Bulletproof - Packaging Workshop

Today, Vini and Luke from Bulletproof came down to Falmouth Uni to talk about Bulletproof, the kind of work they get up to, their clients and to present their workshop brief.

The brief was centred round the British pound and what you can actually buy in Poundlound for it. In pairs, we were given random products which, were previously brought in Poundland itself, and we had to find as many ways to add value to it. The brief stated:

"This could be by simply increasing the desirability or changing the USP of the product entirely. We have deliberately chosen products that will test your lateral thinking - so be prepared to think hard.

I worked with Callum (who I also studied abroad with in Germany in 2014 on Erasmus). We had never worked before together on a collaborative and this was quite exciting for both of us. Callum approached me saying, 

"We haven't worked together, I'm very lateral and you're strategic, aware of time allowance and always bring it back to the brief. I think we'd work together well"

We were give Caffeine, a shampoo which simulates hair growth - targeted towards to average middle-aged man with hair loss and a receding hair line. This product is relatively standard in most supermarkets and beauty stores and the fact that it has reached Poundland is evident that is is now a norm and generally widely used.

To change this, we decided to look outwards at the product. We came up with four routes:

1) FOR THE BALDIES

2) FOR THE BEARDIES

3) HAIR = HEAT

4) SHAMPOO AS A CLEANING PRODUCT

These routes were then explored for roughly about 10 minutes and we came up with a range of concepts in each, however as this was a day project (10.30-15.00) of 4.5 hours we had to think laterally very quickly. Route two, we believed had more substance about it and it challenged existing competitors....mainly because there aren't any.

We changed the target audience of our original product from middle-aged men to the 21 year old guy whose identity is just being built. He is also the life and soul at a party but not the loud one, he's got many friends and definitely has a close circle of best ones. He is independent and really wants to be seen as a real man - this is really important to him. We kind of based the user profile around our friend Marcus (yes, he has a beard and yes he knows).

Our inspiration:

What we presented to the other teams and Vini and Luke, was a totally new product but more importantly it changes and challenges category conventions. This, Callum and both feel is very important. Nowadays there is an abundance of products, old and new which clutter the shelf which say and do the same thing. This product is for beard growth, something that is very relevant and current in today's society.

The brand name is:

and the tagline is:

Who says you can't be Hill Billy?

which plays on the fact that not only is it challenging category conventions but also challenging the man himself into standing up and doing he wants. Maybe, he is not allowed to grow a beard at work (not literally of course...but you know what we mean)

We worked on the ideas and strategy behind this for the majority of the workshop and the mock-up of the packaging was squeezed into 25 mins. 

Callum and I presented and are both happy with the idea and packaging design we have come up with. We really want to work further on the packaging for another day together with further extension on the promotional and advertising implications. This was a very quick project and we are aware it's not at its highest standard at the moment. We already know who we might photograph....Marcus.......

Thanks Vini & Luke for coming down to Falmouth. We all really enjoyed the workshop and being thrown into the unknown very quickly with products we have never worked with before in such a fast paced environment.