DEERFIELD BEACH, FL - When it comes to growing a brand in a competitive market, positioning is everything. Freshmade specializes in identifying opportunities in the fresh perimeter by focusing on what it calls "true brand relevance." I recently got in touch with Vanessa Doll, Director of Client Services, to get a sneak peek into how the agency creates a winning design for its fresh produce clientele.

“Our core principles lie in the belief that there is a sweet spot between disruption and relevance, and tapping into that spot is the key to successful growth,” Vanessa tells me. “A winning produce brand must differentiate itself while still maintaining broad appeal. It’s our mission to identify that spot for every brand we work with.”

The agency uses a simple approach that keeps communications easy and encourages client participation. Freshmade’s process includes steps such as brand assessment, intelligence gathering, and competitive analysis, to define unique selling points and category consumption insights to best market to consumers.

“When developing a positioning strategy, we aim to pinpoint the spot in a consumer’s mind where we can create a unique impression that’s distinct in the marketplace,” continues Vanessa. “In the end, all roads of our process lead us to an overarching ‘big idea’ that will create an unforgettable brand. Anything that makes ‘the final cut’ must ladder up to this idea, and communicate it very clearly and concisely.”

Consumers are becoming savvier about produce brands and unique varietals, which is a great opportunity for fresh.

“In every other category, consumers are poised to find brands they can devote themselves to, and I see produce as no exception,” Vanessa explains. “Produce brands will quickly need to carve out a distinctive position and carefully hone their messaging to succeed.”

As we see this shift in marketing directly to consumers, that means packaging design in produce needs to catch up with other categories. One way to target a new consumer is to introduce an idea that has familiarity.

“Consumers shop the whole store, and they learn to recognize key assets in isolation—those indicators can carry over to the produce category with the right strategic thinking. This concept opens up a world of possibilities in food packaging!” says Vanessa. “With SUNSET®’s WOW™ berries rebrand, for instance, we used black matte and gold foil to indicate premium, borrowing from luxury haircare and gourmet chocolate."

With talent hailing from global CPG design firms who managed P&G and Kraft brands, Freshmade brings more than 15 years of experience and a highly curated team to branding in produce. That knowledge is then harnessed to spur ingenuity for its clientele such as Publix, Mastronardi® Produce, and Frieda’s Specialty Produce.

“We understand the unique challenges brands in this industry face, as well as their distinct advantages. This helps us quickly identify key differentiators when designing for produce,” Vanessa remarks. “We are a full-service agency that is solely focused on food, and that expertise comes to play across all of our capabilities. Everything a brand needs for a successful redesign is done in-house, and we have a fully equipped kitchen for recipe development, food photography, videography, and social media content creation.”

As consumer habits change, Freshmade will stand at the ready to spot the next innovation to take place. Will we be ready for it? ANUK will continue to report.

Freshmade