Next time you feel there’s no way to differentiate the style of your product, here’s an exercise to generate a few ideas, or at least a few extra lbs around the waist.

Get Influenced:

Wrapped, a Hersey’s “bar” and Nestle’s Crunch seem to have the same shape.

Inside, however, they are completely different animals…

A Hershey’s bar is functional: it’s already divided for you. It’s easy to share, but it’s also easy to save half for later. It’s like 12 little bars in one.

The Nestle Crunch is a pure branding exercise. It would be messy to share, but you’ll see the name from across the room.

Which better serves the maker? Controlling for taste, which gets consumed faster?

Shift your Brain into Gear:

Invent a chocolate brand and design 20 chocolate bars for it the size and shape of the Hersey/Nestles. Focus only on texture. Make people remember the brand name, and make it easy to share. The faster it’s eaten, the more you sell.

Skills Built:

impact with limited space, design differentiation, branding, texture, attention to detail, consumables,  one-color design

Extra tip:

Creating ad banners? Take a walk down the candy aisle for inspiration. For the last 100 years candy co.’s have sold tiny ads with a limited impression in a very crowded marketplace - MySpace of the real world.