How do you position a commodity?

Hitachi had been in the hard drive business for years, first as an OEM supplier and then as a nascent consumer brand with a line of internal drives. As they began to expand into the external drive market they faced a challenge: how to stand out in an already-crowded segment.

With the product designed but without a clear positioning strategy in place, Hitachi asked us to develop a packaging program for the line. The problem was tricky. Retailer shelves were dominated by competitors, each staking out a position. Speed, reliability, security, portability, aesthetics: everybody had their angle on the market.

After researching the target consumer and mapping competitor positioning, we recommended owning the "ease of use" space and leveraging the strength of the Hitachi brand. Packaging was designed to communicate the simplicity of the product and easy set-up. Package design elements were also included to link the external drives visually to the more technical internal drives merchandised nearby so that the new line could benefit from the credibility of strong category brand presence.

© 2008 Satellite Design