Well-known fact 2: We are living in an age of media revolution, which has diluted the power of traditional advertising, as well as the costs and relevance of huge advertising campaigns.

Well-known fact 3: In a world of shorter attention spans for consumers with too many choices, it is mold-breaking, forward-thinking design that meets evolving human needs and stands out.

All of these things add up to a very compelling argument: The power of design can be directly related to the commercial effectiveness of a product or service, and the overall success of the brand. Simply put, good design sells—and by investing in it, can yield big profits.

Now, more than ever before, placing emphasis on design can be seen as an investment in a healthy brand and business future. It is design that is the single most tangible interface between anything man-made and the people who use it. Therefore, in a commercial context, how well it is designed in both function and aesthetics will affect the bottom line and business fortunes.

Of course, this is not new. If we think of car design, Henry Ford and Harley Earl had both of these dimensions figured out ages ago. To this day, you can see that design is still the key factor in automotive industry success—be it through styling or responding to modern practical issues such as the quest for clean-energy engines.

Beyond the fashion and luxury sectors, there are other beacons in big-brand business where we can see the power of design value embraced throughout an organization—like Method, Apple and B&O. But mega-successful retailers like Target in the U.S. or Waitrose in the U.K. also have a tangible appreciation of the power of design running throughout their packaging and in-store environmental design, to name just two of their many well-thought-through touch points.

But I dare to say it has largely been forgotten in the corporate mass-brand world—where design budgets or design management has been relegated in importance or distanced from the chairmen of companies who publicly talk about building brand value. These types of companies are defined by a short-term year-on-year budgeting cycle—and the associated incremental growth targets—as well as cost-cutting cycles.

It is interesting that our firm, Pearlfisher, has many projects come about as result of private-equity groups recognizing the power of design to transform brands. These groups are looking longer-term in order to realize their investments. Here, design is seen as a crucial component of success, and business leaders are commissioning an essential skill—not a service—as the foundation for growth.

So let’s look at some quantifiable case histories, each of which has had data supplied and verified by clients with whom we have worked:

Green & Black’s
Green & Black’s—a brand of organic chocolate with a bittersweet taste—was launched in 1991 by a husband-and-wife team. By 2002, sales had reached £4.5 million (Euro 6.7 million), but the brand could not seem to progress beyond 1 percent of U.K. market share. Supermarkets viewed it as a limited offering whose primary selling point was its organic status. Our brief, on an initial budget of £50,000 ($100,000), was to reposition Green & Black’s brand from worthy organic to luxury premium chocolate—this would enable Green & Black’s to operate in the emerging premium-sector market and to begin expansion into the U.S. Sales at the end of 2005 had risen to £30 million and exceeded £40 million ($80 million) in 2006. That’s a staggering growth of 789 percent! Green & Black’s is now the fastest-growing confectionery brand in the U.K. (with annual growth of 61 percent in a sector growing at a rate of 1.8 percent) and now commands a 7.4 percent share in the market. Cadbury Schweppes, which had been a 5 percent shareholder in the business since 2002, wholly acquired the Green & Black’s brand in May 2005 for around £25 million ($50 million). The brand’s global presence has been extended in new markets, and it’s getting a strong foothold in the U.S.—primarily through distribution in natural-food markets like Wholefoods.

Umi
Waitrose is famously trusted for its food expertise. It’s the very essence of the brand’s positioning, enabling it to become the quality leader among supermarkets. Umi was launched in 2004 as a flagship range in Waitrose’s premium toiletry and skincare business. Key objectives for the design were to communicate Waitrose’s expertise in toiletries and extend the brand’s reputation beyond food. The commercial objective was to achieve a 20 percent increase in sales on the toiletry range that Umi replaced. In a relatively static market, Umi achieved a 48 percent increase in sales. Along with the sales growth, Umi also achieved a higher price premium with considerable volume increases on certain lines. For example, Umi face cream rose 25 percent in price with a 575 percent increase in volume sales, while Umi bodywash rose 7 percent, with 206 percent in volume sales, and Umi body soufflé went up 11 percent with a volume sales increase of 120 percent.

The launch of Umi was also a major contributor in Waitrose’s increased share of key personal care markets—share growth of 16 percent in bath and shower (retail-own brand average 3 percent), 19 percent share growth in haircare (retail-own brand average 8 percent) and 25 percent share growth in haircare (retail-own brand average 13 percent).

Along with marketplace success, the internal recognition of Umi also benefited, culminating in Umi being stocked in Waitrose’s sister department store John Lewis in March 2005. The decision to stock Umi was based solely on product and design rather than any family ties.

Little Dish
Little Dish set out to become the first brand to offer fresh, natural chilled meals and food to toddlers. Pearlfisher was asked to create a name, brand identity and strategy; the Little Dish brand identity has been designed to appeal equally to children and their parents. Its storybook style features engaging characters that entertain and educate kids about the benefits of a healthy diet. Little Dish launched in April 2006 and by the end of year one, total brand sales had reached £900,000 ($1,800,000). The biggest retailer’s initial forecast for the first five weeks of sales sold out within hours, and by the end of that five weeks sales had exceeded those estimates by 800 percent. Little Dish was listed by Waitrose within a month of launch, Tesco within three months and Sainsbury’s within six months. At Waitrose, year-on-year sales growth of 157 percent was achieved by May 2007. The company now employs a staff of seven at its London headquarters, and sales for year two are forecast at £4 million ($8 million).

(Oops) Wine
(Oops) Wine offers fresh category-busting design that flies in the face of the convention of “critter” wine labels. Specifically, (Oops) presents its story of the accidental rediscovery of lost Carmenere grapes as a newspaper wrapped around the bottle. During its first four weeks in a major U.S. retail chain, it held the number one and two best-selling SKUs in the new-wines category. In July 2007—its first full year in distribution—it began rolling out nationally as a result of outperforming other nationally recognized brands in major test markets.

Validating Success
What the U.S. design industry needs is to be able to argue effectively the case for … effectiveness. And to engage big business as part of the process to appreciate the added value that good design brings.

In the U.K., the Design Business Association holds the only awards program where designers and clients in many categories collaborate to enter designs with client-verified data to prove the impact the design has had and the size of the return on investment. It is up to the designer to put the case forward. The resulting awards are a great asset when talking to prospective clients about the added value design brings, and the track record a winner has.

In the U.S., we need to see something similar as a first step so we can engage clients and organizations in a new type of awareness-building—a proven system where commercial results can be celebrated as well as the aesthetic. Perhaps the AIGA should collaborate with the DBA?

The problem is that for many organizations it is difficult to separate out the effectiveness of design from other brand-building activity. But this is the point of the awards; if you can’t prove it, don’t enter. Those that do and go on to win prove the bigger case for a return on investment every year, and each year it gets a higher profile within both the industry and government. And we are not just seeing design consultancies that are consistently successful in these awards, but also brand owners. These companies truly understand the power of design in the marketplace and will invest on a long-term basis.

An awards program isn’t the only solution, but it is one. Simply tracking progress over time with open-minded clients and then communicating results is another. As an industry, we all have a responsibility and vested interest in presenting the case of design effectiveness and demonstrating its real value to our clients. We are a business that uses design to solve problems, so what other suggestions are there? I’d like to hear them or read about them.

Regardless of all this, it is the consumer who ultimately has the power. When we think of brands like Mini—which counters the trend for bigger cars—or Target—which takes a worldly approach to its design—or Pom Wonderful—which has such a unique pack shape—it is design in every case that is intelligently clothing a powerful thought and presenting it in such a way to create irresistible, must-have desire. In a well-run business, consumer reaction to this kind of design translates directly into a healthy bottom line.