Don Watt: Trailblazer of Store Brand Design
By Peter Berlinski

"We have a chance to make a retailer brand every bit as compelling as the best national brands." -Don Watt

Watt’s early work for Loblaws was trailblazing in terms of store brand retailing. He was among the first designers to envision a system of branding the entire store including shelf fixtures, product packaging that went on shelves, aisle signage, department signage, interior design, exterior signage, advertising and promotional messages. In essence, he created a total communications system to deliver a unified store brand message to customers.

The Genius of Watt

In the 1994 book, The Edible Man, about Dave Nichol and his creation of President’s Choice, author Anne Kingston has this to say about Watt:

The word most commonly used to define Don Watt is genius. People who know him use it casually, the way they might say of someone else, “He’s a nice guy.” It was Watt who made Loblaw house brand packaging–both for No Name and President’s Choice–something people talked about. From the outset Watt and Nichol worked to imbue private-label products with real style, with up-market cachet.

They rejected the typical house brands packaging format that featured a photograph against a dark background. Instead, for President’s Choice, Watt chose to use blue, red, and black sans serif type against a glossy white background, which allowed the President’s Choice trademark and the product name to dominate the package.

The President’s Choice logo itself was Nichol’s handwriting, representing his personal endorsement. The effect was simple yet bold. A stroke of genius everyone said again.”

National Brand Approach

Early design work was for PC Cola.

As Watt tells it, he drew upon his experience in design work for national brand manufacturers to develop his store brand design strategy for Loblaws. Says Watt:

“I went to the Loblaw Company in Canada and told them that I believe you can transfer national brand, consumer product logic to the retail brand and turn the retail brand into something more than just a poor person’s alternative to the national brand that they can’t afford to buy.

“We have a chance to make a retailer brand every bit as compelling as the best national brands.
“We proved that at Loblaws by creating the No Name brand first. We put bright yellow labels on the package and Loblaws put good products into the package.

“The president of the company went on TV and promoted the products with our help.

“If a retailer brand is going to be good, it has to have good quality product in the container, a good brand and a good package. But that’s not enough, because national brands spend billions of dollars communicating with customers in their homes. So we have to do two things. We have to do some mass media advertising and we have to use the weekly flyer–instead of promoting the tactical price item–to talk about changing consumer attitude and thinking the way a television commercial would. We have to apply the TV-way of thinking about the brand into print and let the retailer use his normal media print budget. And if he can afford it, go on television to support new product launches.

Recent design work includes label graphics for the Irrestibles premium food line from Metro Inc. food stores, based in Montreal, QC.

“Then, in the store, we have to tell the story of why the retailer brand is better–something the national brands can’t do in-store. Here is where we have to shine. We have to turn the store on and make it communicate our store brand message to our customers.

“Now, we have great product, great packaging, and dominant signage in the store that talks about it. When we put a new store brand item on the shelves at Loblaws, the back end of every aisle had a 44-inch by 60-inch poster which talked about the new product and told customers where to look for it in the aisle.

“Then we took television into the store and put the president of the company on TV to talk about his new product.

“So, the package and signage system is part of the total communication for the retailer’s brand.”

Packaging Design

On the topic of package design, says Watt:

“My packaging is always geared to be informational. It really has to make the product look better and ideally as much as space will allow, make some key point of the story on the face and elaborate on that story on the back.

“In addition to that, in-store signage is pivotal to building the retail brand’s credibility.”

PL Columnist

Private Label magazine is fortunate to have Don Watt as a regular contributing columnist to this publication. Here are some store brand insights that Watt has written and contributed to this magazine:

• PL September-October 2005–In a column on The Premium Retail Brand,Watt writes:
  “When the Loblaw turnaround began in the 70s, continuing through the 80s into the growth of the 90s, we were able to integrate the expressions of the company’s strategy into every aspect of the business. Architecture, merchandising, packaging, and communications were focused into one style. Beyond tactical print, we introduced the president as spokesman on television, both in home and in store. The message: helping consumers solve problems to improve their lives.”
• PL May-June 2006–In a column on Design Trends, Watt writes:
  “Today, both premium and national brand parity retail brands need to move away from strong line looks, which produce commodity personalities, in favor of category-specific sub-branding.
  Advocates of making each item look like national brands (with standalone names) have not understood the need for an advertisable platform. Brand/Sub-brand/Variety should solve everyone’s problem, positioning a two-tier retail brand program capable of meeting the national brands head-on, in all categories.”

Watt’s Milestones

Watt worked with Wal-Mart to help create graphic look for Great Value line.

Don Watt is currently chairman and CEO, DW+Partners Inc., Toronto, ON. a strategic retail services group, driven by partner-led expertise to bring a new level of integration to retail thinking.

As a master of retail strategy solutions for achieving retailer profitability, Watt has amassed an impeccable track record. He founded and, until June 2003, led Watt International, one of the largest strategic planning design firms in North America, where he is best known for providing innovative retail solutions for clients such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Safeway, Loblaws, Ahold, Do-It-Best Corp, Nestle, Kraft and Cott Corporation.

His accomplishments are far-reaching and include development of the brand stores and No Name and President’s Choice product programs for Loblaws; refinement of the Wal-Mart brand and design of its Super Center retail model, and its Sam’s Choice, Great Value and Equate retail brand programs. He created the Home Depot brand and prototype store concept.

Early design credits include his design being chosen as the basis of the Canadian Flag and contributing to the design of the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67. Watt was recognized by the Harvard Business School for developing a firm that created unconventional solutions to classic profit-improvement problems, using strategic design to effect change in consumer response.

DW+Partners, his latest venture, is a firm dedicated to helping companies improve their brands and company performance. The firm invests in, manages and enhances assets in the area of branding, product development and packaging programs, retail planning and design, communications and innovative new technologies in support of the retail experience.

Watt gives freely of his time in support of worthy causes. He is former chair of the Clarke Foundation, now Centre for Mental Health and Addictions, where he developed “The Courage to Come Back” annual fund-raising event, and the campaign to acquire P.E.T. technology, building a dedicated facility for it.

In 2006, Watt was inducted into Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends under the category of Enablers–representing those who provide excellent brand-building expertise.