Dow Design puts sparkle back into L&P branding

30 July 2012

Dow Design puts sparkle back into L&P branding

Iconic soft drink, Lemon & Paeroa (L&P), has been revitalised at the hands of brand design specialists, Dow Design. The ‘World Famous in New Zealand’ brand’s fresh, contemporary makeover aims to make the lemony drink a more compelling choice.

While L&P remains an enduring and much loved favourite with Kiwis – its Facebook page has over 184,000 likes and a recent Reader’s Digest survey lists L&P the seventh most trusted brand in New Zealand – nostalgia for the brand was beginning to outstrip its appeal as a thirst quencher.

To update the brand’s image, Dow Design was asked to put the verve back into L&P’s packaging design with the aim of giving it a more current look and feel that especially connects with today’s younger generation.

Dow’s brief was to leave the brand clearly recognisable to its consumers as the L&P ‘they know and love’. As a result, the rebranding holds on to the brand’s iconic elements, while creating a stronger focus on L&P’s unique taste and refreshment promise.

Dow’s brief also included delivering stronger shelf impact, to provide overall greater stand out. “While maintaining all the vital historical elements, the revitalised brand design gives L&P a more impactful in-store presence,” says Dow Design Account Director, Stephanie Perrett. “It has gone from retro brown and laid back to fresh, bright and bold to appeal to Kiwi youth.”

Stephanie explains that though L&P is a well-loved brand with a long history and tradition, it had of late become less relevant to younger consumers. “Sales were simply not matching the amazing affection and loyalty the brand enjoys.”

“When working with such an iconic brand that has been around for over 100 years, one of the challenges is finding the right balance between modernity and brand heritage,” says Coca Cola Amatil’s Senior Brand Manager, Leigh Moss. “As consumers are very fond of L&P, they are more resistant to change, so we had to ensure that the update wasn’t too radical and still retained familiar elements.”

“Because L&P is such a well-known and loved New Zealand brand, we had to have a good hard look at which aspects to keep and which to let go,” says Dow Design’s Creative Director, Donna McCort.

“Our biggest challenge was to inject some exciting news into the brand without seeming to change its essential characteristics and its iconic status. While conveying the essence of the product, the new L&P design clearly sets it apart from its competitors on busy retail shelves.”

Part of the brief was also to communicate more vigorously its lemon flavour and refreshment. This has resulted in updating the iconic lemon symbol for clarity and impact, and retaining the New Zealand map which has been re-energised with a series of tiny effervescent lemon slices. To underline the flavour and refreshment messages, the rebrand is underscored by the raffish statement ‘Good Lemonish Stuff’.

The new L&P packaging is available in many formats and will hit the shelves in August.

Established in 1993 by Annie Dow, Dow Design creates brands that people love and connect with. They are known for bridging the gap between cutting edge design and commercial sense.

As well as work on such well-known New Zealand brands as Columbine, DB Export, Hellers, Stafix, Fresh’n Fruity, Kapiti cheese, Primo and Vogel’s bread, Dow Design has also created corporate identities for brands including Veda Advantage, Kellands Real Estate and Robert Harris.

ENDS

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