Branding, Visual Design, Packaging Design
Developing branding and marketing strategy for a new product line
Billy’s Farm Fresh wanted a complete makeover for their cream cheese, in terms of branding and packaging. We used our client’s personna as the baseline for our brand mascot, making it look unique while being aligned with the client’s requirements.
The packaging solution involved a simple slide in/slide out process, a bright top for greater visibility, and hard matte lamination to withstand humid conditions.
We also launched the brand on social media platforms, planning and executing digital marketing campaigns. Since then, Billy’s has expanded and received B2B opportunities with other local companies.
Our recent work-in-progress has been their latest product, cottage cheese and its packaging.
No Branding Claims - the cow mascot was provided as part of the client brief.
Branding
Packaging
At Little Studio, Branding and Packaging is one of our more explored and experienced niches. So let’s talk about one of our favourite clients.
It was a slow day in the midst of April 2019, when we were approached by the owner of a brand under the name of Billy’s Cream Cheese. As the product suggested, we were brought on board for Branding, Packaging and Social Media Management for a locally produced cream cheese that was to compete against the international brands swamping the market. When it came to the design brief, there wasn’t much to go on, apart from the requirement of a concept that displayed the product in the truest yet most appealing way.
We have to admit, our client and the owner of the brand is surely a persuasive man. Wanting to stay true to the concept of farm fresh produce, he proposed using livestock (a cow, to be clear) as the mascot. But it was a tad bit confusing for us. How do we make this work? Do we create a cow from scratch? Does that cow have a personality? Is it one of those innocent dewy-eyed cows or is it full of bloodlust, screaming at its users to buy its products?
As we wrestled with our own ideologies of farm animals, an epiphany struck our lead designer - why don’t we use our client as a baseline? Being a big guy himself with a heart of gold, we personified his very existence into what is now our brand mascot.
As our brand, Billy’s Cream Cheese, was the only brand coming from the local market, it was competing with international quality. So in order to marry the design to its product, we had to give it a proper toast (No? Tough crowd, huh).
It was intimated to us that there were a few aspects to be kept in mind while designing:
While these were the major problems that required solving, as with every packaging comes it’s own set of unforeseen circumstances.
To keep it cost-efficient, we opted for cross-city production, so we had to ensure the packaging had an easy-to-assemble configuration. When it came time for prototyping, we had to create multiple iterations which were sent to different vendors, who opted for the iteration that they thought was most cost-efficient without interfering with the design. Finally, we merged the chosen iterations, and created a singular packaging design approved by all concerned parties.
Honestly, it seemed tedious at the time, but seeing the end product (a huge thanks to our postal service, by the way!) made it all worth it, for our client as well as for Little Studio.
Here comes the big reveal, the packaging itself! Our dual iterative process with the vendors brought us to a very stable conclusion: by incorporating a simplified, slide in-and-out package assembly of the container, the packaging became an easy-to-configure solution (thank you, Google). Thus, our vendors were able to coordinate with greater ease for production.
Okay, let us tell you about our visual design process. As it is understood, modern technology and ease of data over the internet has provided access to the common man to all forms of visual design. From logos to branding concepts to interior decorating, most users are now conditioned to distinguish good design from bad. As designers, we love simplicity. Using that as our base module, we opted for a strategy involving clean lines alongside a rigid color palette and contrasting features.
For our digital design that was executed flawlessly (if we say so ourselves) in printing, we opted for bright top and front panels. By doing so, the showcasing ability of the product while being buried in freezers became more prominent.
In the words of a customer: “I bought the cream cheese just because I was curious about its look.” - yay us!
We also opted for harder matte lamination with 4-coloured printing on a 300 GSM bleach card. By doing so, we were able to provide a solution for humid conditions and for increasing shelf life of the product itself.
So we believe one could say that we achieved one of our milestones. Curiosity may have killed the cat but at least the cat enjoyed our lovely cream cheese (there are no fatalities, yet).
As we moved past the design phase and onto production, the time for digital marketing was upon us. The question arose as to how to market our product in the most feasible yet the most endearing way. The solution was plain and simple: we hired a chef that would create specific dishes out of our product (Billy’s Cream Cheese) which were then taken to a discreet location, followed by a photography session. The food was then consumed which we counted as payment for the photographer itself (don’t worry, it was all amicable).
We then chose the content we preferred, added a little graphic design to make it more appealing and then shipped it off to our Brand Strategist. From there, the brand was then launched on several different social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Alongside, we also launched digital marketing campaigns. From there the magic of the internet happened, helping the company to expand further. Opportunities for B2B businesses with other local companies also presented themselves, and now the business thrives merrily.
The insights are a testament to that!
In alignment with the expansion plans of Billy’s, we have also worked to put together Billy’s first tin packaging for Organic Clarified Butter “Desi Ghee”. We’ve also recently worked on the packaging design for Billy’s “Cottage Cheese”.
Safe to say, we did great!
