The Original West Coast Pickle
CHALLENGE
Bradley Bennett, founder and Chief Pickle of Pacific Pickle Works, began making his spicy blend of pickles in college. After years of giving pickles to friends and family for Christmas and receiving nudges to sell them, he quit his high-tech day job and started Pacific Pickle Works.
With the company name registered, Bradley needed a brand platform and an identity system with logo and packaging that would stand out on the shelf and reflect his personal story.
CLIENT
PACIFIC PICKLE WORKS
PROJECT
BRAND STRATEGY
BRAND IDENTITY
PACKAGING
STRATEGY
Insight: The market for small batch, gourmet pickles wasn’t saturated yet, and consumer desire for food products that are are good for you – including fresh, natural, and organic – was high and growing fast. Demand for local brands that ethically source their ingredients and commit to sustainable practices was also on the rise.
Solution: We drew upon elements of Brad’s home town of Santa Barbara, a beach town with a modern yet retro vibe, to create the brand identity. We embedded Brad’s all natural and hand packed promise prominently in the logo, and featured “Santa Barbara, CA” to communicate his roots to local consumers and to leverage California’s reputation for high quality to consumers outside of California, and we dedicated space on the packaging for organic and related notes.
The design strategy included a color palette that had high taste appeal, room for line extensions, and worked well with the logo. The design system enabled the product to stand out on the shelf and distinguish the products from each other. Witty product names and copy captured a personal, friendly, and slightly edgy sentiment, a reflection of Brad’s personality, and served to capture consumer attention in an approachable and engaging way.
With the success of his pickles, Brad extended his product line to include three award winning cocktail mixing elixirs. The design strategy for the elixir packaging leveraged the pickles in order to build equity and maintain brand consistency, and layered on a vintage vibe to differentiate the lines and give it its own unique personality.
