Tesco choose Honey for finest* rebrand
The UK’s biggest brand appoint Honey as the lead agency in the rebrand of their finest* range, which resulted in a £420 million uplift in sales.
We worked on: Brand Identity | Packaging | In-store Communications
Tesco finest*
Tesco finest* was the biggest brand in the UK turning over £1.2 billion when they asked us to be the lead agency in a massive redesign of their famous premium range. The brand was in its 15th year and was so established that it had become the UK’s favourite premium own label – but we identified a potential problem. A brand name like finest* needed to be about finest ingredients, finest recipes and finest selection; instead it had become more ‘look at me, I’m the best’. Tesco appointed Honey to lead an ambitious redesign project that would mark the biggest investment in finest* since its launch in 1998.
Brand snobs would argue that supermarket brands are not ‘real’ brands. We disagree. finest* still needs to justify a premium and create a consistent brand personality across their range. And the finest* range encompasses a daunting 1,600 SKUs, with ambitions to grow, so we had a much bigger challenge than we would with a more conventional rebrand. In fact, the project was so massive that it was decided to line up three other design agencies, to help implement our design strategy across the full range of SKUs.
We explored the existing finest* packaging and found that it no longer reflected the quality and origin of the ingredients. There was a lack of differentiation across the SKUs, and the reliance on flashy food photography had weakened the storytelling and brand identity. We wanted to create an overall look and feel that would bring to life the artisan qualities and individual personalities behind the products and suppliers.
The finest* brand falls into the ‘little treats’ category and had the potential to do very well in austere times, because people can’t afford bigger treats like eating out. So how could we make finest* an irresistible treat for consumers? Research showed us that consumers at this level were becoming more ethically aware and wanted to know the origin of the food on their plates, so this became core to our strategy.
We also needed to make sure the packaging focused on tangible signals of quality such as difference and discovery. We did this by telling consumers about the locality of the food and the people behind the ingredients – the artisan skills involved, the heritage and the provenance. This was communicated through storytelling, packaging copy, titles, and labels. It was a massive success with consumers.
The new branding needed to adopt a flexible structure to allow the range of SKUs to keep expanding. Ready meals were our main challenge, so we started by coming up with a design that quickly and clearly identified the different ethnicities and product types. Colour was used to split the different product lines, such as metallic grey for Indian food, and Terracotta for casseroles and hearty dishes.
26%
In-store promotion of 1,600 rebranded SKUs increased sales by 26% in the first month.
The rebrand included several significant changes to the overall identify. We changed the logo by replacing the capital “F” with a lower case and adding an asterisk to refresh the brand image and communicate quality. We also refocused the food photography, making the ingredients the hero of the story.
Logo was modernised to reflect the brand’s premium quality.
Artisan skills and origin of the food communicated through storytelling.
Silver on packaging was changed to silver foil to emphasise the colour palette.
Food photography removed and base packaging improved to reduce cost.
Colours used so product lines could be quickly and easily identified.
Every product was then anonymously tested without the branding with research groups before being approved by Tesco’s senior management. This was to make sure that the new finest* range lived up to the brand promise.
We managed the entire project, from initial brief through to the main launch. The journey involved us project managing hundreds of suppliers and leading the rebrand of 1,600 SKUs before the new brand reached the shelves in 2013. The reaction was unanimously positive, strengthening the Tesco finest* premium brand against rival brands from other retailers.
There was an above average increase in year-on-year sales and some of the products were category defining and hugely successful, achieving sales increases as high as 50%. The finest* rebrand was such a strong investment that we are currently working with Tesco to help them to take the brand essence of finest* overseas to emerging markets such as Asia.