Smarties Evolution - Packaging

In the late eighties Nestle bought Rowntree. I suppose, as a transitional package, Nestle didn't want to put their logo on the front. (The same thing happened with the Kit Kat wrappers.) In the scanned boxes below you will see various changes they made over the years, from their Nestle logo design to even the grams they offered, taking more and more away. Scaries came out a six years ago and they have been offering it every Halloween time since. The bottom one is the most recent as of Fall 2018 and is made up of 3 separate compartments, each with their own opening.

Kit Kat Evolution

Rowntree's chocolate covered wafer bar was first introduced in England in 1935 and was renamed Kit Kat in 1937. In the 1940's Kit Kat was exported and sold in Canada.

From 1945-1947 the original red wrapper was replaced by blue due to the shortage of milk.

I love the Rowntree logo on this 10cent wrapper and I seem to enjoy the brand design a lot more here, than I did when it was reintroduced by Nestle after they bought Rowntree in 1988

It's interesting how certain design elements are are phased in or out. The chocolate bar for example or slight lettering changes. You can also see here the number of grams the bar weighs fluctuating and then it's really super to see the evolution of Nestle's continual logo change.

Real LIVE Wacky Packages

1974 art for ScreamSicle - From the book Wacky Packages New New New published in 2010 by Abrams  

I grew up buying Wacky Packages trading card gum stickers and I putting them all over my notebooks and dresser. ( I wish I didn't) but I still love them to this day. There have been hundreds of them made over the years and there has even been a resurgence of interest in them with the Topps company putting out collections and books and new stickers!

So, I almost couldn't believe it when I saw Nestle's daringly humorous move to temporarily change their best selling candy bar packaging for a novelty halloween theme. These are real live Wacky Packages!

I must say that the Kit Kat design here is rather lame. The Kat is pretty cool but none of it says Halloween like the other three do. Below are some of the other candy bar related wacky package stickers Topps put out. But like I said there are hundreds of these little designed paintings of all sorts of products. In another post I'll put up some more of my favorites.

 1974

 1974

 1979

 1979

2006

Aero Evolution

From Here To There

Wow, what a big change from this top left wrapper of 1987 to the top right wrapper 0f 2010. It seems like night and day, but if you look at all the changes that took place in between it mostly seems like a natural evolution and a  comment on the times in design. As well,  we will see the continual one-up-man-ship and how the effect of steroids in cows milk that affect the young designers today as if they are on acid. (just kidding) Read on. 

   

UPC bar codes began widespread use in the beginning 1980's.

52-50-066 This is an Aero Chocolate Bar wrapper from around 1987. This same design had been used since the 1960's with virtually no changes. Aero was originally made by Rowntree (since 1935) but merged with Mackintosh in 1969. The bars were previously 36 grams.

L5-50-115  In 1987 Rowntree Macintosh went public and in 1988 was bought by Nestle with an offering value at 4.55 billion dollars.  We now see the Nestle logo up front on the wrapper. In the following wrappers watch how the logo changes. 

If you look at the top of the wrapper there is a 7 digit number. The last three numbers seem to change with every slight change in design or alteration of the printed wrapper. I have a Caramilk wrapper where there is a single increment number difference and the only foreseable difference was a switch in the order that a couple of the ingredients appeared in.  So since the time of the wrapper shown above this one, there has been 49 changes to the wrapper. I am only showing a sampling of major changes in the design appearance of the wrapper.

Oh yeah, the Aero lettering design had finally changed after all those years and Nestle cut a gram of chocolate out.

Is there a difference between Milk Chocolate and Pure Milk Chocolate? Look above at the four wrappers shown together.

L5-50-129  Here we go with the Bubbles in the phrase Pure Bubbly Milk Chocolate.

L5-50-177  Oooo, splashly , wow, really in the big design mode now, what could be better than this? Can you sense sarcasm here. Why could'nt they just go on to the next wrapper? It seems that in product design one could only make little tiny adjustments to the design for fear of loosing customer familiarity or making it seem too much like a different product all together. So, I guess it's bubble steps....um, I mean, baby steps.

Notice the newer Nestle logo which has been continually evolving as well, and..... Aero is Big on Bubbles.

L5-50-242   I just love how the bubbles have now exploded throughout the design. I absolutely love this one. Why the pause after Big........? Again a new Nestle logo.

L5-50-242  (Why is this number the same as previous wrapper?) There are many changes again. The bubble slogan has changed and the Nestle logo has changed again! This wrapper from March 2010

Huge overhaul of Aero lettering style. (April 2010) I was not a fan at first, but it's growing on me. The number at the top is a whole new ball game. The slogan 'Have you felt the bubbles melt' has been shoved to the sidelines. Will it be totally gone next time around?