back to the
high-quality that his audience have come to expect.
They
listed Farrow and Ball as their main competitor, as well as Little
Greene, Rendona paint and Ecos Organic Paint.
He
said that the main positive factors of the Edward Bulmer company were
its historic aspect, its health considerations to humans, how it is sympathetic to
older buildings and its colour. He later went on to say that colour
was the main reason why people bought their paint, that 75% of people used this company because of its colour.
They
have two types of paint: oil-based paint and solvent-based paint. The
solvent-based paint is currently transported in plastic containers,
while the oil-based paint is transported in metal. The client made a
point of saying that you cannot put water-based paint in a metal
container, as it will rust.
At
the moment, their paint is transported with an outer bucket, with the
inner container nestled inside. This is so that if the paint is
thrown around, the actual container is more protected and if there are spills, the outer packaging helps. However, the client
did say that this was a waste of resources and that they would like
something more efficient. He also said that they used to put a
leaflet in with the packaging, which explained how the outer bucket
could be reused. Yet people merely threw the leaflets into the skip,
so they no longer do this.
It
costs the client money when there is a spillage of their paint, even
if it is not their fault, so it would be good to create packaging
that is incredibly secure and is able to withstand being thrown
around by carriers. The transportation itself can be quite rough, so
this would be good to keep in mind when it comes to designing the
packaging. The client mentioned that Little Greene's paints packaging
were the most reliable that they knew of. Little Greene have a thick
cardboard inserts that sit inside the paint tin and this seems to
work well.
It
was also mentioned that a handle can be very useful when it comes to
transportation. If the paint can be picked up easily, then there is
less chance of the carrier handling it recklessly.
The
client was pleased with the current rebrand of their logo and so
asked for that to stay. He said that he would like the typeface and
colouring to also remain, though he added that this was not
set in stone.
He
mentioned that the label for their packaging would cover a large
number of their products, so perhaps this could be something to keep
in mind when thinking that it has to match tins of a number of
different sizes. The client suggested the idea of having transparent
areas on the label, so that you are able to see the shiny metal of
the tin through the label, and I thought that sounded like an interesting idea,
if, in fact, I was to use metal for the container.
Then
it came to the questions. Someone asked if they would ever consider
using powder paint, but the client replied no. He said that now
people expect paints to be ready for them to use immediately.
He
mentioned that their target audience usually can afford to employ an
interior designer, are retired and more than 50% of them use a
decorator, rather than applying the paints themselves.
The
packaging of Innocent Smoothies was mentioned, and though the client
said he liked their design, he said that he thought humour was
perhaps not the way to go with this company, as the target audience
might not get it. He mentioned that the company Earthborn have taken
this type of approach, though this was not what they themselves were looking
for.
The
fact that their paint is eco-friendly is not a driving force on their
labels. The client said that they have, “Moved away from a folky,
eco-look to something more traditional.” And he was pleased with this. He said that it was
premium paint with a supporting eco message. The
environmentally-friendly aspect of their paint was a plus, though
most of their customers bought their paint for its colour.
When
asked if he had considered using bio-plastics for his packaging, the
client replied that he not thought of that, though he seemed intrigued
by the idea.
Someone
asked if their paint would ever appear in shops and the client
replied that it would, though these would be interior design shops,
high-end and independent. These paints would not appear in places
like Homebase.
The
next question regarded whether the client would like to see their
paint in a clear container. However, the client said no to this, as
their paint did not look particularly attractive before it was mixed
up.
We were then able to take a look at the companies previous packaging and take a look at the paint itself.
Sample pots:
Previous packaging:
