Target Private Label Brands: Old & New
After my post yesterday on the “Up & Up” brand from Target I took the opportunity to walk our local Super Target and see how far the brand had grown. In addition to that I wanted to verify some of the statements the commenter from Target had made about the new home brand. They wrote:
“Other products that you may see flying up on our shelves include our Target home brand, now named reDesign. reDesign is marked by its innovative turquoise packaging.”.
Target Private Label - Up & Up - Floor Graphic
Tomorrow I will feature a snapshot of this brand, and pose some questions about Targets brand strategy. Based on my store walk, the brand is certainly a part of the strategy but possibly not all.
The web is a buzz with conversation about this brand and comparison to the moves Walmart has made with the redesigned Great Value. I can certainly understand the comparison; both rely on a clean and simple white-based design to tell their brand story. That sounds like a great topic for a future post so I will simply say, Great Value is primarily a food brand and “Up & Up” is essentially everything else.
In the walk I found a lot of new “Up & Up” branded products in some cases sitting next to their Target branded cousin. Take a look a these new shots and let me know what you think.
Other Target Private Label posts from My private brand:
UP & UP with Target!
Target Abandons Bullseye for Up & Up
Target – Up & Up, the Next Chapter
Target: reStyles, reDecorates & reOrganizes.
i’m so happy I found your blog! I have always been fascinated with private label brands and packaging in stores and am thrilled you’ve created this blog! I haven’t noticed this Up&UP packaging yet at my local Target (in So Cal) but now I will definitely be on the lookout!
I think this is a huge improvement for Target from a communications, packaging design, awareness and brand equity perspective. The new up&up design has a much more contemporary look and feel; appealing to a more sophisticated consumer who understands that Private Brands are indeed quality offerings. I admire them for investing in their brand and taking ownership in a manner similar to National Brands. Did I spy some floor graphics in your photo above promoting the up&up brand? I don’t believe I’ve seen Target use floor graphics before to promote their own brands.
You are correct those are floor graphics, and I have not seen them use them before either
Switching away from the Target logo–easily one of the strongest in the business–is bold. The new packaging looks pretty good, I guess, but the placement of the photo images is surprisingly amateurish and sloppy.
Why is that dryer sheet off center and behind the arrow? What is that shirt doing so low and behind the arrow on the bottle of shampoo? Why is the shampoo represented by an empty shirt in the first place?
Scoot the trash bag over a bit. Scoot the baby over a bit.
Seriously. I would not buy the fabric sheets because seeing that one covered just a little bit by the arrow every time I do laundry would make me a little crazy.
Hate it, hate it, hate it! I just received a mailer of coupons for up and up and it looks like they’ve puked arrows. I had to turn to the backside of the coupons to clearly see and focus on the product. I just don’t think it’s that appealing
We just had a good laugh at the office here w/coupon mailer featuring the Up & Up line from Target. What a travesty. It’s unreadable and visually confusing. I saw the products in the store too and they disappear into the shelf because of the white.
I hate this redesign from a design standpoint and question the wisdom of completely abandoning the bulls eye from a brand identity perspective. A redesigned brand should never confuse the shopper – they should intuitively be able to understand that the look is an evolution.
It was about time for Target to have a big old ‘fail’. Oy!
@Lisa:
There’s no need to show any evolution, because they’ve switched branding strategies.
They’ve adopted a house of brands strategy for their private label goods. Instead of having all their private label brands bear the bulls eye, their private label brands all have distinctive branding that help them compete against other companies products in their respective categories. It’s not a branded house with everything bearing a bulls eye, but a house of brands. Archer Farms for consumables does not bear the bulls eye, neither does Embark for fitness, nor Room Essentials (RE) for bath/bedding/home organization, but they’re all Target private label brands. It’s a strategy that allows them to elevate their brands to parity in regards of competitive brands or in some cases it even makes Target’s private label brands seem more premium. I think for the most part, Target has been successful in their strategy in shifting consumer perception and confidence in their brands.
I think Up & Up is a huge improvement over the bulls eye branded products. Where the bulls eye branded goods felt like a low-end economy brand, Up & Up on the other hand feels contemporary and modern in design. They’ve employed Swiss style grids (2 column grid for the fabric softener), sans serif type, aligned left and ragged right. Very clean and modern.
I think having a great deal of white on the Up & Up products does not make a it hard to notice, because of the hit of color from the arrow. Also, if the rest of the competitive packaging on the shelf is a sea of color then having a little white as a rest for the eyes will draw your attention to the package.
The coupon mailer is arrow overkill. I agree with you on that. It was visual overload and I threw it away immediately. It made my eyes angry. Haha.
addendum:
Embark for travel and fitness.
Is there a list of manufacturers who make private brands?
For instance, who makes Meijers brand synthetic oil? Who makes Sears batteries?
There is no master list that I am aware of, most packages have some kind of customer service number on them, give it a call you may find the answer.
Thanks
Christopher