Until fairly recently, many ‘armchair entrepreneurs’ — despite the success of their inventions — were regarded with a touch of humour and humility…Until, that is, Innocent, Dyson and Method to name just a few gained the creative and commercial recognition for their brand innovations.
Today, there is a new, growing and truly sparkling generation of entrepreneurial brands that — brand and consumer alike — we emulate and aspire to and which have taken hold of and are shaping the markets in a way never seen before. These brands are anything but armchair bound. They are challengers. They have a clear purpose to bring about change and – with design being the living embodiment of change – understand that this is where the opportunity lies to challenge existing norms and conventions to create a new brand design landscape for a new age.
These challengers are defined by their simplicity, originality and expression of a new idea but recently we have been starting to see yet another incarnation of the entrepreneurial and challenger brands with a re-focus on – or re-surgence of — the artisanal.
Green & Blacks was the original artisan chocolate brand that has become the leading iconic and luxury chocolate brand and there are very many snapping at its heels…so with Easter just around the corner – and a mass of ‘samey’ eggs appearing on shelves — I thought I would look at some of the other beautifully designed artisan sweet treats coming onto the market.
Pandora Bell is an artisan confectionery brand from the West of Ireland. The Pandora Bell Real Eggshell filled with Praline Chocolate is just exquisite. The highest quality chocolate moulded to perfection in a real shell – authentic, green, each product unique… And, for that extra special touch you can create your own Easter Basket with the eggs laid on a bed of straw. Other award-winning products from the brand – such as the flavoured Nougat range — are also exquisitely produced and packaged with vintage style packaging with the logotype, silhouette and patterns used in varying degrees across the packaging and executed in a range of finishes from foil to screenprinting.
At the other end of the scale is Schokoleim — a chocolate paste in a classic wood glue bottle from The Deli Garage which offers artisanal delicacies with high quality design and functionality of tools found in a garage. The brand concept is quirky in the extreme but works and the range of design – both graphic and structural – is based on ease of use, fun and simplicity.
Brooklyn based Whimsy & Spice is one of a growing number of fabulous artisan food brands coming out of this corner of the US — a husband and wife team making handmade sweets and baked goods that combine aromatic spices and unique flavours with a truly homely and handcrafted packaging to match.
From the exquisitely beautiful and sophisticated to the novel and playful to the homely and handcrafted…there are no rules because these artisan brands are about showcasing the move away from mass luxury to this true artisan, unique and intimate ‘specialness’.
There are some fantastic new entrepreneurial brands — in all sectors not just confectionery — popping up that are embracing the artisanal approach of valuing personal attention to detail and individuality in the experiences they create from product to packaging to promotion. But, it will be particularly interesting to see if – and how – the big brands try to harness this move away from the mass in the positioning and packaging of their individual products and their global retail environments.
Jonathan Ford, Creative Partner Pearlfisher