Package of the Month
This Way Up Gives Panda Licorice a Modern, Playful Rebrand
The London-based agency, which specializes in branding healthier food and drink options, was brought in to work on the project in 2020, working across the visual identity, packaging, website and wider brand world.
A key aspect of the project was ensuring Panda’s branding reflects and retains its position as the category leader while helping it secure new store listings and dialing up stand out on shelf.
“Panda’s competitors all look very much the same: a round, black logo and white type,” says David Pearman, This Way Up creative director. “Panda is the original licorice, and it needed to better communicate its role as a brand leader.” The small size of Panda SKUs, such as licorice bars, made it even more vital that the packaging leaped out from the shelves and clearly identified the product — something the more traditional-looking former designs lacked.
“Panda has a very distinctive product shape which actually makes it a better chew, so we wanted to really hero that,” says Pearman. This flower-like "revolver" shape acts as a lockup device for the new identity. This works alongside organic textures and leaf details to underscore the short, natural ingredients list. A suite of illustrations and animations for touchpoints such as social media assets center on the new “be more Panda” proposition around simple pleasures and “little moments of joy.” Imagery includes a woman enjoying some time by lakes, a nod to the brand’s Finnish heritage.
courtesy of This Way Up
Fresh New Look for Irish Spring Soap Stylishly Evolves Legacy Brand
Since Irish Spring was introduced in 1970, Colgate-Palmolive has touted the distinctive original fragrance of the enduring green and white deodorant bar soap targeted to men who want to smell good. Since then, the brand has added several scents and products including body washes.
Looking to expand its appeal to a younger male consumer, Colgate-Palmolive tapped creative agencies, Chase Design Group (graphic design) and Tin Horse (structural design), to work as a team with the Colgate-Palmolive Global Design Brand Group for a rebrand that better reflects stylish, modern masculinity.
The design team married the new brand promise, smell from a nice-smelling place, with the versatility of its iconic assets — a richer green Irish Spring structure, white brand mark and golden clover symbol — to create a sleek, modern look that confidently pays homage to the brand’s legacy. The brand promise appears across all new advertising and marketing materials.
The new, modern brand mark was designed to work with the streamlined structure and appeal to the younger male consumer. “We created a restrained aesthetic style by using a title case and bold sans-serif typography that retains the fresh white color of the old brand mark, and added a lock-up with a stylized clover in a warm golden hue. It effectively serves as a timeless symbol for the brand’s legacy,” says Steve Dunphy, executive creative director fo Chase Design Group, New York.
courtesy of Chase Design
Cocomels Expands Line with New <1g Sugar Chocolate
Candy-loving consumers can enjoy perfectly poppable sweet snacks with less sugar.
New <1g Sugar Chocolate-Covered Sea Salt and Crispy Bites are free from dairy, gluten, corn syrup, cholesterol and artificial ingredients. Cocomels new bites are made with high-quality 60% dark chocolate sweetened with an all-natural sugar alternative, allulose. Cocomels new bites are vegan and keto-friendly, and free from sugar alcohols and palm oil.
<1g Sugar Chocolate-Covered Sea Salt and Crispy Bites will be sold online via the Cocomels website, Amazon and Sprouts Farmers Market stores for an MSRP of $5.99 with expansion to other retailers in 2022.
courtesy of Cocomels
La Panzanella Croccantini Cracker Launches New Look & Resealable Packaging
La Panzanella, the number one selling crispbread cracker in the deli natural channel, has debuted a fresh new look for its Mini Croccantini 6-oz. Artisan Crackers. The new package features a cleaner look and design elements that showcase the Italian-style cracker’s iconic crisp edges. Further adding to the updated look is its new peel and reseal feature that preserves that crisp oven-baked taste that consumers love, whether on its own or enjoyed with specialty cheeses and charcuterie.
“We’ve come a long way since our humble beginnings in 1989 as a small Italian bakery in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle,” says Steve Lorenz, marketing director for La Panzanella. “As the brand grows, we continue to put our consumers’ requests first. We use simple ingredients they can find in their own kitchens and now we are thrilled to provide them with resealable packaging that will meet their needs for multiple snacking and entertaining occasions.”
courtesy of La Panzanella
New Gain Power Blast Dish Spray Gives People a Whole New Way to Get Happy
Procter and Gamble’s (P&G) Gain brand recently introduced new Gain Power Blast Dish Spray. P&G hopes that Gain lovers, who have dubbed themselves “Gainiacs” and new fans alike can now enjoy the brand’s iconic scent in a spray-on dish soap.
Jennifer Lo, brand director, North America Hand Dish, Procter & Gamble, says “On average, people spend almost a half-hour a day hand-washing dishes. Rather than dreading that time, Gain users are more likely to find small moments of happiness at the sink by using products, like Gain Power Blast, that provide a scent-sational cleaning experience.”
Gain Power Blast Dish Spray is designed as a refill model, with a reusable sprayer and easy-to-swap refill bottle, consumers can enhance their dishwashing experience while saving both time and water while minimizing waste.