Shaw’s truffle reshuffle

Hardened weight-watchers may be able to say no to the offer of chocolate, but most of us mere mortals melt at the very thought of it.

The good news, for chocoholics at least, is the massive choice available. But this is bad news for manufacturers, all of which are equally hungry to satisfy our cravings.

Competition in the sector led Leaf UK to arrange a facelift for its Elizabeth Shaw range of chocolates. The brand includes chocolate after-dinner mints and liqueur chocolate truffles. Leaf wanted to unify the various products in the range, and reposition the brand by moving it away from its old, somewhat staid image.

So it brought in design consultancy Dragon to come up with a few ideas. Dragon’s senior consultant Deborah Carter says: ‘Our research confirmed that Elizabeth Shaw has strong brand values which, although a little dated, are accepted by today’s consumers. The new brand identity communicates the quality, accessibility, style and originality of the range. This has been achieved by using the Elizabeth Shaw signature more forcefully and in the selection of a distinctive blue colour “palette”.’

Dragon did away with Elizabeth Shaw’s former packaging which relied more heavily on creams and whites. ‘This was too old fashioned and not very chocolatey. The light colours lacked the indulgence premium cues we wanted for the brand,’ says Carter.

The range certainly has a more unified feel and the deep blue packaging helps Elizabeth Shaw chocolates stand out from the crowd on the shelf. But it has also retained an element of its former look. This is especially noticeable for the mint crisp range. ‘The shape of the pack, with its plastic lid and foil discs is very fundamental. It was not right to change it, but more a matter of building on it. We also needed to keep the signature, as we wanted to keep the personal touch – but we made it brighter and brought it into the modern day,’ adds Carter.

Those of you whose mouths are watering at the very mention of Elizabeth Shaw chocolates will be pleased to hear the new packaging goes on-shelf in September.

Design: Dragon

Client: Leaf UK