Package Design | packagedesignmag.com

(February 2010) posted on Wed Mar 10, 2010

By Ron Romanik

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In 2006, Supervalu made a deliberate decision to shift from “private label” brands to “private brands” with labels. With the help of San Francisco-based Deutsch Design Works (DDW), the resulting Wild Harvest natural and organic brand was so successful that they had the confidence last year to rethink several other private brands completely.

The company position, as Theresa Scripps, director of client services at DDW explains it, shifted from a buying organization to a selling organization. And when Supervalu last year looked at one particular private brand, Stone Ridge Creamery, it was clear that it was not living up to the new standard that Wild Harvest set.

The DDW brand exploration started with concepts built upon specific brand platforms, such as farmer’s market, Martha Stewart friendliness, modern heritage (think: Levi’s), and “lifestyle,” that were proofed out in rounds of discussion with Supervalu and in consumer testing. The background of the previous Stone Ridge Creamery ice cream package featured a dark gray stone wall. The starkly lighter new package
is built on an ice cream cone concept and a modernized retro ice cream parlor motif.

“Everyone has a sense of reminiscing when they think about ice cream parlors,” says Scripps. Bringing the brand to life through graphics, the design goal was to be both modern and everyday.

In order to ensure success without any marketing support to speak of, the Stone Ridge Creamery package design architecture had to be flexible for multiple levels of line segmentation. For instance, a light green background indicates the fat-free sherbet line, and a purer white background indicates a light-churned variety.

The recent Stone Ridge brand extension, named Tart, capitalized on the frozen yogurt craze sweeping the country. “Innovation is really the key for private label success,” says Scripps. “We wanted our designs to reflect Stone Ridge Creamery’s assets while still targeting the young and hip.”
Supervalu also radically modernized its SuperChill line of carbonated beverages while trying to appeal to teens and Moms simultaneously with a national brand equaling “image” with “badge” appeal. “We felt that we could get to the moms after first capturing the teen and tween boys,” Scripps explains. The design objective was to create a brand image that was “cool” enough to carry a reflection of the status-conscious
buyer.