Disguising your products to sell more in a recession

Recently I was in the grocery store picking up the usual food items and found myself spending over 5 minutes in the dairy aisle looking for the Kraft Colby & Jack shredded cheese I always use to melt over my Triscuits.  I scanned the entire aisle of cheeses and simply couldn't find what I was looking for.

It was then that I realized that the packaging had changed.  It looked just like the store's "generic" brand.  I thought this was a little odd and "out of character" for a big name brand like Kraft, but really didnt give it much thought.

Then I was further on down the store, looking to pick up a 12 pack bottle of Pepsi when I had the same trouble - I was visually scanning the aisle filled with soda and couldn't locate the familiar Pepsi packaging I was so used to.  I realized that Pepsi had also changed it's packaging!  Now we know that Pepsi has evolved their packaging and branding over the years, but it was always instantly recognizable.  I studied the packaging and realized - it was similar to what Kraft had done.  The packaging was very simplistic - and again looked "generic" in it's appearance.


I didn't give it much thought, other than just thinking it was strange that Pepsi would go this route.  It wasn't until I was sitting at my desk thinking about the challenges of marketing in this economy when it hit me - maybe this was a planned product marketing strategy.  Maybe Kraft and Pepsi were being clever.

We are conditioned to recognize brands - the big names spend tons of money so that at a glance we know what their products look like and engender a sort of trust in the product.  However, at the same time, so-called generic brands have established themselves a less costly alternatives to the big brands.  Have the big brands caught onto this?  Have they decided that in a down economy they must disguise themselves?

I personally think that they are playing a bit of a psychology game.  A majority of the population is looking for ways to cut costs and are more value conscious.  I think that brands like Pepsi and Kraft are pulling a quick one and making their products look more like the generic brands in an attempt to subconsciously make shoppers think they are getting more for less.  I think in some way, when consumers are going through the mechanics of picking up the foods we are used to, may be getting the satisfaction of buying the brands they are used to, but in some ways tying these products to the savings they would realize from purchasing generic products.

How does this translate to software?  I haven't seen any software companies change their retail boxes to look "generic."  In fact, I'm not really sure there is such a thing as "generic" brand software.  But it did get me thinking - what can we as software marketers do to pull a fast one and subconsciously get our customers to think that they are paying less or getting more value?

It's something to think about as we continue through the financially challenging times.  What do you think, would using visual cues in your marketing campaigns or software packaging to engender a "value" approach help you sell more software?