Retail Voodoo

10/09/2026

What should you expect from a great CPG branding firm?

Not more complexity.

More clarity.

The best CPG brand strategy work gives leadership and marketing teams a framework for making decisions:
1) Who is our core consumer?
2) What problem are we solving?
3) Why should our brand matter versus the alternatives?
4) What can we credibly own?
5) Where should we innovate and grow?
6) And just as importantly, what should we say no to?

At Voodoo Brands, we combine consumer research and insights, commercial strategy, brand strategy, packaging and creative design to help CPG brands answer those questions and turn the answers into action.

Because good brand strategy shouldn't end with a positioning statement.

It should make innovation more focused, research more consequential, packaging more effective and decisions easier to make.

Less noise. Clearer choices. Bolder growth.

Our latest Voodoo University article examines what established CPG brands can learn from challenger brands and why organizational speed may actually start with strategic clarity.

If you're evaluating a CPG branding agency or brand strategy firm because your team is struggling to align around innovation, positioning, packaging or growth, start here.

Read the full article: https://na2.hubs.ly/H08hjyB0

10/01/2026

When does measuring success start getting in the way of creating it?

Goodhart’s Law offers a warning for every growing brand: when a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure.

Followers rise. Impressions rise. Awareness rises. The dashboard looks great.
But are more consumers actually choosing you? Would they miss you if you disappeared?

In the latest Voodoo University article, David Lemley looks at the danger of confusing brand metrics with brand meaning, and why challenger brands can have an advantage when they focus on consumer choice, product experience, cultural relevance and word-of-mouth instead of simply optimizing the established scoreboard.

Sometimes growth isn’t about improving the metric.

It’s about changing the game.

Read the full article: https://na2.hubs.ly/H088v_q0

09/24/2026

We're proud to share that our Top Fox Snacks Packaging System has been recognized with a 2026 GDUSA Magazine American Package Design Award.

GDUSA's annual competition attracted more than 2,500 entries, with only the top 10% recognized.

For Top Fox, the challenge wasn't simply designing a package. It was creating a scalable brand system that could grow across categories while staying true to what makes the brand unique.

Congratulations to our client partners and to David Lemley, Jay Hilburn, Eric Wyttenbach, and Sam Cohen for their creative leadership in bringing this work to life.

If you're building a food, beverage, wellness, or CPG brand and wondering whether your packaging is helping you stand out on shelf, we'd love to talk.

Learn more about our approach to CPG packaging design, brand strategy, and innovation at Voodoo Brands. https://na2.hubs.ly/H07-KsM0

09/16/2026

We're excited to share that our work for Snoqualmie Falls Lodge has been recognized with a 2026 GDUSA American Package Design Award. This year's competition drew more than 2,500 entries, with only the top 10% recognized.

This project challenged us to reimagine a beloved Pacific Northwest breakfast brand while staying true to its heritage and lodge-inspired roots. The result was a packaging system designed to bring the warmth and experience of lodge culture into consumers' homes.

Great packaging isn't just decoration. It's one of the most powerful tools a food, beverage, wellness, or FMCG brand has to communicate value, build trust, and drive growth.

Thank you to the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge team for entrusting us with this special project. Y'all are a great team to work with, and we're thrilled to see the PNW version of breakfast continue it's path across the country.

Now, go get yourself some breakfast!

09/09/2026

For years, CPG brands have treated the shelf as the moment of truth.

The place where consumers decide.
The place where packaging wins or loses.
The place where price comparisons happen.

But we're increasingly seeing something different.

Consumers are arriving at shelf, Amazon, Instacart, and retailer PDPs with much of their decision already made.

They've searched. They've scrolled. They've asked AI. They've read reviews. They've compared options. They've decided whether a brand feels trustworthy, relevant, and worth the money.

Which raises an important question:
If preference is being built before purchase, is your brand strategy doing enough work before consumers ever see the package?

Great positioning isn't a tagline.
It's not a mission statement.
It's not a slide in a marketing deck.

It's a decision shortcut that helps consumers quickly understand:
✅ Why this brand?
✅ Why does it matter?
✅ Why should I trust it?
✅ Why is it worth paying for?

The brands that will win over the next few years won't necessarily be the biggest brands.

They'll be the clearest brands.

We've put together a new article exploring why the shelf is becoming less of a decision point and more of a confirmation point, along with five strategic moves CPG brands should make before year-end.

Read the full article here: https://na2.hubs.ly/H07JLdj0

How CPG brands can win the decision before the shopper enters the store

08/13/2026

What can CPG brands learn from insurance advertising?

More than you might think.

Progressive has Flo. GEICO has the Gecko. Allstate has Mayhem. Liberty Mutual has LiMu Emu. Farmers has the Hall of Claims.

These aren't just ads. They're long-term brand assets built to create something every brand wants: trust, recognition, and preference.

Consumers don't buy insurance because they love insurance. They buy confidence that someone will be there when they need them.

The same is true across food, beverage, wellness, and consumer products.

While many brands focus on product features and claims, the strongest brands build emotional connections that make them memorable and meaningful.

In a world where AI can summarize every ingredient list, benefit, and product claim in seconds, distinctive brand assets matter more than ever.

The brands that win aren't always the ones with the most features.

They're the ones consumers recognize, remember, and trust.

That's why we believe great brand strategy isn't just about what a product does. It's about creating ownable stories, assets, and experiences that build preference long before a shopper reaches the shelf.

Inspired by a recent article from Diana Fryc, Partner & Chief Growth Officer at Voodoo Brands, exploring what CPG brands can learn from the evolution of insurance advertising.

08/04/2026

Everyone knows the signals now.

The minimalist packaging. The "better-for-you" claims. The earthy colors. The carefully curated authenticity.

Walk through almost any grocery store and you'll see it.
Brands have spent years learning the signals customers respond to.

Then AI showed up and made those signals cheap, fast, and accessible to everyone.

So what happens when everyone can look credible?

That's the question David Lemley explores in this week's Substack after a chance conversation in a Seattle grocery store and an unexpected trip to the Seattle Art Fair.

His conclusion? When signals become cheap, judgment becomes priceless.

A thought-provoking read for founders, marketers, brand leaders, and anyone trying to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Read the full article and let us know:

What brand do you think stands out because it has genuine conviction, not just great marketing?

https://voodoobrands.substack.com/p/when-everyone-knows-the-signals

07/27/2026

What do World Cup jerseys have to do with packaging design?

More than you might think.

In his latest article, Voodoo Brands Creative Director Jay Hilburn explores an unexpected source of design inspiration: World Cup kits.

When you look beyond the sport, these jerseys become a fascinating study in brand building. They have to communicate culture, heritage, pride, performance, and identity—all within a single design system.

Jay's biggest observation?

As the world becomes more connected, the strongest brands aren't becoming more generic. They're becoming more authentic.

The best World Cup kits don't try to appeal to everyone. They embrace where they come from. They celebrate culture, history, and local identity. And consumers are responding.

We see the same dynamic happening in CPG.

The brands winning today aren't simply following trends. They're finding ways to express who they are with greater clarity, confidence, and authenticity.

At Voodoo Brands, we believe great design isn't about making something look different. It's about making something mean something.

That's the power of a strong design system. It creates consistency without sacrificing character. It helps brands evolve without losing themselves.

Jay's article is a timely reminder that the future doesn't belong to brands that look like everyone else.

It belongs to brands that know exactly who they are.

Read the full article in the link below: "What World Cup Kits Reveal About Global Design Language and the Future of FMCG Branding"

Image Rights: Adidas News: Kit Release - 5 November 2025

07/21/2026

What if the most valuable asset on your balance sheet isn't your product… but the way people recognize it?

The recent Van Leeuwen ruling wasn't just a trademark case.
It was a reminder that brands don't win because consumers remember what they said.

They win because consumers remember what they see.

Think about:
⚡ Liquid Death's tall black cans
🥛 Oatly's irreverent typography
🐟 Fishwife's collectible illustrated tins
🫒 Graza's bright green squeeze bottles

The strongest brands don't just occupy shelf space.
They occupy cognitive space.

As AI makes content, design, and marketing more abundant than ever, something unexpected is happening:

Distinctiveness is becoming more valuable.

Not because consumers have more attention.

Because they have less.

The brands that thrive in the next decade won't necessarily spend the most on advertising. They'll build the strongest memory systems—the colors, shapes, symbols, and packaging assets that consumers recognize before they even read the logo.

That's not design.

That's competitive advantage.

In our latest Substack, we explore why the future brand wars won't be fought through impressions and media budgets.

They'll be fought in memory.

👇 Read the full article in the comments.

07/14/2026

Protein isn't dead. But the way most brands talk about it might be.

For years, "high protein" was enough.

It helped products stand out.

It justified premium pricing.

It gave consumers a clear reason to choose.

Today? Not so much.

Consumers haven't stopped caring about protein. They've simply started expecting it.

And that's what happens when a differentiator becomes table stakes.

We're seeing it across CPG:
> Protein
> Probiotics
> Hydration
> Adaptogens
> Clean ingredients

They're all important. They're just harder to build a brand around on their own.

The brands creating meaningful growth aren't winning by adding another gram, another claim, or another SKU.

They're winning by solving a bigger problem.

Instead of asking:
"How do we sell more protein?"

They're asking:
"How do we make this part of someone's day easier, better, simpler, or more enjoyable?"

That's a very different conversation.

And it's where the next wave of category leaders will emerge.

Because consumers don't buy ingredients.
- They buy outcomes.
- They buy habits.
- They buy routines.
- They buy solutions that fit naturally into their lives.

The biggest opportunities rarely come from optimizing what's already working.

They come from recognizing when the game has changed.
What category do you think is next to move from differentiator to expectation?

We'd love to hear your take.