Branding and Packaging Design Based On the Local Wisdom to Increase Competitiveness of the Community Enterprises in Udon Thani Province in Thailand.

Abstract

According to the COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand started around April 2021, the community enterprises in Na Yung District, Udon Thani Province, which relied upon distributing products to travelers were impacted. This also subsequently affected producers' income. Therefore, the study aimed (1) to design branding and packaging and (2) to conduct the market testing on product branding and packaging of the community enterprises in Na Yung District, Udon Thani Province, in order to add value to products of the community enterprises as well as increase their competitiveness by emphasizing local prominence and uniqueness which were suitable for marketing channels under the situation of COVID-19 transmission. It was assumed that the developed branding and packaging could entail higher consumer purchase that helped the community enterprises increase income and mitigate the impact from the COVID-19 outbreak situation. The sample in the study included (1) 10 stakeholders for analyzing needs towards branding and packaging using focus group discussion and (2) 100 consumers of the community enterprises for market testing on product branding and packaging using a questionnaire as a research instrument. The result elucidated that (1) for branding, the community enterprises and consumers needed outstanding and unique branding which contained the name of the community enterprise, represented the product itself and conveyed local identity and wisdom. For packaging, the community enterprises and consumers needed the packaging that could represent the community identity in terms of culture and wisdom, convey naturalness, increase value of the product, protect the product as well as inform product information, properties and maintenance with a high level of overall satisfaction evaluated by the experts. Additionally, (2) the market testing revealed a high level of overall satisfaction towards the developed product branding and packaging of the community enterprises.