Sardine is one of Portuguese's National Icons. You could easily spot a few sardine shops on the street. There is plenty of variety in the supermarket as well. All of them come in great packaging too.

1. O Mundo Fantástico das Conservas Portuguesas

I am utterly impressed by the overall image of Cirque de Sardine so much so that I have to write about O Mundo Fantástico das Conservas Portuguesas. O Mundo Fantástico das Conservas Portuguesas (translation: "The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines") The decoration of the shop was as if it's a circus. The colours used in The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines were bright, giving the energy of excitement and warmth. Based on colour psychology, the colour red, orange and yellow evoke energy and happiness. To further enhance the ambience of the shop, circus music was played in the shop. The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines staff all dressed up accordingly to the theme too! Wasn't that fun? The entire shop evoked a fun, energetic and happy vibe - this may, in turn, attract tourists who were in holiday mood.

Initially, I thought that it's a toy shop, but after observing the products, I realised that they were sardines and canned seafood. Look at these packaging; the design fitted the theme perfectly. It screamed surprise and happiness. The branding of the shop was done almost perfect.

If you look closely at the packaging, there is a year tagged to it. All the cans held the same content, but the staff would encourage you to purchase the packaging of the year that you were born. This is an excellent technique to collect leads! By doing this, The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines would have a gauge of the age group of their consumers. Or even potential customers, as they may be the receiver of the sardines. The packaging of the sardine could trigger conversation too (a.k.a word of mouth marketing). And, if The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines was smart enough, their system would also capture the gender of the consumer at the point of payment. With these leads, this could help The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines to know who their primary audience, and they could use this information to create relevant campaigns to target their current or potential customers.

Other than the packaging, The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines also prepared flyers about the shop and products in various languages to cater to the tourists. Indeed, there were a lot of tourists in the shop, which I believed were their primary target audience; they were captivated by the looks of the shop. This extra personal touch was endearing, even if the tourists were not buying anything, but they would leave the place with a good understanding of the sardine culture in Lisbon. The staff welcomed the tourists to look around the shop and even put in the effort to communicate with them even if they can't speak their languages. On top of this, at the point of payment, the cashier would ask if the item that you purchased is a gift for others, if yes, they would provide a bag to wrap the sardine! Although that's an unnecessary step, the extra mile is a nice touch. You can't deny the fact that they put in effort in their services too (a.k.a service marketing). The service standard reminded me of Japan.

The overall marketing of The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines’ physical shop was on point. It covered the branding, product design and service marketing. However, The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines' website and social media pages could be improved. The look and feel are there, but the online presence is not as strong as the one that I experienced in the physical shop. I think that if there is an improvement on their website and social media accounts, their overall campaign would be great and may create a greater reach.

These are some brief suggestions that I have:

• The content on The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines' website could be more fun. The placement of some of their content could be better too

• The Facebook page could have more stories.

• Lastly, for their Instagram page, they could inject some design elements or colour schemes that mimic their branding and make into a fun and lively gallery.

I think that The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines' marketing is excellent. The details were well-taken care off. Everyone, staff and consumers alike, embraced the excitement of the shop.

O Mundo Fantástico das Conservas Portuguesas

• Website: https://www.mundofantasticodasardinha.pt/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conserveiradeportugal/ 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conserveira_de_portugal/

2. Miss Can

Another shop that caught my attention was Miss Can. It's a small shop up in the slope, hidden in Alfama. The shop's bright colour caught my attention. It is a restaurant where you could simply enjoy sardine when you are there.

The bright colours of the shop matches with the packaging of their sardine. The sardine's packaging was inspired by mermaids, well, one can guess that it's due to the association with sardine!

The shop is very cosy. However, it did try to imitate the seaside vibe. You would have guessed by now, the theme of the shop is Ocean; due to the association of mermaids. There is a story. The walls, stone and wood planks represented the sand. One can see that the owner did pay attention to the details of the decoration in the shop too. I think the owner would like to bring family and friends over to this cosy place to chill.

This is yet another beautiful space to explore the packaging and overall look and feel of the brand. I did check out their website and facebook. I have to say their website design is better than O Mundo Fantástico das Conservas Portuguesas too. For their Facebook page, there are regular posts about the type of customers who visited their places.

Hence, if I am not wrong, the story that Miss Can wishes to communicate is that this is a place where you can gather with your loved ones and enjoy some good sardines. If the guests like the sardines, you can easily purchase them and share it with others.

Miss Can

• Website: http://www.miss-can.com/pt

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/misscanproducts/

You can believe that the people in Lisbon loves their sardines a lot! There are many of such boutiques available, and their packaging or marketing do not lose with one another. It may just be an ordinary can of sardine, but every owner has a story to tell.

x, Esther