Mighty Oats identity swaps “archaic windmills” for wind turbines

Branding and packaging design studio Family (and friends) has repositioned Morning Foods’ Mornflake Oats range, using a new logo and colour palette to highlight its “highly sustainable and healthy” offering.

After developing the name and brand for its savoury instant oat range Oatmade, Family (and friends) was approached again by Morning Foods to work on its core Mornflake Oats range. The studio devised a strategy which aims to highlight the family company’s story spanning 15 generations, as well as the positive effects the product has on  health and the environment, according to Family (and friends) co-founder and strategy lead DJ Johnston.

To avoid Mornflake oats being seen “simply as a heritage brand”, Johnston says the design team sought to appeal to younger consumers by “disrupting the oats category and presenting a 21st century image”.

While the Mornflake parent brand remains the same, Family (and friends) took its slogan – “Mighty Oats” – from being a sign off to becoming the name of the range, sitting front and centre on the packaging. The studio’s co-founder and creative director Alex Durbridge describes the typography of the wordmark as “bold and modern” with “rustic undertones” that reference the brand’s 350 years of heritage.

Durbridge says one of biggest challenges creating something “completely disruptive at point of purchase”, while retaining “consumer confidence” and “effectively communicating its natural product truths”.

New visual devices, such as the wind turbines on the letter i, aim to signify the brand’s move away from “the conventional imagery of archaic traditional windmills” says Durbridge. Instead, the logo focuses on Mornflakes’ production and use of 100% clean energy through wind and solar power for milling process.

Durbridge explains that the oat category “is typically occupied by traditional motifs, like fields and rustic cereal codes”. Through spotlighting the brand’s sustainable position on the front of the pack, she says Family (and friends) hoped to “clearly differentiate the brand from your everyday bowl of oats”.

The studio paid particular attention to avoiding clichés when designing the Scottish oat packaging. “Think vintage tractors, men in kilts and men in 18th century attire”, says Durbridge.

Mighty Oat’s formerly “rustic and pastel” colour palette has been replaced with “clean, modern, neutral” hues, which she says is an additional measure to help it stand out on the shelf.

“The front of pack reads like a manifesto for modern farming and healthy, sustainable eating”, Durbridge adds.