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Ice cream, you scream

With the sun splitting the stones here in Dungarvan over the last few weeks, our team have become quite the Ice Cream connoisseurs.Our regular coffee runs for the team have been replaced with Ice Cream runs. And it’s really got us focused and talking about food packaging and branding (sadly, it’s what happens when you hand a group of creatives a load of new products).

But our conversations haven’t just been about which packaging we prefer and why. They have been about food branding more generally. And how, when you are looking at making your brand stand out, the focus is shifting away from making the packaging and POS scream out on shelf. And much more towards making it scream out on social media.

So here's the scoop…

For food brands, in particular, it’s all about the Instagramability.

And Van Leeuwan Ice Cream have tapped into this in a big way with their rebrand. Their agency, Pentagram, stripped out all the visual noise that you’d typically find with Ice Cream brands, all trying to scream out louder on (freezer) shelf than their competitors.

Instead they used minimal graphic elements and an appealing colour palette, with vivid hues inspired by the flavours, to reflect the purity of the ingredients. The distinctive use of colour allowed customers to quickly identify flavours, but most importantly, the luscious colours practically demanded to be snapped and posted on social media.

It's a strategy that works…

Redesigning your packaging for social media, is a very deliberate strategy. And for brands like #VanLeeuwenIceCream it is a strategy that has worked. Their sales have increased by over 50%.

And this highlights a huge opportunity for new food start-ups and for existing food brands looking towards rebranding. Van Leeuwen co-founder Laura O’Neill said since the re-brand, they’ve had people feeding back to them that “we bought this because it looks pretty, and it tastes great!”.

So, is your brand focused enough on aesthetics? How Instagramable are your products? Is it time for a little more of a shout out online? It’s food for thought on a sunny afternoon, anyway.