IT’S over 40 years since Helen Dean began baking her melt-in-the-mouth shortbread in her Huntly kitchen to help raise funds for the local pipe band, where her husband Bill was Drum Major.
Although Helen’s much-loved shortbread recipe remains unchanged, the business has recently undergone a major rebranding exercise and is now rolling out a much fresher, more contemporary look across its entire product range.
Reflecting on this, and having overseen brand refreshes in the past (this will be our fourth in the company’s history), it is clear to see the importance of branding when it comes to food, particularly with this most recent exercise which has seen us position the product as the hero and put it centre stage on our packaging.
In conducting a branding exercise, it is hugely important that appropriate research is carried out, whether that is across competitors and the industry or with consumers.
We regularly invest in research to establish exactly what our brand is communicating to our customers, and how we might want to make our brand message stronger.
This feedback is vital and results are always very interesting – clearly showing what resonates with consumers and what is important to them when purchasing.
We conduct thorough research every seven years.
It is important to ask customers for their views, as the messages we are trying to give with our branding may be interpreted differently.
Our most recent research has provided us with a clear direction for moving the brand forward – maintaining the strong, premium, family brand values, but placing the emphasis on the products themselves by moving them centre stage.
When developing or refreshing any brand, it is vital to work with a design team that understands and resonates with your brand and products and the messaging and proposition that you are building around it.
We have worked closely with the same agency since the very early days and they understand the Dean’s brand inside and out.
As well as creating a cleaner, fresher design with much improved on-shelf impact, they put great emphasis on creating excellent product photography – the product is now the “hero”, which is exactly what our customers were looking for.
As well as moving a brand forward with a refreshed look and feel, it is also important to consider the brand evolution.
Again, following market research, we understood that Dean’s was still recognised for its strong family values and, with the family business still firmly behind us, we wanted to incorporate this into the brand message – reflecting the company as it is handed down to the next generation.
Since Dean’s began, all pack designs have included a small illustration of Helen Dean in her kitchen with a quote from her about her recipes.
We have subtly altered this illustration to include our managing director Bill Dean (Helen’s son), as a young boy, in the kitchen with his mum.
The accompanying quotation now comes from Bill as he talks about his memories of his mum baking shortbread.
It’s a genuine story of the passing of skills down through the generations, family connections that are an essential part of Dean’s brand heritage.