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We touched on the power of insight to help dramatically improve packaging in the last one of this series, powered by JKR, when I talked about Scholl’s Party Feet. This one goes into this issue in a bit more detail, and looks at a great story of the Molton Brown brand.

Molton Brown sell fancy toiletries, and the brand was built initially through a clever distribution strategy of selling to upmarket hotels. That’s where you may have seen the brand. They now also sell in posh shops such as Selfridge’s, and are the partner of BA’s travel spa at Heathrow.

This case concerns the Xmas gift sets that the brand sells. These used to be pretty standard sets of different products (shampoo, shower gel etc.) sold in boring boxes or see-through bags. What JKR and Molton Brown found out through talking both to the end user (mainly women) and the main buyer (men) was that these Xmas packs were a bit of a second-class gift. A "distress" purchase when you were short of ideas. The brand was good, as were the individual products. But the presentation let them down. The other key insight, which is oh so true, is that most men are bloody lazy when buying gifts.

Building on these insights, the team transformed the special gift packs by designing a beautiful range of boxes that any man would be proud to offer. But wait, here’s the real flash of brilliance. Not only did the buyer of this new pack not need to box up the individual products. By removing the external branding and adding a fancy ribbon, he didn’t even need to wrap it up! Genius. That’s this Xmas sorted.

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The business benefits of this move were huge. First, they sold a boat load more. Second, they were able to charge a much bigger premium price. Third, stores loved the packs and so built huge displays of them, boosting both brand visibility and sales.

So, another example of deep insight being used as the catalyst for creative brilliance, executed with boldness and confidence, and delivering growth for the business.