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Before & After: Allinson Bread

by Tiffanie Pfrang on 02/05/2013 | 4 Minute Read

 

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Before & After: Family (and friends) refresh their own rebrand for Allinson Bread. As part of an ongoing marketing programme to build the appeal of the Allinson bread brand, Family (and friends) were invited by Allied Bakeries to revitalise their own rebrand from 2010.

What are your thoughts on the re-brand?

 

 

 

 

"The new packaging still maintains a traditional feel, but moves away from overt connections to it's Victorian founder Thomas Allinson in favour of a bolder, brighter and more modern interpretation of 'wholesomeness'. The rebrand also heralds the introduction of various innovations, including a new High Fibre White loaf that contains as much fibre as wholemeal bread.

Existing and lapsed consumers of Allinson are looking to the brand to provide everyday high quality, with graphics to match; simpler visuals, less clutter and messaging revealing more of the product itself on shelf.

Alex Durbridge, creative director at F&f says "Our aim was to achieve strong self standout with as little branding as possible. the bread should sell itself without over packaging"

F&f have rationalised the essential elements of the famous Windmill trademark and 'the Allinson 'signature' into something very iconic. The only other design elements are the product descriptors and fresh range colours, with a light touch of patterning to help add some homely nature.

The rebrand coincides with another F&f assignment to reposition Allinson flour, announced last week, owned separately by Silver Spoon. The two brands will now have greater visual synergy and connectivity through brand messaging around the provenance and quality of the flour used.

Sometimes you have to be brave. You have to admit that your lovely (design award winning work) is not doing the job it needs to.

You have to swallow the arguments from the design critics who will say that you’ve ‘gone backwards’.

You have to accept that to increase sales and consumer interest, you have to rethink branding solutions.

Take our re-working for Allinson bread, just launched last week. Previously we had created a design back in 2011 that made Allinson look very beautiful, traditional and Victorian. That was the brief – give us some of our historical credentials and truths back, pick back up on its illustrious founder Dr. Thomas Allinson.

Two years later, with sales not going well (partly due to a lack of marketing and advertising investment), we needed to rethink shelf impact and relevance to the consumer.

We were helped by the fact that we had just rebranded sister company Allinson flour to great success. We saw that you can still be traditional, but have a modern appeal to, so we decided with our client at Allied Bakeries to take a fresh look at our packaging.

Now, whilst design must never be led by focus groups, research did tell us that consumers want “as little packaging a possible”, that is to say, less branding, let them see more product and get a real sense of freshness through colour.

And that’s just what we did. Respond creatively, with the most aesthetically pleasing BUT commercially driven solution."

Chris Heyn, (Group Brand Manager at Allied Bakeries) said:

The decision to redesign the packaging was driven by comprehensive consumer research, carried out by Allied Bakeries, which found that the Allinson packaging needed to better showcase the delicious taste of the range, while giving it more stand out on shelf.

The packaging has performed really well in trials so it’s great to now see it hitting the shelves.

I think we are on the right track. Time will once again tell, but progress is knowing that you must progress in life. Once again, we at Family (and friends) welcome comments on the subject.

 

Designed by Family (and friends), UK

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