Flahavan's
The mission
Flahavan’s is a beloved Irish heritage brand with a pedigree that reaches back to the late 1700s. That longevity, along with their unwavering commitment to honesty, quality, and sustainability, has translated to a very special relationship with their consumer base. From a branding and design perspective, the challenge is to stay true to that brand equity and be nimble enough to embrace new opportunities and audiences as they arise.
Neworld has been by their side on a wide variety of projects over the course of the last decade, from an initial rebranding of some of their flagship products, through an ongoing series of new product development and packaging processes, and onto the launch and expansion of a major website redevelopment in recent years. The common thread running through all of these engagements has been Flahavan’s desire to find new ways to nourish their customers while finding new customers to nourish.
The question
How do you future-proof a heritage brand?
Flahavan’s invest heavily in market research and monitor consumer trends in order to uncover potential new product categories, but they are always conscious of maintaining and respecting the original customers and products at the heart of their success. No matter what we’re working on, our job is always to help them develop a brand strategy that stays true to their roots while opening the doors to exciting new market segments: most recently, healthy snacking and breakfast products aimed at younger generations, from growing children to busy millennials.
Nostalgia is a big part of a brand like this, but it’s never the whole story, so we’re constantly looking at the design through a contemporary lens and asking, “what’s relevant right now?” Whenever we approach a new packaging or website update for Flahavan’s, their brand values of honesty and openness take centre stage.
The process
From a packaging perspective, when Flahavan’s comes to us with a new product we make sure that each package design has a distinct personality and character of its own that also sits comfortably beneath the master brand. The result is a visual language that has been extended across all their packaging, their advertising campaigns, their website, and their social media presence, communicating at a glance what Flahavan’s is all about.
When it came time to launch a new website for the brand, we knew that this was an opportunity to invite people deeper into Flahavan’s brand identity. Visually, it was a much more contemporary presentation and on a usability level, the new information architecture our digital team created really told the story of the brand as a local hero.
The second phase of the website project was bringing an e-commerce platform to the site, allowing them to create a series of gift hampers, and to launch a line of gifting items and merchandise, such as wooden spoons and aprons. It was a sweet continuation of their heritage and brand identity, tying into their old on-pack promotions from years ago, activating nostalgia in their original customers while building memories for a new generation.
The transformation
Over this series of projects, Neworld has helped Flahavan’s to rejuvenate their brand and bring on a younger audience while still maintaining the trust of their existing customer base. We’ve designed new packaging for many products within the range to make them more relevant and fit for purpose for consumers in Ireland and internationally. Above all, we’ve built a lot of trust, which is one of the most valuable and exciting outcomes of a long working relationship. When you build that kind of trust between a client and an agency, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.
