Trimming the fat
16th March 2018
Had a hankering for a juicy steak or sausage bap this week? You are not alone. National Butcher’s Week takes place between the 12th and 16th and is a celebration of great quality meat and the experts who prepare it. As one of the largest events in the butchery calendar, every delicatessen will be putting its best fillet forward. So how do you make sure it’s your cut that stands out?
As a team of foodies, we were excited to work with Croesllan catering, who approached us in 2007 to create unity between their three trade and retail brands. ‘A modern service with traditional values’ was the starting point and following discussion the multiple brands were renamed to Douglas Willis – the name of the first Willis member to establish a butcher in the beautiful Usk Valley three generations ago. These values were then communicated through a new identity and visual language across all marketing including shop design and packaging.
We were as thrilled with the results as the client, so when approached by another butcher seven years later, we leapt at the opportunity. H.J. Edwards – Master Butchers approached us in 2013 for help in creating a consistent brand language for their multiple retail outlets in the Monmouth & Usk area. H. J. Edwards had 150 years of experience within the butchery trade including pie making; ageing and preparing along with an unrivalled provenance and respect for the animals welfare – yet this wasn’t reflected within the brand’s touch points. We focused on realigning the brand’s values, bringing them more to the forefront, by evolving the brand name and language to better represent and communicate the company’s ethos to their end users.
The brand name was evolved to ‘Neil Powell – Master Butchers since 1857’. Along with the use of new typography and colour ways, the brand was given a fresh lease of life to more confidently communicate their reaffirmed brand values.
Our love of food made these projects interesting and enjoyable. Through creative art direction and composition, we were able to distinguish both butchers with a unique presence and language. Hero shots of suppliers and butchers for Neil Powell focus on the well-honed knowledge, experience and dedication that goes into the product. For Douglas Willis, more consideration was given to the finished cooked product, focusing on the delicious final product and how they can be served.
“Re-branding a butcher was a dream job for me but two was a treat! Each butcher brought their own unique values and it was a genuinely enjoyable experience working with each brand and their suppliers and communicating the amazing product and values they each offer”
Now more than ever, we are making ourselves aware of what we’re eating and how it’s going to affect us. With this new awareness, it’s great to see businesses maintaining their values and ethos even under the pressures to sell to mass markets. We loved working with the Neil Powell and Douglas Willis brands, and helped them re-ignite that dialogue with their customers and better represent each of them as successful, established businesses.
