Packing a punch!

We're always talking to our clients about the value of branding and what good design can do to benefit their turnover. But it's not always easy to quantify. So when you speak to a client who is reaping the benefit of the work you've done for them it is REALLY satisfying!



I had a great conversation with Rona at Higher Fingle Farm on Friday. They are an award-winning organic farm in Devon and we worked with them last year to create a brand for their business, to support the launch of their duck eggs. (You can read more about the project here).

The eggs went into the shops in March, including Waitrose stores at Okehampton, Saltash, Torquay, Holsworthy and Sidmouth. Sales have gone well - and they're comfortably hitting their weekly targets. At Darts Farm Shop in Topsham they sold out on the first day and they're consistently outselling the competition ever since. When Rona asked Darts Farm what they thought the reason for this was they replied 'It's the packaging'.

The value of good packaging is reinforced by this quote from the Innocent book: Our story and some of the things we've learned. 'The second most important thing to get right after the actual product is the way it is packaged.'

Brand new pies!

I had a brief trip to Westpoint in Exeter today to visit the Taste of the West Trade Show. One of our clients - G Free - was exhibiting at the show and taking the opportunity to unveil their new range of products to industry buyers. G Free are a specialist bakery, producing a range of wheat and gluten free product. We have been working with them to create a brand for their new range of speciality pies. They began working with us because they want to make their products appeal to a wider audience. Our work has included creating a name for the brand and developing packaging designs. We look forward to revealing more when the brand is launched to the public!

If you would like to see some more examples of how we help our clients achieve their objectives, visit www.alderandalder.co.uk

Packaging for award-winning organic farm

Today's been an exciting day, as I had the opportunity to go and take a look at some packaging we've designed in Waitrose! We've been working with an award-winning organic farm in Devon, Higher Fingle Farm. Last year Nevil and Rona at Higher Fingle won the title of 'Food Champion of the Year' in a competition run by Country Living Magazine and Waitrose supermarket. As part of their prize their products are being stocked in local Waitrose stores, at Sidmouth and Okehampton, so as I was passing Sidmouth today I took the opportunity to go and take a look!



Higher Fingle Farm produce organic poultry and duck eggs. They approached us last year to work with them to create a brand for Higher Fingle Farm, to help them exploit the opportunity that the award win had presented. Our brief was to develop an identity which would include the packaging for their duck meat and eggs, and could be applied to their website, so that they can build the profile of the Higher Fingle Farm brand.

A brand should reflect the personality of a business - what it is that makes it different - and a farm is no different. At Higher Fingle Farm it's all about family, because it's not just Nevil and Rona that are involved, but all five of the children too! So we took this as the foundation for the visual identity, from the look of the logo, to the strapline we created: A family farm in Devon.



Elsa is the eldest of the children, and was instrumental in winning the 'Food Champion of the Year' award. It was her idea to start selling the duck eggs, so Elsa's Organic Duck Eggs was born, making Elsa - as a 10 year old - the youngest supplier to a UK supermarket! Elsa's Organic Duck Eggs is a sub-brand of Higher Fingle Farm, so we wanted to create an identity that had it's own personality, but visually was clearly related to the parent, to help raise the profile and increase recognition.



Nevil and Rona have been farming - very successfully - since 2001, but selling their produce directly through a supermarket is a new experience, with new challenges. They recognised the importance of creating a brand, to raise their profile and create loyalty in their target market.

Rona says, "We are very pleased with our new identity. It is clean, bright and different. We have been able to use it in many ways... and hopefully it will mean our business can compete with the other products on the shelf. It was great to use a friendly, local business, that had a genuine interest in our products and what we are trying to achieve."

With sales of organic products dropping it's a challenging time, but Waitrose may be better placed to face that challenge, as a survey by BBC's Watchdog found they were the UK's favourite supermarket with 21% of the vote, ahead of Sainsbury's and Tesco. You can find Higher Fingle Farm organic duck eggs in Waitrose at Sidmouth and Okehampton, or you can visit the Higher Fingle Farm website and buy online.

If you would like to see some examples of other logos and brand development work, take a look at our website: www.alderandalder.co.uk.