Design Activity rebrands Bassetts vitamins

Design Activity has revamped vitamin brand Bassetts Soft & Chewy.

The Bristol-based packaging and point-of-sale consultancy was appointed to the estimated £100 000 project at the end of last year, following a five-way pitch that also included Blue Marlin.

The group was briefed to make the Bassetts brand, which is licensed to confectionery manufacturer Ernest Jackson from Cadbury, more relevant for the family vitamin range.

Ernest Jones, which also owns cough-sweet brands Zubes and Halls, invited Design Activity to present credentials, following previous work the consultancy had done for it.

Design Activity creative director Pat Starke says, ‘We concentrated on a pack critique, and did what we call a brand striptease, slowly taking graphic elements off the pack until it was no longer recognisable, and there was just coloured pack left.

‘We took the Bassetts branding off too, to show just how insignificant it was.

‘The problem the brand faced was that although there was strong liking for the proposition, it had no shelf impact. We think the brand had suffered from having a tweak here and there over the years, and no one really got to the heart of it,’ he adds.

Design Activity is now working on the roll-out of various lifestage categories for the vitamin brand, which will take place over the next two to three years, having redesigned the Bassetts Soft & Chewy typography to give it more ‘confidence and efficacy, while the flavour cues come from the jelly baby character’, says Starke.

The consultancy has also taken out the black keyline as part of the project.