Häagen-Dazs rebrands to lose “fussy” design and target younger audience

The ice cream brand, which is over 50 years old, has been given a colourful, illustrated, new look by Love Creative, which aims to be more “modern” and “vibrant”.

Ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs has had a brand refresh and taken on new packaging to “simplify” it and make it more appealing to a “millennial” audience.

The rebrand has been completed by design consultancy Love Creative, and features a logo now set in burgundy rather than gold, black and white as it was previously.

More “contemporary” burgundy

The burgundy hue used across the packaging previously has also been updated from a “regal, dark red” to a “plum red”, says David Palmer, executive creative director at Love Creative, which aims to make the packaging feel more “contemporary”.

The packaging now features various colourful illustrations to match different ice cream flavours, which have been completed by 13 different commissioned artists, including Santtu Mustonen and Kustaa Saksi.

Love’s design process entailed tasting all 46 Häagen-Dazs flavours, and creating mood and word boards to reflect each one. A brief was then given to each artist to design bespoke patterns for flavour variants.

“Less fussy and olde-worlde”

“From vanilla through to coffee or caramel ice cream, you’re in a beigey world,” says Palmer. “But when you taste it, there’s a completely different experience and we wanted to get that across. The burgundy and gold design was also hard to navigate in the freezer; once people familiarise themselves with each illustration style, the flavours will become easy to find.”

The bright, illustrated design has been influenced by “Scandinavian style”, says Palmer, which harks back to founder Reuben Mattus, who started the company in 1961 and was influenced by the “classy and stylish” design from the European region.

The new look also aims to target a younger audience, says Palmer: “We wanted to simplify everything and make it more vibrant and modern, and less fussy and olde-worlde. Häagen-Dazs had allowed itself to age, and had lost contact with the younger end of its audience.”

The brand refresh and new packaging launches this week in the UK. A print and TV advertising campaign will accompany the roll-out. A global roll-out is not yet confirmed.

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  • Mika Caronan May 24, 2017 at 4:51 pm

    I love this! A few months ago, Häagen-Dazs had Kitty McCall designs on their ice creams and it called me! I’m guessing this is a follow through on that?? I love this new image update!!!

  • Ivan Danko May 31, 2017 at 8:12 pm

    It is amazing that in this day and age where companies invest vast sums of money / time in the branding and identity of their products that they can still make such fundamental / obvious mistakes. The previous Häagen-dazs packaging was distinctive and instantly recognisable.
    This new packaging could be from any ice cream manufacturer… or be any supermarket own brand ice cream … The branding is weak, it does not look premium enough and it has no visual impact.

  • KK August 20, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    I love it! It got me hooked immediately when I saw it in the freezer at my local supermarket. Very smart design because it keeps its distinct retro elements such as the logo and the brown (especially around the lid) and adds excitement with the new colourful graphic elements. The old design was really not up to date anymore and needed an improvement, especially if it wanted to connect with younger audiences. Great job!

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