Hmmm. Isn’t one of the points of shopping bags to advertise the store? I’m not sure that at a glance this tells you anything at all about where the shopper has been, especially not for people who aren’t ’in the know’ about the new packaging. It’s conceptually and visually elegant, and I’m glad to see the Optima-esque logo (blahhhh) replaced, but I’m not convinced it works as a re-brand.

I’m not sure that at a glance this tells you anything at all about where the shopper has been, especially not for people who aren’t ‘in the know’ about the new packaging.

But in the case of Sak’s isn’t it sort of safe to assume that people who see the bags are there enough that they do know? It seems to fit with the company’s decision to dump everything but the Saks Fifth Avenue stores and focus on selling luxury.

> Hmmm. Isn’t one of the points of shopping bags to advertise the store? I’m not sure that at a glance this tells you anything at all about where the shopper has been, especially not for people who aren’t ‘in the know’ about the new packaging.

You’re right. And yet, I remember seeing somewhere an example of a similar treatment of the logotype of the popular apéritif, St.Raphaël. The whole thing using bits and pieces of the logo, reassembled in a random order, looked like a jigsaw puzzle. I think it worked fine, though. The visual message was loud and clear; it screamed ’St.Rapha’!

i love it.

i think its conceptual and visual elegance/strength give it the potential to gain a high level of recognition. i don’t know, for
example, what burberry’s bags look like, but if i saw a bag with
the pattern, i would know what store it comes from.

it seems a (relatively) bold choice and i hope it’s successful.

With a company like Saks I think something like this works because they are depending upon everyone wanting to be a part of the so-called ’in’ crowd and anyone in the ’in’ crowd would know. It could, perhaps, also be likened to retail where they don’t use price tags, because as you know, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.

Seriously, I do like it. It seems very eighties which is oh so very aughties. I love black and white and I really am happy to see them using a script again.

The concept seems a bit hokey in reading, but seeing the final packaging...wow! It works wonderfully!

I think it’s a really interesting concept, although I do agree with Patty that it’s not instantly recognizable.

Well, yet, anyway. ;-)

The Canuck equivalent (Holt Renfrew) recently did the same thing — they went from cream-coloured bags with black serif type (hmm, can’t remember which: I should dig one out and post it) to electric patent pink with white lettering. I must say, I like the Saks remake better....