Designing the packaging and vehicle wraps for a new brand of entirely natural fruit drink beverage called Earth Wise. I love the overlook and feel of the package with its soft background tones to enhance the fruits’ appetite appeal. The font choices also appear to have a neutral organic rhythm to them. Truly, a great start for a new brand! "Johanna Foods, Inc. has announced the debut of “Earth Wise,” a new brand of entirely natural fruit drink beverages (with initial shipping scheduled for June 2009). Earth Wise’s premium beverage line includes four unique and refreshing flavors in 64 oz gable-top cartons: Watermelon Supreme, Harvest Lemonade, Passionfruit Aloe, and Pomegranate Blueberry. Key to the brand’s uniqueness is the visually striking and attention-grabbing brand identity and packaging, handled by New Jersey/California-based agency, Smith Design.“Earth Wise brand beverages really answer current consumer, food and marketing trends,” said Karen Prongay, VP Marketing at Johanna Foods. “No HFCS, Superfruits, and high overall juice content.”Using only natural ingredients, and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, Earth Wise products are sweetened with pure, natural sugar, and no high-fructose corn syrup, and are gluten-free. Further ensuring strong appeal with a growing multitude of health-minded consumers, they contain up to 25% real fruit juice, significantly more than other leading drink brands. Earth Wise products incorporate the power of superfruits into flavors like Passionfruit Aloe, Pomegranate Blueberry & Watermelon Supreme. Its popularity has exploded in recent years as consumers have come to understand their health benefits.“Using the illustrated fruit images on each package was key to presenting a healthful image on the shelf,” said James Smith, founding partner of Smith Design.“Johanna Foods marketing team was seeking a simple, fresh, optimistic design that really played up the brand’s benefits, as well as the environmental message of Earth Wise,” added Martha Seidner, VP of Smith Design who lead the upfront research and creative development teams at Smith Design. “The brand owner was clear with the objective: superior shelf presence against the entire chilled juice segment.“We were challenged to deliver something new and distinctive - and to avoid ‘modern - minimalist,’ which has become commonplace in packaged foods and is often confused with ‘store brand.’ We believe that approach has lead to the dilution of visual equity of once-important national brands, leaving them vulnerable.”According to Seidner, Smith Design’s process included an extensive discovery phase where it conducted visual audits of a range of juice shelf sets - from chilled to shelf-stable. “The design team uncovered predominant themes that we feel are over-saturated in the category, making what was once unique, appear ordinary,” said Seidner. Smith Design identified key themes in the juice arena including: “Euro-clean & modern,” “mainstream, everyday-naturals,” “premium organic,” “exotic-world-cultures,” and “authentic-local.” Each of the design team’s approaches was reviewed against the key brands in their visual branding.“The result of the upfront strategic work, audits and analysis lead to a very powerful, ownable design,” said Seidner. “With the recent Tropicana debacle, the importance of creating and maintaining compelling, ownable visual branding is top-of-mind for our clients."According to Johanna Foods, the early retailer response has been very favorable to the line. It is currently on the shelf in hundreds of Market Basket and ShopRite supermarkets and will soon be available at A & P, Pathmark, and other chains. “When the cartons are lined up on the shelf, that’s the true test.” continued Seidner. “Earth Wise packaging speaks to consumers expectation for premium package design aesthetics – regardless of the price point.”Earth Wise products also boast “earth-friendly” production methods, ingredients and packaging, guaranteeing strong appeal with environmentally-conscious consumers. Chilled cartons are certified as recyclable wherever applicable recycling exists (werecyclecartons.com). As part of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Earth Wise has pledged to plant 1.5 trees for every tree harvested. The brand will be supported by a diverse marketing program, including FSI’s, promotional Smart cars and full graphic trailer wraps, also handled by Smith Design.
