Brand Name Advantage

The key to a product’s success lay in the national advertising of a memorable brand name, attractive packaging, and a trademark that could differentiate one product from others on the market. For example, printed labels on pottery jars enhanced the appeal of Keiller’s Dundee marmalades, whereas a collection of “Choice Mixed Sugar Plums” from Stephen F. Whitman became the first packaged confection in a trademarked box. See chocolates, boxed. A change in packaging could also reposition a product. While other grocers were filling cheap containers, P. J. Towle filled a miniature, log-cabin-shaped tin with his blended table syrup. Customers willingly paid extra for the novelty.