Background
Our relationship with Kashi began in 2002, when Kashi was considered a cereal company and were focusing their efforts on touting the functional benefits of the ingredients they put in their products. However, the company had a strong vision and ethos of healthy living and knew it could grow beyond the cereal aisle.
Solution
To expand on Kashi's mission to be the premier brand in healthy offerings, we conducted an extensive review of the myriad of Kashi brands and designs and set about to create a cohesive brand platform for the line of products and for the company itself. We worked with Kashi to synthesize research findings and in-depth category audits to arrive at our strategy: frame the Kashi offering as a winning combination of healthfulness and tastiness, and ensure that this idea is expressed consistently in the brand identity and packaging.
We took their tagline, Seven Whole Grains & Sesame, which focused on the ingredients, and evolved it to Seven Whole Grains Company, which focused on the people of Kashi and their commitment to deliver tasty, healthy food. We then created a masterbrand identity for them that helped to unify all of their products.
We gave the logo an organic shape and color, rich textured edges, and a hand-drawn wheat sprig. To stage the logo on collateral and packaging, we designed a versatile visual system that uses lots of white space to communicate purity and honesty. To create a Kashi business card that reflected their culture, we developed a noncorporate verbal tone and found an innovative way to include a coupon without wasting paper.
For their first venture into the snack food aisle, we produced Tasty Little Crackers (TLC), their most successful launch at that time. We then extended the line to include Tasty Little Chewies (snack bars) and Tasty Little Cookies. TLC has since become the leader in healthy snacks.
We also evolved GOLEAN, Kashi's most successful line. While the business was strong, Kashi felt that the GOLEAN packaging did not communicate the brand's values. We executed an extensive overhaul of the brand to better represent Kashi's belief that weight management was both attainable and sustainable by creating the brand idea of Balance and reflecting it in the design.
Results
Since embarking on our first project with Kashi, we have become the Branding Agency of Record for the entire company. In addition to TLC and GOLEAN, we have extended and further developed the Kashi visual system to subbrands such as Heart to Heart, Organic Promise, Mighty Bites, Vive, Kashi U, and the Kashi master line. We have also helped them further their reach out of the cereal aisle by creating a brand platform that helps them expand into frozen foods (Kashi Frozen Pizzas & Entrees) and fruit snacks (Stretch Island Fruit, FruitaBü).
This work has yielded a global consumer response that has propelled Kashi to the forefront of healthy lifestyle brands.
Internal & External Research
Review Business Strategy
Competitive Audit
Category Analysis
Stakeholder Interviews
Touchpoint Analysis
Brand Platform
Brand Architecture
Brand Story
Corporate Identity
Brand Identity System
Content Development
Collateral Systems
Internal Brand Education & Training
Brand Asset Finalization
Mechanical Production
Standards Development
Launch Plans
Brand Stewardship
