Green Giant stands taller in the packaging limelight

01 Jan 2001

While many consumers know the chant "ho, ho, ho" upon seeing Pillsbury's Jolly Green Giant, the 75-year-old icon seen on vegetable cans and other packages since 1925 might not be all that familiar to a new generation of consumers. To wake the rather sleepy giant from his somewhat lower-profile position of late and leverage his mighty brand equity, Pillsbury, Minneapolis, has revised packaging graphics and put him back in the limelight, depicting him on packages full-sized, standing in a lush valley. "For several years, the Green Giant has gotten smaller and most recently, was truncated from the chest up," notes Jack Heffern, vp of Lipson Alport Glass & Associates (LAGA), the graphics design firm that helped Pillsbury create the new packaging for the brand's can labels, frozen vegetable bags and paperboard cartons–all told about 78 stockkeeping units. "Otherwise, he has been out of the media for about 10 years, so there's a whole generation of consumers that aren't familiar with the giant." Flexible enough to adapt to both vertical and horizontal package formats as well as various packaging structures, the new design series presents the giant in all of his green glory more prominently, according to Pillsbury. Recognizing the important equities of the 75-year-old brand, Pillsbury decided now was the time to reacquaint consumers with the Green Giant in a larger-than-life format on its packaging, as a way to reinforce the brand message of the "finest, freshest vegetables grown in the Valley." LAGA redesigned the entire line of packages, which was phased into the marketplace nationally throughout 2000 as inventories required. Cartons of Green Giant vegetables show the giant standing from the top to the bottom of the valley. Bags present the full-scale green figure and the valley across the entire front panel, while can labels enlarge the photo vignette of the product with the giant to one side, standing tall and looking on, smiling. "Having a highly recognizable icon like the Jolly Green Giant brings back memories of childhood and wholesome family meals," comments Heffern. Further, research revealed that the mature brand has such a strong brand character, revising the graphics to maximize the giant's impact more closely ties the brand to its icon. First appearing on vegetable pack labels as a rather scruffy character back in 1925, the big, green guy was illustrated to appear happier in 1935, resembling more the look he has today, Pillsbury's Cheryl Magel tells PD. "We recently celebrated his 75th birthday. He is again appearing on our television ad commercials." The Green Giant brand holds the number one spot among branded frozen vegetables in market share, and leads meal starter and boxed sauce segments in the U.S.