GSK on board as ex-H&M boss Davies launches new agency

The agency has promised to put the financial returns of good packaging design at the new venture’s heart after its founders became frustrated with the view of good pack design as a “nice-to-have”.

Consumer goods and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has been confirmed as the agency’s first client.

Davies has teamed up with H&M’s former business development director Natalie Alexander and Chris Holland, formerly of Kraft Foods, to found the London-based agency.

ButterflyCannon is promising to demonstrate clear ROI on packaging design rather than focusing on what it termed the “big idea” approach.

Alexander told Packaging News that the three partners in the business had become “frustrated that packaging design is an undervalued and underused communication and commercial tool for the FMCG brand world”.

“Investing in it is still considered to be a nice-to-have rather than a necessary, because as an industry we have failed to consistently give our clients evidence to support its importance and returns,” she said.

To back up the approach, the agency is to make objective studies such as eye-tracking a key part of its approach, and has even developed a pay-for-performance model for clients.

Davies left H&M in October after 14 years at the Marlow-based agency, including five as managing director. He was replaced by former Brand Union head John Mathers.

Between them, the three partners in the business have worked for some of the biggest names in FMCG including Kraft, Unilever, Nestlé, Molson Coors, Absolut, Procter & Gamble and L’Oréal.

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