ZAGREB DESIGN WEEK - DESIGN BEYOND THE PRODUCT

Christo Kaftandjiev

Address

Academy of Fine Arts, Ilica 85

Entry ticket

€5, pay at the entrance

Presentation

19 Sept Saturday

16.20—17.00
Address

Academy of Fine Arts, Ilica 85

Presentation

19 Sept Saturday

16.20—17.00
Entry ticket

€5, pay at the entrance

From Packaging to a Whole Sustainable Communication Ecosystem

Zagreb Design Week is one of those rare events where design stops being simply a professional discipline and becomes a space for encounters between ideas, cultures, technologies and people. For two weeks, the festival turns Zagreb into a major design platform, attracting more than 25,000 visitors and bringing together exhibitions, lectures, panels, workshops, designers and professionals from Croatia and abroad.

And this is precisely what makes the audience at Zagreb Design Week so interesting.

A good designer should not think only from the perspective of the product. The designer should also think from the perspective of the people who will see it, use it, buy it, share it and interpret it.

This is particularly important when we talk about packaging design.

Packaging is not simply the physical container of a product. It is a media carrier, a visual sign, part of the retail environment, a branding instrument and potentially the starting point for an entire system of marketing communications.

A well-designed package can continue to “speak” far beyond the retail shelf.

It can become the basis for advertising, PR, social media communication, content marketing, events, experiential marketing and even transmedia storytelling.

But there is another important perspective.

Design should also be considered as part of the sustainable development of the brand itself.

Sustainability is not limited to using environmentally friendly materials. It also involves the ability of design to create long-term value — for consumers, for the brand, for culture and for the entire communication ecosystem surrounding the product.

In this sense, packaging can evolve from a one-time physical object into a long-term communication asset.

And this brings us to one of the most interesting roles of the designer: anticipating not only what the product will look like, but what kinds of communications the product can generate.

This is also very much in the spirit of this year’s Zagreb Design Week, whose theme, “Friction,” explores the productive tension created by encounters between different ideas, perspectives and possibilities.

A well-designed package can communicate far beyond the retail shelf. It can generate advertising, PR, social media content, experiential marketing, events and even transmedia storytelling.

But there is an even broader challenge.

How can design create long-term value for the brand? How can it contribute to sustainable brand development? How can it create meanings that remain relevant across media, cultures and changing consumer expectations?

And how can Artificial Intelligence expand—not replace—the creative possibilities of designers?

These are some of the questions I will explore at Zagreb Design Week in my presentation: WINNING STRATEGIES IN PRODUCT AND PACKAGING DESIGN

Semiotic, Narrative, Archetypal and Communication Strategies in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

The seminar will look beyond the surface of design.

We will explore how semiotics can help designers understand and construct meanings; narrative strategies can transform products into stories; archetypes can create powerful and culturally resonant identities; and integrated marketing communications can turn packaging into the starting point of a much larger communication ecosystem.

We will also look at how AI can become a creative partner in this process—helping designers explore alternatives, visualize concepts, develop narratives and extend a design idea across different media and communication environments.

Most importantly, participants will gain a way of thinking that goes beyond:

“How should this product look?”

towards much more powerful questions:

What does it mean?

How will consumers interpret it?

What story can it tell?

What cultural codes does it activate?

How can it live across different media?

How can it generate an entire communication ecosystem around the brand?

And perhaps most importantly:

How can a designer create not just a beautiful object, but a powerful and sustainable brand meaning?

The following KFC × La Vieille Ferme case is a small but fascinating example of this approach:

two brands → two cultural codes → one syntax → a new meaning → a new experience → a potential transmedia universe.

This is where design, semiotics, narrative, marketing communications and AI-driven creativity begin to speak the same language.

FROM CHICKEN TO CHICKEN WINE: HOW TWO BRANDS CREATE A NEW COOPERATIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNICATIONS

What happens when an American fried-chicken brand meets a French wine brand?

At first sight, it looks like a funny—and perhaps slightly strange—co-branding idea.

But KFC’s collaboration with La Vieille Ferme is actually a fascinating example of cooperative marketing communications, semiotic creativity, integrated marketing communications and intercultural communication.

1. COOPERATIVE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: TWO BRANDS, ONE IDEA

The starting point is wonderfully simple.

La Vieille Ferme became known as “Chicken Wine” because of the chicken pictured on its label. KFC then found the most literal possible partner for this nickname: actual chicken. The two brands created Coq au Vin, a limited-edition wine bar in London where different KFC chicken products were paired with La Vieille Ferme wines.

But the real creative idea is not the two brands separately.

It is their syntax.

2. CREATIVE STRATEGY BASED ON SYNTAX: CHICKEN + WINE = A NEW SIGN

In semiotic terms, meaning is often produced not only by individual signs but by the way signs are combined.

CHICKEN + WINE = A NEW SIGN

KFC already means fried chicken.

La Vieille Ferme already means French wine.

But when the two signs are placed next to each other, something new emerges: Chicken Wine.

This is much more than conventional co-branding. The brands do not simply borrow each other’s audiences. They create a new semantic relationship.

3. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: WHEN THE MESSAGE BECOMES AN EXPERIENCE

And this leads to the second interesting dimension: Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).

The communication does not remain an advertisement.

It becomes a place, an event, a product experience and a social occasion.

Consumers can enter the communication literally.

They can eat the chicken, drink the wine and experience the concept in a physical environment.

The campaign therefore combines event communication with retail communication. The bar functions as a restaurant-retail environment in which the brand message becomes an experience rather than merely a message.

What happens when an American fried-chicken brand meets a French wine brand?

At first sight, it looks like a funny—and perhaps slightly strange—co-branding idea.

But KFC’s collaboration with La Vieille Ferme is actually a fascinating example of cooperative marketing communications, semiotic creativity, integrated marketing communications and intercultural communication.

1. COOPERATIVE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: TWO BRANDS, ONE IDEA

The starting point is wonderfully simple.

La Vieille Ferme became known as “Chicken Wine” because of the chicken pictured on its label. KFC then found the most literal possible partner for this nickname: actual chicken. The two brands created Coq au Vin, a limited-edition wine bar in London where different KFC chicken products were paired with La Vieille Ferme wines.

But the real creative idea is not the two brands separately.

It is their syntax.

2. CREATIVE STRATEGY BASED ON SYNTAX: CHICKEN + WINE = A NEW SIGN

In semiotic terms, meaning is often produced not only by individual signs but by the way signs are combined.

CHICKEN + WINE = A NEW SIGN

KFC already means fried chicken.

La Vieille Ferme already means French wine.

But when the two signs are placed next to each other, something new emerges: Chicken Wine.

This is much more than conventional co-branding. The brands do not simply borrow each other’s audiences. They create a new semantic relationship.

3. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: WHEN THE MESSAGE BECOMES AN EXPERIENCE

And this leads to the second interesting dimension: Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).

The communication does not remain an advertisement.

It becomes a place, an event, a product experience and a social occasion.

Consumers can enter the communication literally.

They can eat the chicken, drink the wine and experience the concept in a physical environment.

The campaign therefore combines event communication with retail communication. The bar functions as a restaurant-retail environment in which the brand message becomes an experience rather than merely a message.

What happens when an American fried-chicken brand meets a French wine brand?

At first sight, it looks like a funny—and perhaps slightly strange—co-branding idea.

But KFC’s collaboration with La Vieille Ferme is actually a fascinating example of cooperative marketing communications, semiotic creativity, integrated marketing communications and intercultural communication.

1. COOPERATIVE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: TWO BRANDS, ONE IDEA

The starting point is wonderfully simple.

La Vieille Ferme became known as “Chicken Wine” because of the chicken pictured on its label. KFC then found the most literal possible partner for this nickname: actual chicken. The two brands created Coq au Vin, a limited-edition wine bar in London where different KFC chicken products were paired with La Vieille Ferme wines.

But the real creative idea is not the two brands separately.

It is their syntax.

2. CREATIVE STRATEGY BASED ON SYNTAX: CHICKEN + WINE = A NEW SIGN

In semiotic terms, meaning is often produced not only by individual signs but by the way signs are combined.

CHICKEN + WINE = A NEW SIGN

KFC already means fried chicken.

La Vieille Ferme already means French wine.

But when the two signs are placed next to each other, something new emerges: Chicken Wine.

This is much more than conventional co-branding. The brands do not simply borrow each other’s audiences. They create a new semantic relationship.

3. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: WHEN THE MESSAGE BECOMES AN EXPERIENCE

And this leads to the second interesting dimension: Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).

The communication does not remain an advertisement.

It becomes a place, an event, a product experience and a social occasion.

Consumers can enter the communication literally.

They can eat the chicken, drink the wine and experience the concept in a physical environment.

The campaign therefore combines event communication with retail communication. The bar functions as a restaurant-retail environment in which the brand message becomes an experience rather than merely a message.

4. INTERCULTURAL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: AMERICAN CHICKEN MEETS FRENCH WINE

There is also a fascinating intercultural dimension.

KFC represents a powerful American food culture associated with fast food and fried chicken.

La Vieille Ferme brings another cultural code: French wine, gastronomy and culinary sophistication.

The campaign places these two cultural systems into a playful relationship.

It does not ask which culture is superior.

Instead, it creates a third cultural space where American fried chicken and French wine can coexist—and even become mutually meaningful.

This is particularly interesting because food is never simply food.

It is a cultural sign system.

Wine can signify sophistication, tradition and terroir.

Fried chicken can signify informality, accessibility and American popular culture.

Put them together and the tension between these meanings becomes part of the creative idea itself.

5. THE SEMIOTIC LESSON: CREATIVITY IS OFTEN ABOUT CONNECTING EXISTING MEANINGS

And that, for me, is the most interesting lesson.

Great marketing communication does not always create a new meaning from nothing.

Sometimes it discovers a latent relationship between existing meanings—and makes that relationship visible, tangible and desirable.

KFC + La Vieille Ferme is therefore not simply:

two brands + one campaign.

It is:

two signs → one syntax → a new meaning → a physical experience.

This is precisely where semiotics and creative marketing meet.

And perhaps this is why the campaign works so well:

Chicken was already there.

Wine was already there.

The creative sustainable genius was discovering that they could belong together.

6. FROM A NEW MEANING TO A NEW STORY: THE TRANSMEDIA POTENTIAL

But what if this idea went one step further?

If CHICKEN + WINE creates a new meaning, we can add another powerful sign to the equation:

CHICKEN + WINE + LOVE = A NEW NARRATIVE

The campaign could develop into a romantic transmedia story about a French woman and an American man who fall in love despite their cultural differences.

The story could begin with a series of print ads and commercials: a beautiful French woman and an American man sharing KFC chicken and La Vieille Ferme wine. At first, their cultural differences create playful tension. French gastronomy meets American fast food. Tradition meets popular culture. But gradually, food becomes the language through which they discover each other.

The ad campaign could then become branded entertainment: a series of short television or streaming episodes telling their developing love story.

The Meeting.

The First Dinner.

The Families.

The Cultural Conflict.

The Break-Up.

The Perfect Pairing.

Each episode would add another layer to the narrative, while social media could tell the story from the two protagonists’ different perspectives.

And the physical Coq au Vin experience could become the place where consumers literally enter the story.


6. FROM A NEW MEANING TO A NEW STORY: THE TRANSMEDIA POTENTIAL

But what if this idea went one step further?

If CHICKEN + WINE creates a new meaning, we can add another powerful sign to the equation:

CHICKEN + WINE + LOVE = A NEW NARRATIVE

The campaign could develop into a romantic transmedia story about a French woman and an American man who fall in love despite their cultural differences.

The story could begin with a series of print ads and commercials: a beautiful French woman and an American man sharing KFC chicken and La Vieille Ferme wine. At first, their cultural differences create playful tension. French gastronomy meets American fast food. Tradition meets popular culture. But gradually, food becomes the language through which they discover each other.

The ad campaign could then become branded entertainment: a series of short television or streaming episodes telling their developing love story.

The Meeting.

The First Dinner.

The Families.

The Cultural Conflict.

The Break-Up.

The Perfect Pairing.

Each episode would add another layer to the narrative, while social media could tell the story from the two protagonists’ different perspectives.

And the physical Coq au Vin experience could become the place where consumers literally enter the story.


6. FROM A NEW MEANING TO A NEW STORY: THE TRANSMEDIA POTENTIAL

But what if this idea went one step further?

If CHICKEN + WINE creates a new meaning, we can add another powerful sign to the equation:

CHICKEN + WINE + LOVE = A NEW NARRATIVE

The campaign could develop into a romantic transmedia story about a French woman and an American man who fall in love despite their cultural differences.

The story could begin with a series of print ads and commercials: a beautiful French woman and an American man sharing KFC chicken and La Vieille Ferme wine. At first, their cultural differences create playful tension. French gastronomy meets American fast food. Tradition meets popular culture. But gradually, food becomes the language through which they discover each other.

The ad campaign could then become branded entertainment: a series of short television or streaming episodes telling their developing love story.

The Meeting.

The First Dinner.

The Families.

The Cultural Conflict.

The Break-Up.

The Perfect Pairing.

Each episode would add another layer to the narrative, while social media could tell the story from the two protagonists’ different perspectives.

And the physical Coq au Vin experience could become the place where consumers literally enter the story.


This would transform the communication from a campaign into a transmedia brand universe:

advertising → entertainment → social media → retail → event → consumer experience.

The most interesting transformation, however, is semiotic.

The original campaign creates a new meaning by combining two signs:

KFC + La Vieille Ferme → CHICKEN WINE

The extended campaign could create a new narrative by adding a third sign:

CHICKEN + WINE + LOVE → A STORY

And the intercultural dimension becomes even stronger:

FRANCE + AMERICA → CULTURAL TENSION → LOVE

The consumer is no longer simply exposed to a brand message.

They become a viewer, follower, participant—and potentially even a co-creator of the story.

This is where semiotics, narrative, integrated marketing communications and transmedia storytelling can meet.

The original campaign discovers that chicken and wine can belong together.

The next campaign could discover something even more powerful:

Two cultures can fall in love over chicken and wine.

And perhaps that is the ultimate creative idea:

TWO BRANDS.

TWO CULTURES.

ONE LOVE STORY.

ONE NEW MEANING.

Article

20 August 2026

Author

Christo Kaftandjiev- professor on advertising, marketing communications and semiotics

ORGANISER
PARTNERS
SPONSORS
MEMBER OF
ORGANISER
PARTNERS
SPONSORS
MEMBER OF
ORGANISER
PARTNERS
SPONSORS
Član organizacije
ORGANISER
PARTNERS
SPONSORS
MEMBER OF