Regulars / Branding and design | 27 Rebound with a rebrand Branding and design columnist, Vicki Strull, recounts a successful packaging redesign she completed for a food brandll of us would agree that coming fexible packaging, the logo overlapped Listen, observe, learnacross a prospective client that asks, the resealable zipper. And if that weren’t After these discovery conversations, ‘How can you help my products enough, the converter had not accounted I concluded: Wildfare is a brand that Asell better?’ is the holy grail of prospects. for the off-gassing of dried fruit fex-packs, offers healthy, high-end specialty foods They already value your expertise and are so packages were exploding in the in banal packaging detrimental to their ready to collaborate. Their packaging isn’t warehouse and in stores. sales. Their current target audience bringing in the anticipated revenue, or more of Gen-Z (20-somethings) to young importantly, as they forecasted for their Positioning Millennials (30 to 40) doesn’t align stakeholders or investors. You may offer to Wildfare has a compelling brand story. with their more expensive prices. To add some bling with a metallic foil, increase The founders are originally from Turkey, compound these issues, Wildfare is the tactility with soft touch, or change and their brand purpose is to bring neither communicating luxe nor why its the substrate to something smoother, timeless, delicious, and healthy staples products are special and deserve to be shinier, or more recyclable. Often, those of a Mediterranean diet to the US market purchased at a premium. When it came to strategies will work, but other times, those to be savored every day. They pride manufacturing its packaging, its converter recommendations in printing and fnishing themselves in sourcing and curating from seemed inexperienced and transactional, will not suffce. Instead, the packaging small orchards and producers who employ certainly not the type of relationship that needs a rebrand to boost sales, captivate culinary traditions dating back 3,000 years. creates meaningful and successful brand the audience, and move their products from However, none of that translated onto the partnerships.the shelves to shopping carts. messaging or visuals of its packaging. Recently, I encountered a specialty food As I educated Wildfare on shelf appeal, Time to get creative brand, Wildfare, whose packaging was brand purpose, positioning and messaging, Up to this point in the rebranding process, lacking—an oversimplifed design in pale I also learned that Wildfare positions its I’ve been educating, researching and colors with minimal fnishing. In other products as premium. Wildfare products analyzing, but now it’s time for all of this words, the brand identity was boring, and are priced on the high end within each discovery to inform my creative process. the packaging was not just bleh; it was category—from olive oil and dried fruits to unappetizing—not good for a specialty food olives and various favored bruschetta. Talking to your audiencebrand. We began by shifting the target audience. The CEO spelled it out for me succinctly: Audience We eliminated 20-somethings and focused ‘Our products are not selling, and we don’t As I deconstructed the brand challenges, I instead on Millennials, Gen-X and Boomers, know why. Can you help us?’ needed to learn more about the audience. targeting 35 to 65+ year-olds. These The CEO said that their target audience is generations have more disposable income Challenge accepted health-conscious and adventurous eaters for premium-priced products. Additionally, Wildfare clearly did not understand that who are 20 to 40 years old. Hmmmm…Are while those with young children value the job of packaging is to scream off the people in their 20s buying $30 bottles of healthy, organic foods for growing young shelf and grab a shopper’s attention, so olive oil? bodies, those in the older generations they will choose that product over all the other competitors in a matter of a few “The CEO spelled it out for me succinctly: seconds. Likewise, it’s our job, as designers, marketers and packaging converters, to help ‘Our products are not selling, and we don’t brands create packaging that is compelling, tactile and designed to sell. know why. Can you help us?’ ” Shelf appeal Across the board, the packaging appeared generic, with a marginal brand story on the primary display panel. In some cases, the existing packaging was outright unattractive. For example, Wildfare sells dried apricots that are sulfte-free. I’ve tasted them, and these apricots are soft, chewy, healthy and delicious. But they are also sticky, wrinkly and deep brown, so a window on the primary display panel is not the best choice to make the product appear appetizing. In other instances, SKU colors were so muted that the knock-out white type was illegible. Functionally, the packaging wasn’t working either. By the time the products hit grocery store shelves, labels were peeling and showed wear and tear. On the Jul - Sep 2023