perky

Look out for our latest launch to hit the shelves - Percol's Perk Up! The two-strong range of luxury coffees have added guarana for a natural lift, which our packaging reflects with an explosion of colour...

skylights

We recently put together a microsite for our client Aerobility, to promote a chartered flight that would let passengers see the Northern Lights from the air.

Aerobility gives disabled people the chance to fly, and the Aurora flight (from Gatwick to the Shetland Islands) was a fantastic idea to raise money in a spectacular way. The flight was last weekend, and 74 people - including presenters from the BBC's The Sky At Night - were on board. Here's some press coverage and you can see the atmospheric microsite at aerobility.com/aurora.

thumbs up

We're very pleased to see Peter Andre giving Percol Fusion the thumbs up!

have you seen this man?

Homepride’s Flour Grader Fred has been sighted on Facebook and Twitter recently… doing the rounds promoting both the new Homepride Flour packs (designed by yours truly)and the Wallace & Gromit Children’s Foundation’s BIGBake fundraising event (of which Homepride Flour is a supporter).

after and before

arabian delights

Apologies for the radio silence over the summer. But, we've been hard at work on lots of projects that are now coming to fruition.

First up is Bis*Bas, a new range of very delicious Middle Eastern sauces. They can be used in any number of ways, as cooking sauces, dips, relishes, straight from the jar on a spoon...

They're made by the lovely sisters-in-law Muna and Muna (cook and entrepreneur respectively), inspired by authentic recipes that have passed down through generations. We heartily recommend that you look out for the distinctive jars, they're a great way to pep up any meal. Yum!

splashing out

We recently designed the promotional graphics for A Bigger Splash - an event held in London by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce UK (SCC).

The event was organised by the Young Professionals at SCC and took the format of a question and answer forum. For me, the common theme was the singular passion and drive each of entrepreneurs possessed, and their ability to spring back from all the knock backs and upsets they experienced. This emphasised the fact that there is no short cut to being successful as an entrepreneur (contrary to the impression given on reality TV).

The keynote speakers came from a wide spectrum of business activity - from selling clothes and homewares to a global market (http://www.lexingtoncompany.com/) through to developing an app for streaming live video from a smart phone (http://bambuser.com/).

splash screen

Watch out for the new - and first ever - Brecon Carreg water TV ad, coming to a small screen near you (as reported in The Grocer this week): 

five golden rules in foodservice branding and packaging

Traditionally, brand designers have shied away from working with foodservice brands because there hasn't been the scope to do anything creative.

This isn’t helped by foodservice brand owners that pay little attention to their packs’ branding and design. They tend to want to keep their brands nice and functional. And you just need to look at well known, great quality products from the likes of Pritchitts, Bladen and Meadowland in the dairy category to appreciate the power of function.

This is quite understandable, as it’s the product quality that is of the utmost importance. For many products, if it came in a white bag or bottle with the product name printed on the front in Arial, professional chefs would still choose the tried and tested, no matter what the packaging looked like. Quite right too if the product does the job.

But the influence of brands in foodservice IS changing. Of course, many household brands have been part of the foodservice landscape for a long while. Ambrosia, Knorr, Heinz and McCain are examples of brands that cross the divides of both retail and foodservice. But for those brands that put themselves firmly in foodservice, there’s a sense that a more functional approach to branding is a more acceptable one.

But, as I said, the influence of brands is changing. There are lots more variables now. There’s price - naturally. But taste, performance and availability are also hugely important too. And, of course, there are more good quality products to choose from, which means the tried and trusted ones are not perhaps the automatic choices they once were.

Our recent work with Kerrymaid and its range of dairy ingredients made us question a few of the givens. According to research by the respected Cambridge Direction Group, Kerrymaid was an ‘invisible brand’. It had low impact, little recall and often was mistaken for Kerrygold. Yet the quality and performance of its products were second to none.

Having been tasked to develop the Kerrymaid branding, we questioned just how functional the brand should be on pack and across it marketing communications. It was important that the brand should get noticed, have some appeal yet could present itself as a serious player in foodservice.

Give the brand some emotional appeal, we said. Give it some distinctiveness. Give it some branding! But be clear about each product’s benefits and how it will perform. Cambridge Direction undertook some research and after an anxious wait came back with a green light from professional caterers to develop it and apply to packaging, its trade press advertising and sales collateral.

So what have we learned? Well, I see it as five golden rules to ensure that the right balance is struck between having brand appeal and maintaining that professional credibility in foodservice – whatever the category:

 

The new Kerrymaid range:

brand new brecon

We've recently redesigned the packaging for our bottled water client Brecon Carreg. The updated design takes inspiration from the small team that produce the water in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons - the heart of Wales. Nik came into the studio earlier this week with a proud grin, having unexpectedly spotted the multipacks in store (see below)!

flight plan

We had a proud moment seeing our client Aerobility pull off a spectacular opening to the London Paralympics 2012.

Congratulations to the Aerobility operations team - and of course to disabled ex-serviceman David Rawlins who flew the mission.

See the footage on the aerobility home page. 

Aerobility is a UK charity that trains disabled people to become pilots. We started working for them in 2010, helping with the step change from a successful group of enthusiasts to a more professional organisation able to offer more to a wider audience.

Our creative team developed a new brand identity to match up to the ambitious fundraising strategies.  We're still closely involved with Aerobility and currently working on two new fundraising initiatives.

The upswing in interest coming from the participation London Paralympics 2012 has been phenomenal -  we saw more web traffic in one night than we saw for the 9 months leading up to August 29th!

UK charities are finding it tough going this year. But I feel the investment Aerobility made in branding will pay off this year with its successful fundraising initiatives.

Peter

staff meeting

As part of the identity and communications work that we are doing with a large London Healthcare NHS Trust, we have been out and about with the Communications Team at various locations served by the Trust to share some ideas with staff (writes Lawrence).

It has been a really interesting experience.

There are two main observations that I wanted to share. Firstly, just how interested staff were in what we were doing. Everyone we spoke to was not only constructive in their feedback but was very aware of the importance of having a single purpose and identity behind which they could all unite. Much of what we shared was of a visual nature. It’s easy and understandable to make subjective judgments about ‘pictures’. Some will often say they don’t like something but not really know why. The responses we got were well informed and objective – often with suggestions and feedback about how things could be improved.

Secondly, how passionate everyone was about their organisation and the NHS. We spoke to a broad cross section of staff - clinical through to administrative - yet the commitment was just as strong and united. And although many had some issues with how things were, everyone’s loyalty and belief in the Trust and the NHS was unmistakable. The NHS is going through some radical changes but it’s refreshing that with all the problems that are often faced, they are being confronted by staff hell bent on delivering fantastic healthcare.

This exercise reiterated to us that you ignore sharp end staff at your peril – they not only give you important direction but also their support is vital. And that NHS staff are totally engaged with their organisation and ready and willing to make things work in order to protect this great institution of ours.

adventures in coffee

To help celebrate coffee brand Percol's 25th anniversary, we recently redesigned its ground coffee range (see pics), giving the packs the stand out on shelf they deserve.

The idea behind the brand is 'Adventures in Coffee' and we reckon the new packaging reflects this while clearly differentiating the wide range of variants...

limited edition packaging - a chance to jump on the bandwagon or add real value to your brand?

London, UK 2012

Red, white and blue dominate the retail environment at the moment. With a busy year for Great Britain including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, a Brit in the Wimbledon Finals and the Olympics being hosted here, there is surely every reason to drape the Union Jack around the shoulders of your brand and join in the patriotic spirit….and of course hope for a lift in sales during these otherwise quite dreary times of austerity and rain!

But is all this really adding brand value, or simply hopping onto the bandwagon of nationalistic pride in the hope of some short lived commercial gain?

Take for example Twinings. Awarded the Royal Warrant in 1837 and now offering over 100 varieties, the launch of a limited edition range in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is wholly in keeping with the brand’s core values, as is the stunning detail of the packaging. No flags here – just a gold carriage and commemorative ‘royal’ detailing beautifully embossed around the oval caddies (loose tea) and rectangular caddies (tea bags) – something to suit every street party. And each format is available in 3 colourways, making the set not only collectable but the packaging reusable too. 

At the other end of the spectrum I see M&Ms – a wholly American brand which, with a little help from UK band Little Mix, has chosen to launch a limited edition pack of red, white and blue sweets (or should that be candies) with the Union Jack proudly splashed across their packaging. With no apparent link back to the brand at all, beyond the limited edition packaging there really is not much for the consumer to engage with. Shame on you MARS! 

That’s not to say that only British brands should benefit in 2012. P&G, another US multinational (and Worldwide Partner of the 2012 Games), has joined forces with Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, to launch limited edition packaging to support the P&G Capital Clean up campaign, a series of clean up events designed to bring an army of 1,700 community champions together to spruce up more neglected areas of the city ahead of the Olympics. This links the household cleaning brands of P&G perfectly with the trend of growing local community spirit and pride, and of course with the Olympics. 

So, the launch of limited edition packaging can be hugely beneficial to brands - it can refresh awareness, deliver shelf standout and drive consumer interest. But it will only add real value to the consumer if it responds to a true insight and reinforces their own present associations with the brand, and demonstrates a genuine reason to purchase beyond price alone.

award for the most creative use of structure goes to...

Spotted by Nik in Harvey Nichols Food Market

pie cases

Although they've been available in the shops for quite a few weeks, now seems like an appropriate time to share these mince pie packs that make nice use of the festive design we created for Planet Organic to use across a whole range of packaging and point of sale.

lunch break

One of our newest clients is Planet Organic - the UK's largest certified organic supermarket. We've been working on the branding for their new Food To Go range of salads, sandwiches and bakery foods, which are launching imminently under the name "Filling Station".

Planet Organic caters for all sorts of dietary needs, from dairy, wheat & gluten free, to vegetarian and vegan, to nutritious superfoods, and our packaging clearly highlights the dietary benefits of the range.

We used a combination of typographic and graphic elements for an upbeat, urban feel that adds a confident and relaxed dimension to the existing Planet Organic branding. Watch this space for further applications of the design onto bags, napkins and more, as well as an extension into other foods later this year.

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.

girls' night out

For the past few months we've been working on a very exciting new brand called Carnaby Brown - a brand new sparkling fruit wine created by entrepreneur Aisling Young and designed by our studio (led by Jessica, our appropriately girly senior designer). With the drink's launch now underway (using various initiatives from social networking to on-trade promotions) we want to use our blog to capture the brand's progress and some of its marketing, so to get things going may we introduce you to Carnaby Brown...


Twelve months ago Aisling (an experienced drinks marketer) identified a gap in the market for a drink that would celebrate the unique relationships between women, and the importance they place on friendship and sharing experiences. She asked us to help her created a new brand aimed at women, and - excited by the opportunity to develop a new brand and indeed a new category - we agreed to a long-term commercial partnership.

Since then, our team has been involved in all aspects of the brand's development. We work with lots of different brands, but never in a way that gives us such brutal insight into every element from conception to launch. This included both the usual stuff - identifying variants and bottle shapes, agreeing brand propositions, consumer insights and research - and the more unusual issues such as the manufacturing process, distribution agreements and the use of social and guerilla marketing. Oh, and lots of tasting, of course!

Carnaby Brown is a 5.5% abv, deliciously fruity and refreshing drink, that's rounded off with a gentle sparkle. It's directly inspired by the women it has been created for: twenty-somethings who want an ideal drink to get things going - whether getting ready for a night out with friends, meeting up after work or having a relaxed afternoon drink at the weekend. Made to an exclusive recipe in White and Rosé variants, it's a unique and sophisticated blend of perry, white and muscat grapes with the sessionability of premium beer or cider and -served in an elegant 75cl Bordeaux-style bottle - the sociability of wine too.

Our pack design balances a retro/heritage look with feminine elegance, evoking the best and most stylish of London. It captures the essence of a girls' night while steering clear of the market default of overtly girly pink floral designs.

As well as the product and design, another differentiator for the brand is its innovative advocacy marketing programme, working with social media and regional brand ambassadors who have been recruited based on their suitability as 'Carnaby Girls', and who personally spread the word about Carnaby Brown. Bearing in mind how girls love to gossip, what could be better than a bit of word of mouth?!

So now you're familiar with Carnaby Brown, we'll be keeping you posted on its progress... just watch this space!

bp birthday

BP is an amazing 100 years old this year, and to celebrate this momentous birthday the company published a commemorative volume last month. The book - written/edited by BP's Centenary Project team and designed/produced by us - tells BP's unique company history using images from a vast archive of over 259,000 photos and ephemera.

According to our director Peter Walker, "at times it felt like we were producing a storyboard for a feature documentary. The hardest part was editing down a selection from so many captivating images." The book has multinational distribution through BP's global organisation.

the low down

A couple of weeks ago, Ireland's second largest cheese brand, the lower fat Kerry LowLow, made its first foray into the UK market, with packaging designed by use here at wonderlandWPA.

Our MD Lawrence explains the challenge thus, "Kerry LowLow cheese performs brilliantly in terms of taste and meltability for a lower fat cheese. However, the low fat cheese sector doesn't exactly have a great reputation when it comes to delivering on natural cheese taste. As a brand name, Kerry LowLow certainly does the job of putting the consumer in the lower fat zone, so the packaging has to work incredibly hard to exude its genuine great taste and naturalness.

"At last the category will have a genuine brand whose core proposition is about lower fat with all the taste of a real cheddar, which consumers can feel good about. The packaging has set out to position itself in this single minded way."