Honest Kombucha
New work from Moxie:
"Liveliness is front and center of the brand design by Moxie TM, Inc. for Honest Beverage’s newest entry in the functional beverage market: Honest Kombucha. The beverage, an ancient Chinese tonic, which has purported health benefits, will come in three flavors: lemon ginger, peach mango and berry hibiscus, and will be available on shelves in Whole Foods nationally in January for an excusive 2-month period before distribution to other natural food markets.
“The appeal of Kombucha is its healing properties; we had to strike the right balance between retaining the equities of the Honest brand while creating a design as unique as the product inside,” says Tammy Vaserstein, Creative, Principal, Moxie TM, Inc.
To design the packaging graphics for the organic beverages, Moxie TM found inspiration in the product itself. Kombucha is unusual: it is sweet-sour, fermented, and acidic product. For centuries, the Chinese have claimed that it is a “fountain of youth elixir.” The drink contains live active probiotic cultures, with visible sediment in each bottle.
The design dials up the intrigue and energy promise of the product, drives home its spirited qualities, and differentiates it from the competitors. The main icon featured in the center of each bottle is a little wild, lively and what Vaserstein calls, “raw.” This reflects the product description on each bottle: “Live, Organic & Raw.” The white label strengthens the product’s “refreshing” qualities. Moxie TM used bright, vibrant colors for each SKU, to emphasize the energy of the product and provide contrast with the white label. As part of the Honest Beverage line, the design retains the Honest brandmark and the black bands at the top and bottom of the label thus connecting Honest Kombucha to other Honest products on shelf.
“We worked with Moxie TM to create a design that conveys the distinctive character of kombucha while still maintaining a connection to the Honest name,” says Seth Goldman, president and TeaEO, Honest Tea. “We hope that it attracts new consumers to the Kombucha shelf,” he adds.
Honest Kombucha is not only aimed at the natural foods customer who is already knowledgeable about kombucha drinks, but is designed to appeal to the cross-over customer who is looking for an alternative healthy drink and enjoys the quality and appeal of the Honest brand.
“We aimed to present this beverage as honestly delivering on its promise – the possibilities of energy, excitement and exuberance. A dynamic helix illustrates the raw energy found in the drink and communicates the power unleashed by kombucha. The clean, sans serif type that’s used for the flavor names shows that this product is edgy and modern,” says Vaserstein.
Moxie TM, Inc. is an international brand design and development firm with offices in New York and Miami."
6 Comments | Posted on Friday, February 19, 2010 
Reader Comments (6)
Coming from the wonderful Moxie, this looks like an amateur attempt, even a student project. I'm surprised and disappointed by this.
There's also no sense of what the product is, it could easily be confused as regular juice or, similarly, a Herbal Essence product.