brandopus

Our new brand generation and design for maple syrup Buckwud has just been shortlisted for a prestigious Design Week award. It has been quite a hit with judging panels, with six accolades to date, including a gold Design Effectiveness award. With that in mind, we wanted to celebrate with a closer look behind the creation process of this new, and very exciting brand, and spoke to Caroline Gates, lead designer on Buckwud, to get her take on how the project developed, from brief to shelf.

What was the focus of the client brief?

CG: We were briefed to create a new maple syrup brand and packaging that would stand out on shelf and communicate the authenticity and purity of the product.

How do you approach a new brand creation project, and how does it feel to be given a blank canvas to work on?

CG: Obviously it's very exciting! With a brief so wide, my first approach is to find out as much as possible about the product: information and knowledge helps my creative process. I delved into the history, culture and traditions surrounding maple syrup, researching until the 'quirks' behind the product were revealed.

Working in this way helps us to understand and know a product in and out and beyond the category cues, and to discover the unique traits that will help to differentiate the new brand from all the others on shelf.

What did the research reveal?

CG: We started at the beginning researching the history and process of making maple syrup. It was exciting to find a wealth of myths and legends surrounding the origins of maple syrup as well as stories of how the syrup was made centuries ago, and that the process is still pretty similar today. This seemed the perfect way to convey that this product was special and trustworthy. 

We wanted the brand to be fun and quirky but informative and educational. I had never realised that Maple Syrup was a Native Canadian product and wanted to share this discovery.

What are the little images on the pack?

CG: We researched the various languages and cultures of the 'First Peoples' and using pictograms were able to create a new visual language to illustrate the products past. Pictograms are one of the oldest forms of art and semiotics, some native american pictographs date back to 3000 years ago and are a wonderful insight in to how people lived in these times. 

Many of the icons used in the Buckwud language are authentic symbols that have been found through out North America.

And where did the name come from?

CG: The name was also derived from the Native Canadian culture, 'Sinzibuckwud' was the description for maple syrup meaning drawn from wood, so we broke this down to create a fun, catchy and memorable name.

Why do you think Buckwud has been such a success so far?

CG: Because it is noticeable on shelf, it is so different from everything else in the category, and above all, it's fun!

We've scooped three trophies at tonight's Design Effectiveness Awards, hosted by the Design Business Association in London. 

The creation of the Buckwud brand for client Wellness Foods was awarded a prestigious Gold, our redesign work with Pipers Crisp Co. won a Silver award, while our work with leading independent brewer Hall & Woodhouse on the redesign of the Badger Ales brand achieved a bronze in the branded packaging design category. We have also made a massive jump forward in the league tables, and are now among the three most financially effective agencies in the UK.

The DBA's annual Design Effectiveness Awards are the most prestigious accolade in design, being the only award scheme that uses commercial data as a key judging criteria.  As the design industry's equivalent of an IPA award in advertising, all winners having undergone two stages of rigorous judging, by two separate panels of business leaders, including senior marketers from brands such as Santander, TFL, John Lewis, Magner's, Oxfam and British Airways.

Year after year, winning case studies like Buckwud, Pipers Crisp Co. and Badger demonstrate the excellent value for money and return on investment that a coherent, well-thought-out and professionally executed design strategy can achieve. 

You may have already spotted one of our latest pieces of work gracing the shelves of Tesco, and if not you will certainly be seeing a lot more of it!  We've created the branded packaging for a 100% pure maple syrup, sourced and produced in Canada especially for the UK consumer.

Integral to the brief was capturing the true origins of North American maple syrup, so we delved into the history of this valuable liquid so prized by the native Canadians, taking inspiration from and celebrating the time-old tradition of producing maple syrup to develop the brand.

The name Buckwud was evolved from the original native Canadian name for maple syrup, Sinzibuckwud meaning literally 'drawn from wood'. Whilst the block printed style used on pack also reflects the handcrafted and down-to-earth values behind the origins of maple syrup.  

Respectful of the native Canadian culture, we also created a wider language of hand drawn pictogram symbols which feature on the front and back of pack, communicating the spirit behind Buckwud maple syrup and depicting the ancient production method. Take a peek at the pictogram glossary below to decipher the symbols on pack...