BRAND INCEPTION • BRAND STRATEGY • ART DIRECTION • ILLUSTRATION • COPYWRITING • WEBSITE
Working with startups can be a fascinating journey to uncover the heart and soul of a brand new brand. In this case, we were asked to create an identity, including the packaging system, for a functional beverage made from aronia berries.
Aronia berries?
They were a mystery to us as well. But this humble little berry is loaded with free-radical fighting antioxidants and a host of other nutrients. It’s also purple and adorable.
The beverage came to us with a name, Tohi, and two founders who are dedicated to empowered self-awareness and healthy living. We worked with them to understand the world of functional beverages and together we built the brand strategy platform including core values, core purpose, brand positioning and Tohi customer personas that guided the brand personality and voice. This work informed the design development.
Anyone standing in front of a drink aisle will agree that there are thousands of choices and they all resemble each other in many ways. Tohi fits neatly into the “clean label” trend with just a few simple ingredients. Inspired by this simplicity, we stripped away much of the hoopla to create a clean, refreshing label for a clean, refreshing beverage.
An infographic on the can quickly illustrates the benefits of the antioxidants that are bursting from the aronia berry.
Because aronia berries are largely unknown, we created a campaign to educate the consumer in a fun, memorable way.
A series of GIFs and illustrations with copy are used on packaging, web, sales materials and social to bring the brand story to life.
We extended the new identity across all touchpoints including the Tohi website.
Since the launch, Tohi has secured partnerships with major league soccer club Sporting Kansas City as the club’s preferred healthy lifestyle beverage as well as sponsorships with athletes across the spectrum from the NBA, MLB, MLS and the Olympics.
The brand can be found at grocery stores, Amazon and has recently been introduced at Walmart.
Visit the Tohi website for more information.
