Making the Competition Pucker
Background
Ice Breakers Sours’ sales started to decline dramatically (-22%) due to increased competitive innovation. There was no reason to believe, however, that the sour flavor profile had lost relevance with consumers. Through research, it was determined that the decline could potentially be reversed through product assortment optimization and packaging redesign. The consumer target profile was also refined to skew slightly more female and older than initially speculated. It was an ideal opportunity to optimize the Ice Breakers Sours portfolio graphics to better engage the newly identified target consumer and regain market share.
Solution
Soulsight was challenged to visually communicate to discerning consumers and retailers that Ice Breakers Sours products are improved in a big way (“back and better than ever!”) and to revitalize the Ice Breakers Sours brand while maintaining the brand character and Ice Breakers’ “shine” equity on-pack.
Results
Soulsight’s strategy included refining the brand character and archetype. It was determined that the brand personality could be more sophisticated and should be portrayed as a vibrant, stylish friend who likes to have fun and be the life of the party.
Our design exploratory focused on introducing the core consumer, and the newly refined target, to a fun, sophisticated sour candy with a contemporary design attitude.
By refining the brandmark, incorporating stylized illustration and using bold colors and transparent ink over metallic foil, we successfully communicated the vibrancy of the brand character and leveraged the “shine” equity of the brand in a more relevant and contemporary way.
