Cadbury relaunches Trebor mints with packs by JKR

Cadbury is set to relaunch its Trebor Extra Strong Mints and Softmints brands, with packaging designed by Jones Knowles Ritchie.

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The confectionery manufacturer appointed JKR in February 2008 on the strength of its previous work. The consultancy has been working with Cadbury Trebor Bassett since 2006, starting with its redesign of Bassetts.

Cadbury briefed the packaging group to ‘rejuvenate’ the two ‘heritage brands’, according to the manufacturer’s senior brand manager Clare Tasker. She also asked JKR to achieve ‘eye-catching packaging that retains the no-nonsense brand characters’ for the two mint brands.

Cadbury hopes that the new packaging will attract 35- to 55-year-old ‘lapsed users’, as well as appeal to existing loyal customers. ‘Since rollpack mints are the epitome of impulse purchasing, they have to have really strong stand-out on shelf,’ says Andy Knowles, chief executive of JKR.

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Knowles describes the redesigns as ‘a strong evolution’. However, he also claims that during consumer testing, the subjects ‘believed that our redesigned packs were actually the current design, while the existing packs were decades old’. Knowles adds, ‘We aimed to make the packs look modern and up-to-date without looking dramatically different’.

The new Trebor Extra Strong Mints and Softmints packaging is rolling out in convenience stores and supermarkets in July.

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Comments
  • Max Lorenz November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Yeck, blech, that is truly awful, a 1st year design student might come up with that type treatment.

  • Clemma November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    That looks terrible! Very cheap! The font also!

  • Natasha Vince November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I doubt that it will attract their target market. I don’t think they have strong shelf impact either. There’s no connection.

  • Rachel Toy November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Couldn’t agree more. The type is far too close together and horrible choice of font.

  • Marlon November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Looks Russian – old Soviet! Ivan Drago.

  • Emmet November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    The small ‘e’ in the trebor logo is terrible!

  • Laura Adams November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    i’m a first year design student and not even I think that works. yuk, i prefer the old design, especially if it’s being changed to this!

  • krud November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    truelly uninspired clip art look, presumably job experience on the cheap job. how come cadbury’s have given it the ok??????

  • julie sinderberry November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    How boring! Couldnt they come up with anything more interesting & with more impact? Something a bit more ‘retro’ surely would have worked better?

  • GBK November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Preference and impact are two very different things… how something looks on it’s own and what makes it stand out from the shelf, again, are two very different things! Green is a colour I don’t particularly like but I would buy a green lettuce over a brown one any day… simple logic I know (green is fresh and brown is off.. in terms of veg), but it’s about what the logo, colours and style are representing as opposed to what it looks like on the offset! ….

  • GSK November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Preference and impact are two very different things. How something looks on its own is very different to what makes it stand out on the shelf! I don’t particularly like the colour green but I would always buy a green lettuce over a brown one! (Simple logic I know, in terms of the colours we associate with fresh and stale) …. the same concept applies with all design! The question is what will connect with your target market, whilst not excluding current buyers… this is a simple rule.

  • Grabbins November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    I like it. The ‘e’ does jump out at you a little but it doesn’t put me off. The brand has been freshened up a lot in my opinion.

    It has a certain ‘future proof’ element to it. I bet everyone finds it hard to come to terms with the new style but in a few years time everyone will have learnt to accept it (like a new or concept car) and I bet you any money it will influence others. This is how design is pushed forward. I would love to see less of the ‘every day’ design that is constantly accepted but never has an effect on you. I want more of the brave, and risky designs that throw peoples opinions. The fact that this has grabbed your attention means that it gets people talking. There’s no such thing as bad news.

    I also think that for people to say that it’s ‘year 1 design student’ material is far from fair. What is the point in sticking to the same old crap we see all the time? JKR will have spent a serious amount of time thinking about how this is going to work, and I honestly agree with the approach. It has taken the current brand and utilised the ‘star’ and brought into a new light. That was the design problem and I think the solution is brilliant.

  • Lisa Goodwin (Yang) November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Whilst not a fan of the Trebor mark itself, this rejuvenation will ultimately be judged on whether there is an increase in sales.

    JKR would have worked within a tight brief on a brand that already has a high level of recall. Getting the balance of needing a fresher look to move forward but not leaving behind the loyal ‘minty-bit-stronger’ fans is essential, and I think they have achieved that.
    Admittedly not their finest piece of work, but all those in doubt should have a look at the last piece of work they had published for Scrumpy Jack – fantastic.

  • Claire November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    oh dear oh dear – credit crunch creative or what!! how has this moved thier brand on? how has it bought something new to thier offer? what the hell where they thinking!!!!!

  • Linky November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    hmmm… I quite like it, its certainly different and eyecatching. i think people who suddenly jump on it and rip it apart need to calm down! A client like Cadbury’s is going to be quite descriptive with what they want and I think bearing that in mind means that JKR have managed to get quite a nice job out of it.

    The extra strong mints definitely look the best compare to the softmints.

    Be constructive people!

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