LIGHTING THE WAY TO A BETTER
Consumer Experience

by Jennifer Acevedo

For the first time in nearly a decade, Osram Sylvania takes a good look at its brand packaging.

The story: The automotive aftermarket category is a particularly competitive place, with store shelves packed with a dizzying array of options. Osram Sylvania’s packaging had not seen a significant graphics change in nearly a decade, and with a new television campaign imminent, the time had arrived to examine the brand’s packaging.
The goal: “See Farther. See Wider. See Better.” is the tagline of the recently launched campaign illustrating the safety benefits of the brand’s SilverStar ULTRA high performance halogen headlights. “Our goal was to redesign Sylvania packaging to mirror the premium traits of each of our aftermarket products,” explains Denise Champagne, marketing manager.
The challenge: Consumers are faced with an overwhelming amount of options, features and technology in the aftermarket category. This redesign had to be more than aesthetic; new packaging would have to educate consumers and help them find the products best suited to their needs.
The solution: A number of variables factored into the new packaging appearance and construction that would be applied across hundreds of Sylvania products.
“The clean, crisp designs form an identity for each of our products that will easily alert anyone purchasing a Sylvania light about its outstanding features,” says Champagne. “These new graphics will help educate consumers on the fact that they have choices when it comes to automotive lighting products.”
In keeping with the “see farther, wider, better” tagline, colorful icons that clearly illustrate key performance attributes have been added to the front and back panels of the package. Icons denote levels of brightness, down-road sight distances and increased peripheral vision.
Osram Sylvania is committed to developing environmentally friendly products and packaging through its Global Care initiative. This sentiment is echoed in the revamped packaging, which has been designed to reduce the amount of plastic used. Products are encased in contoured, tighter blister cocoons rather than loose-fitting plastic windows. The cocoons reduce the packaging’s cubic volume by up to 78 percent, saving on shipping volume and fuel.
Jennifer Acevedo, is the Editor-in-Chief of brandpackaging magazine. Contact Jennifer at acevedoj@bnpmedia.com.