DRC and VCM Products LLC win GDUSA Packaging Design Awards - Grandpa Gus
GDUSA Package Design Awards is a celebration of the power of effective package design and related disciplines to advance the brand, tell the story, make the sale.
For six decades, GDUSA has sponsored design competitions that spotlight areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals. The GDUSA | American Package Design Awards™ was created to recognize the value of package design that is both attractive and strategic.
The annual competition includes more than 20 categories ranging from Food & Beverage to Beauty & Personal Care to Animals & Pets to Electronics & Computers to Health & Wellness as well as specialty categories such as Sustainable Design, Luxury Design and Private Label Design.
Reflecting the continuing importance of package design, more than 2,750 entries were received overall this year — one of the biggest totals ever despite these challenging times — and a highly selective Top Ten Percent have been selected as winners, and presented with a Certificate of Excellence, including DRC’s very own designs for the brand refresh of Grandpa Gus for VCM Products LLC.
Grandpa Gus - VCM Products
Challenge Grandpa Gus’s believes in doing things the old-fashioned way, but that doesn’t have to include outdated packaging. When parent company VCM Products wanted a refreshing new design for this line of all-natural pest control products, DRC was excited to give Grandpa Gus a facelift. The brand was highly successful in the online market and wanted to grow distribution in traditional retail. We needed to create improved on-shelf presence for Grandpa Gus’s while maintaining the brand equity and integrity that established consumers know and love.
Solution Through deep-dive category analysis and interactive character-building brand exercises with the client, we established a tone of voice and physical attributes for Grandpa Gus. We identified him as a familiar creator of the safe, simple home pest control solutions he created so many years ago. The brandmark design with his likeness reinforces the wisdom of Grandpa Gus handing down his highly effective and trusted home remedies to future generations. A strong design architecture with modern black and white palette unifies the brand, and distinct color-coding helps with product differentiation and shoppability in a busy category.
GDUSA Editor Gordon Kaye commented: “Package design is more critical than ever, and the depth and breadth of our annual competition reflects that. In this era in which audiences are fragmented, communication is cluttered, and brand loyalty is challenged, package design is uniquely positioned to advance the brand promise inform and persuade, and to forge an emotional connection at the moment of truth.”
A showcase of the winners will be published in print and online in late April.
View the official award here.