Wednesday, May 26, 2010

dough balls

Our third entry for the crazy world cup packaging competition - as seen by Lawrence - really is a case of hopping on the bandwagon. But might just be worth it if only for the bargain promotional price.

Friday, May 21, 2010

ceci n'est pas un football

Lawrence spotted these lettuces in his local Co-op. Apparently he couldn't resist giving one a kick about, at which point it fell to pieces and he was escorted off the premises by the Store Manager. But he did manage to get a photo before the carnage!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

crazy world cup competition

With the World Cup around the corner, all manner of weird and wonderful visual tricks, linguistic puns and international flavours are being launched by manufacturers in a desperate attempt to cash in.

We're holding a wonderland World Cup competition to find the best (and worst) examples of World Cup-themed products and packaging around. So if anyone reading comes across a winner, please do send in pictures to info@wonderlandwpa.com.

Kicking things off (so to speak) are these patriotic rolls that Nik found in M&S...

Thursday, May 6, 2010

from Paris with love


Our senior designer Jess is taking on a sort of capital city tour this year - starting with New York in February, via Paris the weekend before last, and ending up in Berlin next weekend! Glamorous eh? She's written about her trip to Paris for the Carnaby Brown blog. Read the full account here.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

the best taste under the sun


Last year we stumbled across Southern Alps at a health food shop while replenishing our muesli supplies for the Colourmakers House kitchen. We were immediately taken with this growing Kent-based company that started life in 2001 as homemade fruit snacks and muesli for entrepreneur Lotte Garner's family. Studio consensus was that it was the best-tasting granola we'd eaten in a long time - not to mention its ethical and sustainability credentials. But we also thought that the brand's identity and packaging wasn't living up to all this.

So we got in touch with Lotte and it turned out that retailers and customers were thinking the same thing. People also found the large number of muesli and granola variants really confusing (bit of a problem for a brand hoping to grow).

Fast-forward six months and the newly designed and streamlined muesli and granola range is shipping to retailers this week, along with a new positioning, tag line, brand identity, website, sales presenters and newsletters.


So how did we get here? Our starting point was simple - Southern Alps' unique Slow Dried Fruit process. They use the very best fresh fruit, dried with warm air and nothing else to retain maximum flavour, nutrition and goodness. Sugar and preservatives are never used, and the resulting fruit really does have the best taste under the sun!

We also took inspiration for the brand's personality from Lotte herself. She's one of the most unforgettably quirky, seriously intelligent and unapologetically passionate people we've come across. And because this is a brand packed with meaning and provenance, we had to tell some of its great stories, so the back of pack features little anecdotes. Take the Slow-Dried Pineapple for instance, which is produced by farming groups in Southern Uganda. The pineapple is grown in naturally fertile soils, picked when fully ripe and then dried immediately to capture its wonderful natural sweetness. The solar drying method used minimises the impact on the environment and by drying the pineapple in Uganda, just 1kg of dried pineapple is shipped for every 15kg of fresh pineapple harvested, reducing the environmental impact of its transportation.

Now for the burning question: is the new design working? Well, there's been a phenomenal response from the trade - every single retailer has been very positive about the new look and the brand has got listings in Ireland for the first time. We'll keep you posted on how the story develops, and will share our work on the rest of the Southern Alps range as and when it happens.