“Elegant Potatoes?” What does “deluxe” really mean?
My wife and I were watching some tv this weekend, and paused it using our DVR to grab something from the kitchen. The screen that paused showed this image from a “Country Crock - Deluxe Scalloped Potatoes” tv commercial.
I was struck that the “deluxe” type was larger and much more visually prominent than the actual product name/definition. Why would the “deluxe” message be more important for consumers to see than the brand, contents of the package or some product attribute? What has “deluxe” on American packaging come to mean? When we look at the definition of the word in a dictionary, it’s not really clear how this fits…. “luxurious,” “elegant” or “expensive” potatoes?
The definition:
deluxe
Pronunciation: \di-ˈləks, dē- also -ˈluks, -ˈlüks\
Function: adjective
Etymology: French de luxe, literally, of luxury
Date: 1819
notably luxurious, elegant, or expensive
From an information design perspective, the brand and the product contents/brand should be the most prominent components of the package. I.e. “Country Crock” and “Scalloped Potatoes” along with product visuals (compellingly styled and inviting) and quality seals, in very roughly that order.
I’m sure the folks at Country Crock have a reason for this based on their target consumers, but I can’t quite see it. I’m a marketer and consumer, but as I’m not a product packaging expert, I can’t really grasp the thinking here. Any thoughts?
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Comments
After a quick bit of digging around online, I was able to confirm my initial hypothesis, i.e. that Country Crock Deluxe is in fact a product line or sub-brand of Country Crock. You can buy CC Deluxe mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, and even rice.
When I put on my consumer hat and go down to the local supermarket looking for packaged scalloped potatoes, my eye will be drawn first to the “Deluxe” monicker, then (perhaps) to the appetizing food styling on the package, and then finally to the overall Country Crock brand. My inner semioticist, on the other hand, will be crawling the walls.
This trend in packaging brings up a pet peeve of mine. There are plenty of other brands - Lipton Sidekicks being a prime example - who pay so much attention to differentiating their product lines from the competition that the products themselves are difficult to differentiate. I’ve gone to the supermarket looking for Creamy Bacon Carbonara and come home with Parmesan Pesto too many times for my, er, taste.
Well, as you point out, “deluxe” is not exactly something you’d normally associate with “potato”. So if I wanted to get the idea across that my potatoes are *really special*, I could do worse than to call them “deluxe”.
As to the prominence of “deluxe”, it may be the first thing that the marketer wants in the consumers mind. Starting with “scalloped potatoes” might make differentiation more of an uphill battle. And differentiation seems to me to be the goal of this information design.