Genesis of a national brand
20.04.10
Gravity has recently unveiled a distinctive new identity and an eye-catching range of packaging for Naturya, a power food brand that will be hitting national retail shelves soon.
Arresting, colourful design was key to achieving brand differentiation in a food sector that is crowded with medicinally-inspired packaging. And above all, the message that Naturya needed to convey to shoppers was that the products are not only healthy, but enjoyable – a natural addition to the daily diet.
Gravity delivered a clear, crisp logo with a functional ‘N’ and a heart icon, which suggests power and vitality. This was elaborated upon in the packaging, with a colour gradient that suggests energy radiating from the heart. ‘Zingy’ colours were selected to market the product as appetising – a world away from the clinical colours used by existing brands.
Sam Lacey, Gravity’s Creative Director, says of the design process: “Mike [designer] and I really enjoyed working on this project. We were bursting with ideas from the outset and were able to generate three very different options that all met the initial brief. The client chose their preferred route and it’s a credit to them that they selected the option that was the bravest and would enable the products to stand-out in the supermarket.”
Copy was also an important factor in the success of the packaging, and presented two distinct challenges. Firstly, the tone had to be in-line with the brand’s key values (simple, honest, ‘real’), engaging and also inspiring. Serving suggestions were used to tantalise shoppers who might be unfamiliar with the product, and phrases that referenced the products’ exotic origins were deliberatively evocative.
Secondly, the copy had to adhere to the stringent ‘health food’ guidelines laid out by the EU that will soon become legislation. It was crucial to the success of the fledgling brand that the need for a subsequent redesign was avoided.
Ultimately, design and copy came together in a coherent, inspiring range of packages, which the client was delighted with. As Paul Richards of Naturya explains: “The team at Gravity were great throughout the project, and immersed themselves in our objectives with passion and enthusiasm. I took the product mock-ups to a number of national distributors and got a phenomenal response. They all loved the colour spectrum and were impressed that we differentiated ourselves from the competition so strongly and successfully.
“We’re now in a very good place to develop still further, with a brand that is flexible enough to grow with us. Watch this space.”