Asian Market - Fruit and Veg Logo Development
During lockdown we received a really interesting brief that had us stretching our creative limbs. GB Seasons had a contract to supply strawberries to Hong Kong, and eventually Japan, and were looking for a brand name and logo that would help them stand out in the supermarket. The brand / logo would eventually represent more than just strawberries, it needed the potential to grow into an entire fruit and veg brand, and have the capacity to work across multiple Asian markets.
We knew a few key points - it must communicate freshness and quality, plus it must take into consideration the spoken language barriers between the countries. R’s and L’s were to be avoided. We also had to ensure that the word used didn’t translate negatively or overlap with an existing brand.
The first step was to reshape the brief so we had some routes to explore. The underpinning reason the contract existed in the first place was the perception of exceptional British quality produce. Developing the idea of what also reflected this, and what Asian markets liked about Britain, we chose to explore ‘Royalty’, and ‘Country Kitsch’. We also wanted to take a ‘Kawaii’ spin on Britishness, to blend two very popular trends.
From an initial 24 concepts, we tested them for brand resonance and linguistics with a contact in Hong Kong. From these we chose 12 to develop into logos, which the client tested with the supply chain contacts.
Here are the initial 10 concepts - which is your favourite?
The initial feedback was that they loved the royal route, but that we needed to lose the subtlety - more obvious royal words would be best. The feedback also helped narrow down preferred execution styles and allowed us to refine the designs.
Two routes were chosen - Billie and Jamboree, but the word Jamboree was linguistically a potential challenge. Billie was earmarked for a future project. Kingdom was therefore chosen as the favourite.
Our concern at this point was that whilst the name was fine alone, as was the branding separately, together they became too generic to build a future brand with. So we developed the design to include more unique elements, allowing the brand to grow as the range and company does.
Back to the market, and after a few more tweaks we had a winner:
Our logo developments always include 3 rounds of amends with plenty of concepts to choose from, and we were delighted to deliver a logo that the client and market loved. We were very excited when we finally saw the logo on a box of strawberries, ready to go in the shops.
“Lydia and her team came up with a really great range of concepts based on my initial brief. Feedback was driven by my customers of course and it surprised me how valuable each round of amendments was in arriving at a final design that you can be sure is right for your market.”
If you’re ever in Hong Kong, look out for these very special strawberries, and other fruit and veg, coming soon!
