Fermented Foodie Start-Up
——— Brand Direction & Design ———
Pure Earth Superfoods—Vibrant Slow-Food Culture Straight from the Farm.
Brand Strategy
Brand Purpose
Brand Values
Brand Story
Brand Position
Value Proposition
Art Direction
Visual Language
Core Themes
Design Cues
Image Direction
Perception, Tone, Voice
Brand Identity
Brand Langauge
Packaging System
Typography
Logomark
Iconography
Digital Presense
Story Website
Shopify E-commerce
Campaign Design
Email Marketing
Content Creation
How do we connect people to the farm, the farmer, and the restorative power of the Earth?How do we present the high-value of real nutrient-dense local foods and the magic of natural fermentation?How do we express our intention cultivate the life-force energy in the community through organic grown produce in living-soils transformed into live-culture foods?How do we honour the folk wisdom found in traditional food-ways, but do so with simplicity and sophistication?
How do we connect people to the restorative power of the Earth, to the beauty of the biodiverse slow-food culture of the farm, and to the integrity of the local small-scale regenerative farmer?
How do we present the high-value of preserved nutrient-dense foods and the transformative magic of natural fermentation?
How do we honour the folk wisdom found in traditional food-ways, but do so with simplicity & sophistication?
AudienceWants to live regeneratively, wants the best for their family & our earth.
PersonalityFarmer's market smart & chic. Knows quality. Down to Earth. Grew-up with fermented foods.
ImageNaturally vital. Beauty in simplicity & diversity. Happy happy farm life, let's go!
StoryLiving foods grown in living soil. Farmer's hands; honest and hard-working. Connected to the Earth.
ToneVivacious & Plain-spoken. Calm, Direct, Humble.
PerceptionMade in harmony with Earth and seasons. Probiotic-rich, naturally fermented. Real-deal authentic.
We begin with words, because words provide meaning. — Who Are You?— What Are You?— Why Are You?
When considering BRAND IDENTITY— we begin with discovery workshops where conversation with exercise and discussion, combined with questions and research, and lots of listening and reflection, until we get to the kernel inside the core at the very centre.
We learn what is your reason-for-being. We uncover your brand truths, origin and distill it's essence. Working to articulate the brand relevance brand significance; meaning and value. We start our strategy by clarifying the founder's vision for the business, to do so, we seek to directly identify and understand you core ideology (what you believe-in); and core purpose (why you exist).
SEE — My Approach
CORE PURPOSE
To nourish our collective well being and raise the conscious energy of our community through transformative real foods.
Through discussion, reflection and time, we were able to distill and define the Core Brand Values, a set of guiding principles or stars, so core to the brand that if even one of these values changed, the brand would cease to exist.
CORE VALUES
1
Respect, steward and serve Mother Nature first.
2
Biodynamic human-scale regenerative agriculture.
3
Organic lifestyle, eco-logical, zero-waste oriented.
4
Local action; conscious consumption, community access.
UNDERSTANDING THE AUDIENCE
How well do we know the culture, the audience members, and the community?— Who are they?— What do they want?— How do they belong?— Why is it so important to them?
Customer Identity — Who They Are
Busy mom's, care-givers, members of community and family, focused on eating for nourishment and joy, creating and spreading well-belong; sharing the positive energy with their loved ones; circulating a practical understanding of how we can act as prosumers so we can care for self and family, as well as make a positive impact towards supporting the health of our planet;
Interested in learning how to support and grow a secure sustainable local food-system; creating strong family and social ties; enjoy respecting all natural beings, plants and animals, with whom we share this biosphere of Planet Earth; creating healthy happy memories with friends and family; making a positive contribution to the community.
Customer Aims — What They Want
Delicious everyday ritual; slow-food culture; "ready-to-eat" sides to add sophisticated flavours to any dish; real natural and traditional simple foods (no fillers, preservatives, or other junk non-food ingredients);
fast and easy food to take on the go or make any meal or snack more complete; support local farms and farmers; help reduce waste and save our planet; political statement for environment; symbol of conscious consuming, and caring parent or peer.
Customer Mores — How They Below
Are tribal but self-assured; often disagree with majority views; have strong opinions on what it means to participate and contribute to a healthy conscious community; believe strongly in building a better future for the next generation; care about the source and quality of products they choose; will avoid large-scale industrial foods and other products which are not produced in harmony with the human and animal planet.
Wish for themselves, friends and family to be, act and consume sustainably; are outspoken and articulate; avoid fast-food and junk-filled low-brow foods and culture; want to be seen as a leader and influential positive contributor within their family home, at work, in peer group and in community; will stand-up for what they believe in; join community activities.
BRAND POSITIONING
Nourishing real food made with the best of the local seasonal harvest.We source straight from the highest vibe local farmers using organic sustainable regenerative techniques, because we believe in growing an Earth friendly food system for the next generation.
VALUE PROPOSITION
To provide the conscious food consumer — who cares as much about the source of their food and the impact of their food-buying choices, as they do care what foods they choose to put in their body —
with a modern revival of the traditional, nutrient-dense & super delicious, fermented vegetables; a quick & easy way to add bold mouth-watering flavour, and culinary sophistication to any dish —
which is sourced and produced in a way they can feel good about, knowing it is strictly seasonal and local grown & produced food-product, grown with regenerative and ecological farmers practices, who care as much about the health of our earth, as we do.
STRATEGIC CONCEPTUAL APPROACH
STRATEGIC CONCEPTUAL APPROACH
STRATEGY
Creating wholesome ready-to-eat foods — preserving the best of the local seasonal harvest — using traditional ecological methods. Sourcing straight from our farmer friends growing local superfoods in living soils. Using the magical natural fermentation process to transform the nutrient value of the simple veggies into superfoods.
DIRECTION
The product should be right at home, whether up-on-the-farm, at the farmer's market, or on the shelf of your local fine grocer. Appearing sturdy and straightforward; a naturally inviting warm personality, rooting deep into the Earth. Embodying the modest humble farmer; comfortable in silent confident reserve. Tone should reflect the get down to work ethic.
DESIGN
Knowing we had to stand out on the shelf, and be true to self, we worked quickly in developing a typography-forward identity system, with bold simple presentation and up-front large product name typeface and setting, would become the defining product face on the shelf.
In food, especially prepared-foods, the package itself becomes the identity. Within the grocery landscape, a hyper-stimulating sparkly over-communicated environment, where each package is screaming at the top of its lungs at you, biding for your attention. They're using every graphic element of emphasis, every bevel, highlight, shadow and stroke as possible to lure the consumer into the highly packaged, mostly for-entertainment, hyper-processed fake-food trap, which lies behind the load graphics, shiny foil and plastics. We would vow to do it differently. We would set out to be the antithesis to the sick and dying unsustainable world-wide blockchain big agricultural industrial complex — and this would remain our north star while designing and developing the concept, the messaging, the package, the label, the story, in developing the content and sharing our "slow-food — straight from the farm" experience.
We knew we had to stand-out on the self, and be true to self, because it had to reflect the distinct concept and unique selling proposition. Right from the early conception, we would want to be doing things very differently from the norm. No shipping across borders, no fumigation, no warehouse storing under fluorescent lights, no bad-energy on the food. No garbage fillers or fake food ingredients. Just real, nutrient-dense, delicious superfoods. Developing and designing a bold simple presentation, with emphasis on the large product name, straightforward naming convention and type-setting, would lead us to building a defining product and brand identity, and face of product on the shelf. We would add the product story, with long-copy detailing What is Fermentation? and Why Fermentation?The composition of the label, the typography, the ivory uncoated card stock and black-ink only printing, all speak in a voice, with a personality — as a whole would have to reflect the integrity and transparency in sourcing and production, should embody the farmer, the feeling of being straight from the farm, back-to-the-earth revival of local organic, honest and hard-working fermented veggies. Naturally, mid-century functionalism and work ethic, of Trade Gothic, with its and calm sturdy forms, yet a warmness of character and friendly warmth of the Soft Rounded Bold cut. Simple and structured bold typographic grid, consistent setting, composition reinforced this steady reliable voice, heavy headlines, rule-marks and icon-set to guide and provide scannable entry points to longer copy. We would lead with this Typography-first system, as simple as possible, with divine invisible details, for people to read, learn and contemplate, to reflect the level of thought and intention put into the product itself.
We would go on to produce an entire line of product Packaging Design & Copy. We develop a Design Language to express the the aspirational identity. Created campaigns for product launches and seasonal sales. Built-out Website & Shop, as well as create the Content & Writing to be shared via social media and email D2C campaigns.
DESIGN VALUE CREATION
1
Market Pivot
During 2020, we pivoted away from the farmer’s market — which was no longer run by-farmers & for-farmers — where time & money is spent standing around a parking-lot in speculation of sales. Where some shop for their weekly needs, typically in a limited volume, where they stop & chat, and maybe buy a jar or five (if they were a fan). At the market’s, the market association tells you what you can or cant sell to your customers. There is limited market-stall spaces for vendors, and no dedicated inside event space provided in Vancouver. Sadly when farmers have an abundance they are not even guaranteed a spot to bring it to market.
+420%
Increase in Average Sale
We pivoted towards a direct-to-consumer model, thru email direct marketing with delivery, where we no longer had a gate-keeper between us and our customers, we would not be wasting our time on speculation, instead nurture and build the relationships with our valuable loyal clients, and we started delivering to our fans from the market, and they told their friends, and now we selling cases (at retail pricing), with a minimum order for delivery, and we increased our average sale by 5X.
500+
Direct Sales Subscribers
We have grown our email list organically, via word-of-mouth, with our friends & family referral program, by connecting and building the relationships we had at the market. For those subscribers we offer a seasonal update from the farm and stories, insights or reflections that Lauren and Sheldon have for the season. We send out our seasonal sales, and have enjoyed good click-thrus +15%
Working with 4 Local Farming Families
3,459 Followers on Instagram
Truly Local & Regenerative
100,000 LBS of Local Produce Preserved
