Design Consultancy
Big Fish Design Ltd
Perry Haydn Taylor
020 7795 0075
perry@bigfish.co.uk
www.bigfish.co.uk
The Challenge
Dorset Cereals was founded in 1985 and over 20 years had become a small scale company selling quality cereal predominantly through the independent sector. Muesli and healthy cereals represent nearly 30% of the ready-to-eat cereal market and were showing annual growth of 7%. The pure muesli market still suffered, however, from consumer preconceptions that mueslis were worthy, hard to eat and lacking in taste. Dorset Cereals in particular was not helped by its basic plastic bag packaging which looked dated and didn’t stand up on either the shelf or kitchen table.
The Brief
Big Fish was commissioned to build a brand for Dorset Cereals that would fulfil the potential of the product and gain broad distribution through multiples and independents as well as develop international distribution. The new brand needed to increase consumer awareness and consumption while maintaining existing customer loyalty.
The Design
This category was full of brands emphasising health, natural qualities and natural ingredients, but none that were concentrating on taste. Big Fish repositioned Dorset Cereals as ‘honest, tasty and real’. The identity needed an instantly recognisable shorthand that could be used across various applications. A bold leaf icon was developed to work as a brand shorthand even when re-coloured or used as a window on the pack. The plastic bag packaging was replaced by boxes in boldly coloured untreated recycled board, a move which no competitors had done and which made the colours more natural. An identifiable tone of voice focusing on life’s simple pleasures was used to support each recipe, with the sign off line ‘Simple – but then the best things in life usually are’.
The Results
The new brand was launched in March 2006 and since then both sales and market share have more than doubled, and the cash rate of sale per store per week has increased three-fold. Average weight of purchase has shown a double-digit increase. The brand has not only outstripped the competition but has also directly grown the category. Major retailers such as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco now see Dorset Cereals as the category benchmark for quality and innovation – the brand has full distribution in these stores for ten of its 11 products.
Judges Comments
The judges praised this story for its ‘instant standout’, not just for its ‘beautiful design’ but also for its ‘impressive statistics’. ‘Beautifully done,’ said Amanda Bringans, Deputy Director, Fundraising at Macmillan Cancer Support. ‘The evidence is very clear. It’s a case study in what this award is all about.’
Gold Packaging – Branded Food & Drink
