Hovis toasts a fresh tomorrow

Tomorrow Associates has unveiled its first work since it broke away from Curious, in the form of packaging for Hovis Bread’s new Crusty White loaf.

Tomorrow was set up in February after managing director Derek Martin left Curious, where he was creative director. He left with the accounts for four brands, including British Bakeries (Hovis) and The Tote. Martin says of his departure from Curious, “It wasn’t amicable.”

Since then the new consultancy has won projects for perfume group Penhaligon’s, furniture retailer Heal’s, and a £150 000, pan-European account with bra manufacturer Warners. Martin comments: “It’s far exceeded our expectations. In the first four months we’re halfway to our year’s sales goal.”

Hovis Crusty White is a bagged loaf, pitched within the premium wrapped sector, which is said to maintain a crusty outer edge and soft moist crumb for four days. The new packaging is part of a £7m above- and below-the-line support programme.

The new loaf and its packaging have been created to capitalise on research findings, which showed that 84 per cent of customers had a preference for the taste of white bread, but 61 per cent of crusty bread consumers wanted it to last longer.

British Bakeries describes the new packaging as the most significant technical advance for British bakers since the launch of the first sliced loaf in the 1930s.