Rebranding of 70 domestic cleaning products, made of plants and mineral ingredients in 20 countries with a limited budget. Target Make the product attractive for the eco-minded and try to seduce a new crowd. Client Ecover Design with Alex Scholing and Indie (S-W-H)

We removed as much ink as possible to show the company’s integrity and concern with the environment. Ecover’s green credentials generated revenues of $93 million in 2007 and a pretax profit of $15 million, without spending much on traditional marketing. The new packaging was attractive enough to leave it on the sink, and to draw the attention of people in the supermarkets to (believe and) buy it.

For the American market, Ecover asked us to add photography and three unique selling points to attract ’dark green’ as well as ‘light green’ consumers. We decided to stick with clear water bubbles so to keep the pack as clean as possible. Since most competitors like to use earthy colors for their brands, we decided to give the USP’s a bright multi-colored background. Photography The Motor and Alex Scholing

To show that ecological soap is clean, honest and gentle to the skin, we used pictures of the sea and the land, white shells, children playing with laundry and animals cleaning themselves in a pool of mud. The bright striping was a nice experiment in which ink is injected into the top of the bottles. It would deliver all sorts of different striping. We decided to keep the bottles completely transparant, because most commercial brands already use bright colours.

We added fluorescent colour coded caps, even though the client begged us for earthly colours. That worked especially well in the ecological stores, where almost every brand seems to use the elements as their source of inspiration.

A clear website about super power and eco-surfactants.

The clear bottles work well in houses built from natural materials with stainless steel sinks, wooden or concrete floors and lots of white: exactly the interior trend of the years 2000-2010.

We worked on this entire project with advertising agency S-W-H/Indie. Lode Schaeffer and Erik Wünsch created an award winning low budget campaign for the UK.

Ecover is the official sponsor of the World Wildlife Fund’s 2011 Blue Mile Event that aims to raise vital funds to help protect the world’s marine and freshwater environments.

In 2011 Ecover asked branding agency Interbrand to help boost global sales. The pack at the right is the result, showing a pile of shirts, graphic swirl, eco symbol, washing basket and pink banner for stopping power. Are those additions making it a more competitive brand? In 2002, when we (re)designed the packaging, we tried to convince consumers of Ecover’s integrity. Will consumers still get the eco-message with the generic re-re-design? Click here for an excellent article by Alef de Jong on Ecover, never forget about your ideals!