There are some schools of thought that say there should be more than the "4P's" of marketing. One of the candidates nominated for this would be "packaging," a close relative of "product" and an invaluable yet somewhat immeasurable component of branding. For three consumer packaged goods veterans, having spent most of their time with Pepsico, Awake founders Adam Deremo, Matt Schnarr and Dan Tzotzis knew a thing or two about all of these concepts. They had been part of developing and managing several products within the packaged food category. When they identified the missing element in the market-the energy boost of caffeine, wrapped cleverly in chocolate, targeting overworked, underrested people the name Awake came quickly and naturally. The packaging for their innovative product, however, was a rather iterative and costly endeavour. Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer Dan Tzotzis remembers clearly the costly mistake, which might have proved costlier had they not eaten the costs of their mistake. "We actually developed a prototype that was completely different to the current branding we have," he begins. "It played far more on the energy side of things than on the flavour side of things. It had Awake Energy Chocolate all over it. We spent money on the film, developed finished goods around it, made moulds to carry the branding on the chocolate. It was north of fifty thousand dollars that we spent on all of this stuff." In the early stages of product development entrepreneurs do not typically have $50 000 to spend, never mind throw away, but that's exactly what the Awake partners did upon realizing the packaging did not speak to the brand's messaging. This realization, Tzotzis recalls, came from two different directions, one more subtle than the other. "The product was not moving off shelves the way we had expected it to," he recalls. "Subsequent research suggested that the emphasis on energy may have been drawing mild interest from males, but little to no interest from females." Down but not out on their initial endeavour, around the time the product was about to launch the founders met with a potential strategic investor, to whom they presented samples wrapped inside the newly minted packaging. "I love the 174 taste. I love the product that you've created," the investor assessed but, he noted, the packaging was awful. Ouch. Humbled by a very disappointing market test, and further demoralized by the tough-loving words of a would-be investor, Tzotzis and company took the investor's advice and turned to a new branding agency to bring the packaging and all other associated branding elements to life. The product inside the wrapping remained identical, and the name was changed slightly, from Awake Energy Chocolate to Awake Caffeinated Chocolate. But the change in wardrobe essentially turned around the fate of Awake. "The formula remained the same. The only thing that changed was the way the brand looked. And that made all the difference in the world." Once the Awake crew moved past flushing a large sum of money away, and had become laser focussed on branding elements deemed "more approachable," as Tzotzis put it, the product turned the corner almost instantly. "From the moment that we hit our first college campus, it was like they immediately understood what we were trying to do, with little explanation and a lot of excitement around the brand." The guerrilla marketing tactics, arriving on campuses in decal-covered school buses to give away samples, was followed by placement in campus stores for sale the truest test of brand awareness. "The moment we put the product into those stores, the movement was beyond our wildest dreams." The power of packaging is an important takeaway for this chapter. While many companies are content to treat it as an afterthought, particularly in this era of minimal viable product (MVP) thinking, there is enough science surrounding cognitive connections with symbols, words, and colours to support spending considerable time and effort on packaging. In Awake's case, the costly lesson learned in getting the packaging right paid off. Make a list of other consumer package goods companies that you feel have done a good job of distinguishing themselves while also representing their brands in a consistent and effective way. Explain the packaging elements you feel are particularly appealing. Awake's brand mascot, an owl named Nevil, is omnipresent in virtually every visible branding element created by Awake. Describe the different ways in which this symbol effectively communicates the brand's message.