Conveying ‘premium’ in private label

Safeway is one of the largest grocery outlets in the US. The retailer, based in California, takes pride in offering its shoppers thousands of quality products under more than 15 different store brands. The retailer’s signature private label, Safeway SELECT©, offers an array of products in various categories including beverages, snacks, sauces and frozen goods.

Bill Luna, director, packaging operations, Safeway, says, ‘We give our shoppers the best taste, quality and culinary experience that we can, at a reasonable price. Our goal is to offer products as good as or better than the national brand leader in each category where you find the Safeway SELECT brand.

‘It’s my job to insure that our carefully crafted foods become the hero of the packaging. Shoppers used to hide store brand products at the bottom of their cart. Not anymore.’

Anthem is part of the brand development group within SGK, a global brand development, deployment and delivery company that includes Schawk in its brand deployment group. Anthem recently won five awards for its Safeway SELECT vinegar, sparkling soda and chocolate bar products packaging designs in three leading competitions:

•           2013 Vertex Awards in International Retail Brand Design Competition

•           2014 GDUSA American Package Design Awards

•           2014 HOW International Design Awards for packaging

Tom Holownia, MD for Anthem San Francisco and vice president for brand development in the Americas, says, ‘We are fortunate to work with a visionary client like Safeway that understands the power of design and the role packaging has in creating brand desirability. Packaging doesn’t just contain the brand, it is the brand.’