USER PROBLEM

The involved home-cook looking for both taste and health struggles to enjoy food the way it’s meant to be enjoyed because of top of mind concerns around sourcing, safety, and lack of standards.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

With a desire to expand their private label portfolio, Safeway was looking to drive traffic and loyalty by developing a differentiated natural offering to serve as a proof-point of “Ingredients for Life.” Further, they looked to capitalize on “natural” and “real” food trends to deliver better taste and nutrition, and boost food-involved shoppers’ confidence in Safeway’s offerings.

APPROACH

We designed Open Nature to disrupt the natural category—delivering integrity and honesty by printing ingredient labels on the front of pack. To support its bold creative execution, it was critical to dimensionalize the brand’s target consumer and clearly articulate elements of the brand guidelines to ensure consistent activation of the new brand’s promise in marketing and messaging. I brought the brand’s personality and voice to life by delivering powerful visual analogies and actionable guidance on communication.

OUTCOMES

In its initial launch, the brand brought over 100 new products to categories ranging from frozen pizzas to meats and cereals to dressings, all made with 100% natural ingredients from natural sources and nothing artificial. After acquiring Safeway in 2015, Albertsons saw even greater growth potential in the brand, calling Open Nature its “next billion-dollar brand.” As such, the grocer saw an opportunity to embark on a redesign to keep up with the evolution of the natural category as it matured.

RESPONSIBILITIES & KEY ACTIVITIES

Category Audit
Design Audit
Consumer Profiles
Brand Guidelines
Product Guardrails