Industrial Design

The Reincarnation of Trash

By Delphine Hirasuna | May 5, 2015June 5, 2015

Coke_Caps

Finished drinking that Coke? Don’t throw away the empty bottle. Turn it into a pencil sharpener.

Coca-Cola knows that the downside of drinking lots of Coke is the litter that results from trashing the empties. Coke wants consumers to give the bottle a second life, either through recycling or repurposing. To promote this idea, Coke turned to ad agency Ogilvy & Mather China to come up with another use for the bottles. The agency developed a 2nd Lives kit that contains 16 modified screw-on caps that will turn empty bottles into bubble blowers, whistles, paint applicators, squirt guns, pencil sharpeners, baby rattles, hand weights, condiment dispensers, spray bottles, drums, and other functional tools and toys. To start, Coke gave away 40,000 2nd Lives kits to customers in Vietnam. Coke’s 2nd Lives initiative extends the bottle’s usefulness and, hopefully, the bottle will find its 3rd life in a plastics recycling plant.
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Illustration

Blistering Barnacles! It’s Tintin on Brussels Air!

By Delphine Hirasuna | May 4, 2015June 5, 2015

TinTin_1

Tintin, the adventure-loving boy reporter comic character created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé in 1929, is jetting around the world in style lately. Brussels Airlines has dedicated an entire Airbus A320 to Belgium’s most beloved ambassador. Tintin’s special livery is disguised as Professor Calculus’s famous shark submarine from the “Red Rackham’s Treasure” album, with Tintin and his dog, Snowy, shown flying the aircraft. The plane’s interior continues the cartoon theme with images of Tintin and Captain Haddock on the rear cabin wall.

The choice of Tintin as a promotional mascot is a natural for Brussels Airline. Tintin is renowned throughout the world and very Belgian. The Tintin livery project is collaboration between Brussels Airlines and Moulinsart, owners of the works of Hergé. The Tintin design will be featured for a year.

Explaining its campaign strategy, Brussels Airlines stated, “As a company, our goal is bring people together and to make travelling a pleasure. Tintin is the ideal travel companion to help us do this: Adventurous, ambitious, friendly, and naturally curious.”
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Packaging

Mezcal Buen Suceso’s Celebratory Brand Pattern

By Delphine Hirasuna | April 30, 2015June 22, 2015

Mezcal

Designed by Futura, a Mexican branding agency in Monterrey, the packaging for Mezcal Buen Suceso looks like a joyful shower of multi-colored confetti. A premium artisanal form of tequila, made from the heart of agave plants. Mezcal Buen Suceso is handcrafted in the Oaxacan village of San Juan del Rio. The vibrant hues of Oaxacan houses inspired the bright colors of Buen Suceso packaging. Rather than print the pattern on the exterior face of the mezcal bottle, Futura called out the pure crystalline quality of the drink by displaying the colorful geometric shapes through the clear liquid and transparent glass. The festive pattern is also presented on the inner lining of Buen Suceso boxes, company stationery, promotional materials, and a rain of tiny confetti dots on Buen Suceso’s website.
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Packaging

Tasteful Packaging Sells

By Delphine Hirasuna | April 24, 2015June 22, 2015

It might be considered tacky to give a bar of soap as a gift, but not if it is beautifully wrapped.

Established in New York more than 30 years ago, Michel Design Works found its niche merchandising tasteful gift products in lovely garden-themed designs and packaging. Scented bar and bubble bath soaps, body lotions, paper napkins, coasters and placemats, kitchen towels and potholders, and the like are delightfully decorated with antique botanical prints. In the case of the soap, the wrapping paper makes the product look like a luxury item, but is inexpensively priced to give as an appropriate hostess thank-you or as a shower party favor. The packaging for the soap even features the Michel Design Works’ elephant logo as a hot-wax seal. What makes this soap “gift-worthy” is not the actual bar of soap (however good it is); it’s the packaging. The packaging defines the brand.

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Marketing

Shocase Shows Off Marketing Talent

By Delphine Hirasuna | April 22, 2015April 24, 2015

Shocase is a new social network site with some of the intentions of LinkedIn, Pinterest and Facebook, but is targeted specifically to the 100+ million marketing professionals worldwide. It acts somewhat like the old Blackbook directories, but in a friendlier, more interactive and constantly updated way.

Shocase CEO Ron Young explains, “Members can present their work, skills and experience in the best light to the audience they value most; brands can find the right marketing professionals to suit their needs in any discipline. The site is designed to help build working relationships, and ultimately help members grow their business.”