Tag Archives: food packaging design

Graphis honors MOI for brand work.

We are pleased to announce that our branding work for Bellwether Farms has been awarded a Gold Award in Graphis Branding 6.

Graphis Branding 6 presents the work of some of the biggest names in design today. Hundreds of images from the year’s award-winning branding campaigns are displayed in a lavishly produced publication and on their website. Graphis publishes the world’s most significant and influential works from the greatest talent in Design, Advertising, and Photography.

49 design agencies from 18 countries (22 from the USA) were selected for Platinum and Gold awards. Only three firms from California were recipients. To see all of the award-winning work for Bellwether Farms, visit: http://www.graphis.com/entry/d02e2090-4b30-11e2-a2c9-f23c91dffdec/

Selections of the work of Mark Oliver, Inc. are in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. It has received more than 450 international and national awards. Mr. Oliver is a recipient of the AIGA/Santa Barbara Fellow recognition. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Brooks Institute http://www.brooks.edu/.

Bellwether Farms branding & packaging: a short case study.

Bellwether Farms branding

“The teller of stories has everywhere and always found eager listeners” Stith Thompson, “The Folktale”

Bellwether Farms Yogurt Flexo printed yogurt cups.

Bellwether Farms is California’s original sheep dairy. The family-owned creamery, located in the hills of western Sonoma County, is an award-winning pioneer in the production of sheep and cow milk aged farmstead cheeses and yogurts. The objective for the team at MOI (Mark Oliver, Inc.) was to create a memorable branding program that projected the character of the Callahan family farm and the artisan quality of the products.

Bellwether Farms Ricotta A sleeve over the cup creates a prominent billboard. A warm ivory color adds to the natural look of the line.

Our solution was to create a brand story which conveyed the hand-crafted qualities of the products. The use of charming illustrations and a muted color palette had the advantage of not only reflecting the values of the country farm, it also kept the reproduction to an affordable three-colors. The art was easily reproduced on a variety of structures and stocks using flexography or lithography. It graphically stands out on a web page.

Bellwether Farms Creme Fraiche The lid of the cup is printed so the product can be identified once opened.

Bellwether Farms Fromage Blanc

But mainly, we created a stylish and approachable brand which stood out from a crowd of look-alike products. We went the opposite direction from the competition. We zigged when everyone else zagged.

Since the rollout of the brand and packaging, Bellwether Farms has grown to be one of the most successful producers of artisan cheeses and yogurts in the country. As an added bonus, the branding and design have been recognized with dozens of awards from every major magazine, website, and competition, receiving most recently a Gold Award for branding from Graphis.

Bellwether Farms Cheese Wheels These artisan cheese wheels are shipped whole to specialty shops and retailers. After considerable searching, we found a food-grade paper stock that was opaque enough to print on, that would also adhere to the surface of the cheese, and could easily be cut without tearing. The cheeses are sliced along the radiating lines, providing the consumer with a brand label on the piece they take home.

Credits: Illustrations by Sudi McCollum; photography by Alan Campbell and Eric Gordon. Photography © of the photographers.

Tarazi Falafel Mix: Making something old new again.

Tarazai is found in specialty and ethnic food stores nationwide. For the past 40 years, consumers have used the traditional middle eastern mix of ground chickpeas and fava beans to recreate the familiar dishes they grew up with or left behind in their native countries.

But not long ago a funny thing happened. Falafel began showing up in restaurants and food trucks in places like New York City. A generation of new users is emerging eager to consume at home the foods they’ve grown to enjoy when eating out, or during travels abroad.

The management at Tarazi noticed the increase in interest in Falafel and asked MOI to help them expand the brand appeal to new markets. The challenge for the team at MOI was to refresh the brand to appeal to the new consumer while not alienating the old one.

An additional challenge the team discovered was the need to separate the product from “protein substitute” products. Research showed that traditional consumers and younger ones alike were attracted to the product because of its great taste and traditional nature, not because it made a good veggie burger or meat substitute.

Falafel and vegetables tumbling into the open pita signify the fresh taste experience consumers expect while portraying the well-known use of Falafel. Reference to meat substitutes was dropped, and copy was added on the benefits of the product.

The trademark was redrawn with proper letterforms, but retained the feel of the old logo for past consumers. The crisp and clean presentation sets the product apart from others in the ethnic foods section.

As agency CEO Mark Oliver noted, “this refreshing design creates the impact and interest to pull a consumer to a great old product, now new again.”