Woolworths South Africa has begun rolling out its Essentials range of supermarket items, the first phase of a complete packaging overhaul being undertaken across all lines within the retailer’s portfolio of house brands. The mammoth task is being overseen by celebrated designer Vince Frost, recently appointed as the company’s Creative Director.

The initial stage of the Essentials range packaging project takes in more than 150 lines including dairy, produce, meat and poultry, cereals, beverages, dry goods, biscuits, bakery goods, frozen foods, household cleaning, laundry and personal care products. Woolworths Essentials are high-quality, basic staples set at entry price points and according to Frost, the strategy behind the work is not only about contemporisation, but ensuring the packaging communicates the quality which defines the very essence of the Woolworths brand too.

“Woolworths has never done anything like this before,” said Frost. “But the sheer scale of this packaging redesign project, which will ultimately encompass more than 5000 items, makes Woolworths a global leader in this field.”

Managing the execution of the Essentials range packaging is Quan Payne, a Design Director seconded from the Frost* studio in Sydney. He is working alongside the team based at the Frost designed in-house studio, at Woolworths HQ in Cape Town and a number of established local agencies.

Payne explains the design ethos driving the development of the news packs in the Essentials range. “We’re really aiming to underline Woolworths’ philosophy of ‘the difference’, by embedding good, thoughtful design into the brand through packaging.”

“There is a unique idea behind every single product and that is a real innovation in house brand packaging design. Each idea expresses the function or benefit of that individual product.”

Whilst generic or house brand lines are often devoid of any personality, the new Woolworths Essentials range uses design to inject a sense of energy and life. Simple, bold typography and the use of elements like photography and graphic shapes, aim to speak to the consumer in an engaging, intelligent way. Colour is also used in category-leading ways, to differentiate variants within the lines.

The new Essentials range is appearing on Woolworths shelves over the coming months, whilst Frost and his team embark of the next phase of the packaging redesign work.

A refreshed logo and packaging were developed that communicated the key sales messages and created a raw aesthetic that was instantly embraced by their customers. The company experienced a 50% sales increase in the first week of the relaunch and sales remain strong. Additionally, the Square One Coffee is now being sold in Whole Foods stores in the Philadelphia market, potentially one of the biggest wholesale opportunities the company has ever experienced.

Square One Coffee is a small roaster and coffee retailer in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania. They currently operate a single establishment in the downtown business district where they only roast 100% organic and 100% Fair Trade Certified™ beans, making them one of the few roasters in the region to do so.

Via our friends @ reBrand

via: triple Pundit

Strategic design agency, Anthem Worldwide has designed two exciting new snack brands for Warburtons, as the UK’s number one branded baker targets the snacking market.

Anthem Worldwide, which has worked for over six years with Warburtons, was briefed to ‘push the boundaries’ and take a bold creative approach to the brand identity and packaging to create cut through in the crowded snacks fixture.

The agency has created ChippidyDooDaa Pitta Chips* and SnackaDoodle Wholegrain Snacks* which are due to launch on-shelf on 15th March.

Anthem created the complete ChippidyDooDaa and SnackaDoodle proposition of names and characters, giving both their own strong personalities and messaging to create distinction, recognition, and engagement.

The creative, using bold typographic style which took inspiration from the iconic Saul Bass film posters of the 1960s along with flat blocks of colour, was chosen because it is striking and quirky enough to be seen amongst the noise of the fixture and original enough to invite people of all ages to try it. The chatty and down to earth tone of voice begins with the characters through the product names and typestyle and onto the back of the packs.

The ChippidyDooDaa and SnackaDoodle characters were designed to take a life of their own across various media, including websites and in-store POS, in the £1million marketing campaign Warburtons has created to communicate the launch of the range.

Jason Uttley, New Business Director at Warburtons, commented: “The design of ChippidyDooDaa and SnackaDoodle really delivered on the brief – memorable, challenging and confident in a warm, friendly and fun manner. It picks up category cues but feels a little different in a positive way, and its simplicity makes it easy to translate into other media. It was a difficult brief, and yet the concept we went with right from the beginning is very close to the packs you see on shelf. Most importantly – people smile when they see the packs.”

Mark Walters, Account Director at Anthem Worldwide, said: “This really was a dream project – great brief and great client that let the creative agency be creative. This freedom gave us the opportunity to deliver a truly unique brand identity – one that can be communicated creatively across a wide range of different media – and will generate great standout on-shelf in what is a highly competitive marketplace.”

via: LoadMouth PR