Cory FrancerA few weeks ago, I was at the grocery store, and as is sometimes the case, a flash of color popped up in my peripheral vision and I had to stop to check out an eye-catching label.
The design was truly unlike anything I had ever seen with the list of ingredients called out front and center with color coded stripes corresponding to the healthy ingredients included in the product.
This label belonged to Otamot Organic Essential Sauce, and once I had the product in my hand, I was sold. As soon as I got home with the new sauce, I immediately wanted to learn more about this brand. Otamot starts with a dad who took things into his own hands to help his daughter eat some healthier foods.
As the story goes, Andrew Suzuka, founder of Otamot, was cooking dinner for his daughter Evelyn. But instead of just making a regular pizza sauce that night, he added in a whole slew of vegetables to make the sauce a bit healthier. Evelyn was a big fan of the new creation, and thus Otamot, which of course is Tomato spelled backwards, was born.
Otamot brings the key differentiator front and center in its packaging to let consumers know that there’s far more than just tomato in this sauce, and how the design takes a show, rather than tell approach, making the ingredients part of the visual appeal, rather than just stating that it’s a healthy product.
I noticed on the brand’s website that there’s an option to take this label even further, by personalizing it.
So, I had to know how Otamot was doing this personalized printing, and I reached out to the brand and heard back from Andrew Suzuka himself, who explained that one of the first capital expenditures Otamot conducted was in a custom label printer. In addition to consumers being able to purchase their own customized label, Suzuka explained that Otamot can identify people the brand wants to provide a personalized label for. For example, he says that for a UFC fighter, Otamot printed a label that read “Future Champ.” This athlete then posted the label on social media, giving the brand some great exposure to all of his followers.
As we’ve seen since the introduction of digital printing to the label and packaging space, finding ways to provide consumers a personalized, one-to-one experience with a brand can be challenging. In a brick and mortar environment of course, it’s impossible to know exactly who will be buying any given product. But with the rise of e-commerce, brands can collect that individual data and tailor a packaging experience designed for that specific consumer. And Otamot has done an amazing job of investing in its own printing capabilities to connect with the people who will be enjoying their creative take on tomato sauce.
This video originally appeared on Packaging Impressions. If you’ve seen an innovative package, contact Cory Francer at cfrancer@napco.com.
