If The Corporate Image Calls For A Facelift

Three companies find that paying attention to how they look can boost sales as well as egos.

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When Dick Williams took over as vice-president at the Gardenia Cheese Co. in South Gate, Calif., two years ago, he had a number of urgent projects to undertake. Near the top of his list was the task of improving the company's image in the marketplace. The image was, at best, confused.

Gardenia, founded in 1946, makes mozzarella, ricotta, and string cheese that it distributes mainly to delicatessens and restaurants. As the company prospered and grew into larger production and distribution facilities, package designs and the company logotype, or symbol, periodically changed. At one point, when the company moved from the southern California community of Gardena, even the company name underwent a slight variation, from Gardena to Gardenia. To back up the new name, the two owners adopted the gardenia flower as a corporate symbol. "From that point on," says Glen: Lohstreter, president, "the original design grew like Topsy," as the owners experimented on the design with different typefaces and shades of color.

By the time Williams joined the company in 1980, there were, he estimates, at least 15 different designs still in use for name cards, sales materials, and even product packages. All this made the company image confusing while competition was growing keener.

Too many companies pay scant attention to how their corporate symbol is perceived in the marketplace, and they worry even less about such things as graphic design, that is, the layout and color scheme of letterheads, brochures, and product packaging. Instead, they lump corporate design in the same category as interior decorating -- an unnecessary expense until profits are so substantial that there is money to spend on making a good appearance. Few executives seriously connect graphic design with effective marketing.

Gardenia's problem was most acute because the company was then expanding its consumer market by stocking its products in the refrigerated cheese sections of supermarkets. Williams suspected, and confirmed with the help of Tauber & Tauber, a Palos Verdes, Calif., market research firm, that Gardenia's products were not clearly recognized by shoppers.

Williams went after professional help to deal with the problem and got bids from three design firms before choosing Harte Yamashita & Forest, a Los Angeles firm with expertise in packaged goods. He requested a completely new look for all company graphics, including logo, packaging, shipping labels, order forms, name cards, and even the decals for delivery trucks.

Gardenia, like its competitors, had always used the colors red and green. Most of the companies were started by Italian cheesemakers, who had proudly adopted the colors of their native country -- and whose graphics all ended up looking alike. The professional designers changed the name on the package from Gardenia Cheese Co. Inc. to simply Gardenia -- in large, easy-to-read type -- and chose the color orange to give a feeling of freshness.

Williams, who recently left Gardenia to run his own company, warns that a company can have a slight and temporary drop in sales while customers become acquainted with the "new" product. Still, Gardenia is confident that the new design for the packages and all the supporting graphics will pay off.

In 1978, Gardenia became a subsidiary of Unigate PLC of London, but, says Lohstreter, the change in ownership had no impact on the company's marketing or corporate identity program. Lohstreter estimates that 1982 sales will total about $25 million.

The national mania for physical fitness and recreation has been a boon for some sporting goods manufacturers. It has also made competition tougher than ever.

As a manufacturer of sporting goods General Sportcraft Co., of Bergenfield N.J., with annual sales of about $20 million, decided to review the way its products looked and were presented to customers. "The corporate design dated back about 15 years," says Kenneth J. Edelson president of the privately held company. "What looked great back then needed a facelift. We were looking for something clear and crisp that would stand apart from competitors on retail shelves."

General Sportcraft called in Selame Design of Newton Lower Falls, Mass., after Edelson had seen work the firm had done for a manufacturer of jams and jellies in Roseland, N.J. A roster of previous clients also impressed Edelson: Stop & Shop, Eastman Kodak, Siemens, and Amoco Oil.

Selame first evaluated the way Sportcraft looked to the public and to its retailers. Research confirmed that the line lacked identity and unity. For example, the company's name is written as one word -- Sportcraft -- but on packaging, Sport was positioned above Craft. Packaging colors also varied widely because no one had ever established precisely which shades and hues to use. Carton designs were cluttered and dated.

Selame designed a clean white package with red and blue stripes, "colors that connote sports and patriotism," says Edelson. The name of the product is in large, black, bold type, for quick and strong identification on store shelves. In some instances, an open window in the carton permits a piece of the item, such as a dart board, badminton racquet, bocce ball, or horseshoes, to protrude. The customer can touch the product without opening a sealed package.

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