Design Bridge spreads new look for Colman’s

DESIGN Bridge is working on the Colman’s mustard brand and has redesigned packaging for some of the Van den Bergh Foods-owned brand’s extensions.

The core Colman’s mustard brand will be looked at “sensitively” and may only be tweaked, according to Design Bridge creative director Keren House, who describes the brand as a “national icon”.

The redesign is part of a project which includes new looks for the brand’s extended condiment and dry sauce ranges. The design element is one of many marketing moves by Van den Bergh to exploit the Colman’s brand since it was bought by the food giant in May 1995.

Design Bridge was initially asked by Van den Bergh to look at the condiment range only. “But in research we became aware that the overall Colman’s branding needed attention – each range was very disparate with different design treatments,” says House. “The dry sauces are the market leader, but the Colman’s branding didn’t really come over,” she adds.

Umbrella brand identities incorporating the Colman’s marque have been designed for both the 13-strong condiment and 46-strong dry sauce ranges. The Colman’s yellow, taken from the original mustard tin, has been implemented on to packs to exploit the strong Colman’s branding.

“For the dry sauces, we wanted to communicate clearly what the product is about – no fancy type, just honesty and value,” says Design Bridge account director Jill Marshall. The condiment range had to “be table-worthy and communicate the freshness of the product”, adds Marshall.

The redesigned packs will start to appear in stores at the beginning of September.