Projects to do

A new flavour has to be different enough to try and familiar enough to trust, and many ideas fail on one of those two counts.

Chips brands use colour to signal flavour before anyone reads a word, and a pack that breaks the code can confuse a hurried shopper.

A tea ad has thirty seconds to make one particular person feel it was made for them, and many ads try to speak to everyone.

A shopper gives a biscuit pack only a second or two, so the design has to say what is inside and why to pick it.

Brands often design for the city shopper and then wonder why the same product behaves differently in a village shop.

Everyday brands create a steady stream of wrappers and bottles, and few shoppers notice which brand or pack type adds the most.

Festive gifting is a short, busy season, and a hamper that looks ordinary gets lost among dozens of similar boxes.

A small snack brand posts at random and gets few views, while a simple weekly rhythm would keep people coming back.

Brands pay for posters and hanging banners in shops, but many are faded, cluttered or hidden behind goods.

Words like natural, wholesome and light sound reassuring but can mean very different things, and shoppers rarely check.

A familiar family biscuit can feel like a childhood snack to a student, even though the product is perfectly good.

A brand that has no clear personality ends up sounding like every other tube on the shelf.

Cold drink loyalty often feels like a matter of taste, but habit, availability and who is offering the drink matter as much.

Soaps look alike in the bath, so the promise printed on the wrapper and in ads is often the only difference a shopper sees.

First-time buyers of a new skincare brand hesitate because nobody has answered their small worries about use, ingredients and returns.

Many shoppers buy small packs even when the big pack costs less per use, and brands have to understand why.

Shop owners decide shelf positions by habit, and brands quietly compete for the eye-level spots that sell the most.

A new brand has little money for ads, so it must give shopkeepers a good reason to stock it and keep it visible.

Quick-delivery apps and neighbourhood shops stock different mixes of products, and brands must decide where each pack belongs.

Demand for some drinks swings with the weather and festivals, and a brand that stocks and advertises at the wrong time loses sales.

A small brand cannot afford big stars, so it must pick small creators wisely and tell them clearly what it wants.

A brand may look strong in one kind of shop and nearly vanish in another, and the shelf is where that difference shows.

Shoppers hear health words in ads all the time, but it is hard to tell which claims are specific and which are only a feeling.

Toothpastes sit in different positions in shoppers' minds, and a brand that is vague about its place gets squeezed.