brand book pdf

ROSE’S CHOCOLATE TREASURES
Brand Work Book
Version 01: April 8, 2008
Abstract:
A work-in-progress, the Brand Work Book is nothing less than a tool
for all of us to edit and use to communicate the vital aspects of brand
development for RCT. In it, the origins of the brand are included,
as are logo & typographical evolution, current products, new design
product channels and directions, and competitive analysis.
© 2010 Dreamhand Design Studios, LLC
All rights reserved.
Contents
Part I. History of the Brand
Beginnings of the Brand
Brand Essentials
RCT & CPG: Evolving the Logo
Directions: How the Brand Works
Part II. Competitive Analysis
Godiva Chocolatier
Dilettante Chocolate
Ghirardelli Chocolate, 1&2
Hershey’s Chocolate
Cadbury’s Chocolate
Competitive Snapshot
Conclusions
Part III. Extending the Brand
Brand Extension Job List
Refine the Typography & Logo
Logo
Typography
Refine the Story, Character & Personality
Refine the Premium Channel
Overview
Romance
Fairy Tale
New Box Direction
Extend to Popular Channel
Compare to Premium
Design Direction Changes
Bag & Bar Wrappers
Loose Candy Directions
ROSE’S CHOCOLATE TREASURES
Part I: Brand History
What we did with the RCT brand, and why we did it.
Beginnings of the Brand
Brena G felt from the start that since her customers tended to be adult females, they were looking for
something “old feeling” and also sexy. The art chosen to illustrate this were pin-up posters from the
’30s, identifiable with Art Deco. Art Deco seemed a good choice, it feels old, but has clean, sleek lines.
The original logo followed this model closely, and the closest available font was Desdemona, a very
common font once delivered with Windows PCs. It has characteristics of both Art Deco and Art Nouveau.
As we changed direction in connection with CPG, Brena chose another model, a tin box in the Art Nouveau style. This change was worth embracing, since it opened the door to a kind of “fairy tale” storytelling that offers the opportunity to more strongly follow the fantasy and romance needs of our customers. The intention was from the start to create our own font, but the stand-in chosen was Sveva
AS. This font is not common, and had to be purchased separately from system fonts.
Pioneering logo, used primarily for the shop
sign, then fitted to packaging..
Brand Essentials
What
What
What
is Chocolate:
Rich
Creamy
Sweet
Flavorful
Product of the Earth
Healthful
is Rose’s Chocolate Treasures:
Rare & Valuable
Handmade
Art Objects
All-Natural
Do Our Core Customers* Want:
Escape from Day
Fantasy
Romance
Self-Indulgence/Luxury
Secret Pleasure
* defined from retail experience: women, c 27-50 years of age.
RCT & CPG: Evolving the Logo
When RCT joined forces with CPG, the market for Rose’s Chocolate Treasures became conceptually limitless. This meant reassessing fundamental
issues involved in branding the company. A sexy woman and a sly cat might be just the thing for free-thinking, funky Seattle, but it was hard for
CPGs Jackson Tse to imagine this working in his native China, let alone in the ultra-conservative Middle East.
The value of the story around which the first round of corporate identity (i.e., the girl & cat logo) was built was recognized as a real asset. The
girl was dropped and the cat was christened the new standard bearer. But the cat in the original logo was not graphically strong, and was never
meant to stand by itself. Below right is a stab at making the old cat work by itself, and clearly no amount of visual fluff will hide its ineffectiveness.
Not only were Rose the cat and Rose the proprietor of RCT involved in the imagery, but rose the flower was, too. Roses blossoms can be seen in
the original logo “brocaded” on the girl’s bodice; in the first attempt at using the cat alone, we tried a rose “wallpaper” behind it. In the revised
logo used on initial designs with CPG, the cat is surrounded by luscious blossoms, meant to add another layer of gentleness to the image and
reinforce the “rose” as a part of the logo.
There was also a move away from the original font used in the first logo; more on that in its own section.
STEP 1: The girl is sultry, the cat is
kind of “knowing”. Ooh-lah-lah, it’s
chocolate as a sexy commodity!
STEP 2: Dump the girl, try to make
the original cat work. Not only is
the cat not interesting graphically,
it seems kind of mean. It’s line
is ragged and uneven when seen
alone.
STEP 3: Initial drawing, re-imagining
Rose, the cat. This cat has “spring”
to its posture, which makes it more
active and more visually interesting.
Rose was given a sweet expression
and a soft, clean line.
STEP 4: Reworked logo. This “cat
only” logo was deemed more suitable
for use overseas, but also emphasizes
the story of the cat who loved chocolate. As a logo, this direction is far
more effective, since it is not trapped in
a “box”.
Customer Base: Escape from Day / Fantasy / Romance
Brena G felt from the start that since her customers tended to be adult females, they were looking for something “old feeling” and also
sexy. The art chosen to illustrate this were pin-up posters from the ’30s, identifiable with Art Deco. Art Deco seemed a good choice, it
feels old, but has clean, sleek lines. The original logo followed this model closely, and the closest available font was Desdemona, a very
common font once delivered with Windows PCs. It has characteristics of both Art Deco and Art Nouveau.
As we changed direction in connection with CPG, Brena chose another model, a tin box in the Art Nouveau style. This change was worth
embracing, since it opened the door to a kind of “fairy tale” storytelling that offers the opportunity to more strongly follow the fantasy
and romance needs of our customers. The intention was from the start to create our own font, but the stand-in chosen was Sveva AS.
This font is not common, and had to be purchased separately from system fonts.
Direction: Art Deco
Original typeface: Desdemona
ROSE’S CHOCOLATE TREASURES
Shares Direction with: Godiva
Sleek
Crisp
Poster Qualities
New Direction: Art Nouveau
Replacement typeface: Sveva AS
Rose’s Chocolate Treasures
Organic
Luscious
Storybook Qualities
Shares Direction with: Dilettante
Unlike the noted competitors, RCT alone features a “character”, the cat “Rose”—unless one wants to speak of the eagle in the Ghirardelli logo, which
is quite a stretch. Because of this, it is contingent upon us to be careful how we present this corporate symbol, and what Rose will mean to our customers.
Direction: Art Deco
ROSE’S CHOCOLATE TREASURES
Sleek/Crisp/Poster Qualities
Decorative, rather than Fictive. Deco is short for décoratif, or
“decorative”; as such it depicted animal and human forms as objects rather than personalities. Forms were elongated, highly stylized and depersonalized. Striking silhouette, superior for a brand
that needs a generalized black cat.
Although it is unfair to characterize Desdemona as an Art Deco
font when it has qualities of Art Nouveau as well, one can see how
well it harmonizes in look with the deco cats pictured at right.
New Direction: Art Nouveau
Rose’s Chocolate Treasures
Organic/Luscious/Storybook Qualities
Fictive more than Decorative. Story and personality are
much more important in Art Nouveau. It comes out of the
traditions of the Arts and Crafts, the Pre-Raphaelites and
Asian art. The end of the 19th century was notable for its
rediscovery of hand-made folk art and fairy tales, and the
look and feel of Art Nouveau shows this. These cats have
lots of personality. The line of these cats is not as hard and
pure, but better for telling a story of a particular cat.
Note the “CH” in “Chat Noir”; it is clearly a touchstone for
the same two letters in “CHOCOLATE” in Sveva AS. Sveva
is more about “hand-made” and fiction rather than being
RCT & CPG: Formalizing the Story
At the end of summer 2007, RCT was involved in designing the first product for CPG and the Chinese luxury market, a “story” box. We called it
this exactly because it was hoped the the
final product would set out and formalize
the story of Brena G and her chocolateloving cat, Rose. The story is below in its
draft form. This box was never made, but
the inner cover will be incorporated in
the paper liners for the box that is being
made as of March 2008.
Who is “Rose” exactly? An added feature not really set out before this point
is that Brena G has been re-christened
“Rose” by her public. That’s what happens when you’re the boss of a shop
named “Rose’s Chocolate Treasures”. The
thinking was at the time that the mystery
of who exactly Rose was would be enticing to customers. Enticement, naturally,
keeps the product and brand in their
minds.
CPG Tin Box: a Return to “Chocolate Box Art”
RCT and CPG did not in the end build the story box; instead, they decided to make a luxury pressed-tin box. To be
designed at RCT and fabricated in China, the empty box was to be imported to the Seattle, filled with RCT chocolates, then exported to China to join other CPG premium imports there, such as Northwest wine and coffee. The
model for this box was a tin box that featured an Art Nouveau-style frame and cloisinee-style lilies (see at right).
Brena G wanted art in her products; interestingly, this type of box for chocolate harks back to the first years of
piece-chocolate manufacture (more next page).
Nine fish (one black) & eight blossoms. Since the box was meant to reach out to the Chinese market, CPG
wanted imagery that would spell “good luck” for the consumers there. Koi are generally considered lucky. If a
Chinese person has a fish tank, CPG told us, it is considered lucky to have 9 fish in it, especially if one is black.
Likewise, if blossoms are depicted, it is good luck to have 8 of them. Best of all, white cats are apparently lucky in
China, which is in turn a lucky break for RCT, which already featured a white cat in its logo.
The Final Box Design. Below is the tin box in one of its final forms as it awaits printing; it includes 8 roses in the
frame, and if you look very, very closely, there are 9 fish (one of them black) in the water. Rose the cat is depicted
in pressed-up gold-colored metal, her tail merging with a vine of 8 rose blossoms and the RCT name, also raised in
metal. A weak spot of the model orchid box was not having a clear distinction between the “painterly” printing and
the raised metal “frame”; the painting for this box was intended to rectify this perceived design flaw, and raise the imagery toward the level of fine
arts. Needless to say, no one can paint water lilies without referencing Monet. The painting for the box top was done with Corel Painter.
Chocolate Box Art
Cadbury’s. Not only is creating beautiful chocolate boxes a good
idea, it is an old one. England’s Cadbury’s was one of the first
chocolate companies to move from chocolate drinks to making
piece-chocolate in the late 1800s. The move meant a new way of
packaging, from powder tins to lidded boxes. From the start, as
anyone reading the selection to the right can see, Cadbury’s was
keen on using art to sell chocolate.
It’s Only “Chocolate Box Art”. The term “chocolate box art” is
still in use today, and it shows how distinctive this form of expression was at the turn of the last century. It was and is, however, a
term of derision for art considered too sweet-tempered and commercial. It was used interchangeably with “greeting card art” as an
insult to the artist.
Good to be “Old”. RCT clearly has identified itself with the beginnings of the chocolate maker’s art from the outset. There is a real
benefit to having your product thought of as traditional and handmade. The Art Nouveau look of the present box centers that tradition squarely during the years Cadbury’s pioneered the illustrated
box for marketing chocolate.
FROM THE CADBURY SITE:
“Elaborate chocolate boxes were prized by the late Victorians as special gifts,
to be used as trinket or button boxes once the fancy chocolates had been eaten:
designs therefore had after-use very much in mind. Designs ranged from superb
velvet covered caskets with bevelled mirrors and silk lined jewel boxes, to pretty
boxes with pictures of kittens, landscapes or attractive girls on the lid.
“Their popularity continued until their disappearance during the 1939-45 war:
Victorian and Edwardian chocolate boxes are now treasured collectors’ items.
“Cadbury’s ‘fancy chocolates’ (or assortments) were sold in decorated boxes
with small pictures that children could cut out to stick into scrapbooks.
“Richard Cadbury, who had considerable artistic talents, set out to introduce
more ambitious and attractive designs from his own paintings: many of his original boxes still exist. Using his own children as models, or depicting flowers and
scenes from holiday journeys, he introduced the first British made fancy chocolate
boxes. These proved to be popular, helping both the Cadbury business and the
confectionery trade in general.”
The Skiff (La Yole) — c. 1870. Renoir, with his pleasing and sunlit scenes, is one of the
painters first tarred with the brush of painting “chocolate box art”.
ROSE’S CHOCOLATE TREASURES
Part II: Competitive Analysis
What are the other guys in the industry doing?
Godiva Chocolatier
Founded 1926 Belgium • 270 retail shops, 2000 wholesale • Owner: Campbell Soup Company
Visual Analysis: Site is a harmonious color scheme, largely dependent on a soft caramelly off-white. Because of the lack of white, the
page feels a little jammed — plus, without visual relief, it will not be as attractive to RCT’s core customer base. Feminine pinks offstet
masculine chocolate browns. Strong, clear typography conveys honesty and simplicity. Almost total focus on product.
Dilettante Chocolates
Founded 1977 Seattle • 6? retail shops around Seattle • Partnered with: Seattle Gourmet Foods
Visual Analysis: Site makes extensive use of Flash. Basically a much better and more sophisticated design than Godiva, with more visual rest, more visual variety. Uses same strategy of offsetting masculine browns with peaches and pinks. A person is featured, giving
a more human touch. Story is a big part of this brand, with a section on the notebooks of the grandfather (which in turn allows what
seems like a pretty irreverent dating of the business to 1898!). Coffee is featured on the front page, and they tout a series of “mocha”
cafés.
Ghirardelli Chocolate
Founded 1849 San Franscisco • 14 retail shops, wholesale • Owner: Lindt and Sprungli Chocolate
Visual Analysis: Site has a boxey feel that makes it stiff—and chocolate isn’t stiff. The logo screams “Americana” with the eagle, so the
whole impression is old-fashioned, but not really old-fashioned in the romantic way. The bars on top have a little “angle-ness” to them,
but the “Free!” offer is cheesy, or at least “bargain basement”. The other bars are lined up stiff and cold as though for a memorial
viewing.
Ghirardelli Chocolate: REDESIGN
While this analysis was being put together, the company put up a redesigned page: very instructive
New Visual Analysis: Wow, what a difference some design money makes! Much more flowing design. Centered logo feels much less
cramped, and the strong outline lets the logo hold the design together. Also, the title banner background photo of dark chocolate is attractive. The bars are shown fanned, which is much more visually interesting and inviting (and no fire sale). Great hero “beauty shot”
of the Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter bar. Much better photography all the way around. And how about the tag line: “Satisfy your inner
child … and your inner gourmet”. the addition of the soft Chinese orange (red-orange) adds a lot of snap, particularly when taken with
the Ghirardelli logo blue. (The Easter pink has got to go.)
Hershey’s Chocolate
Founded 1876 Philadelphia • Wholesale • Owner: William Wriglely Junior Compnay
Visual Analysis: Like the product, a bland site. Only the “high gloss” header bar has any visual punch. Obviously, this retail presence is aimed at people who already know they want to buy Hershey’s, because there
doesn’t seem to be much effort to sway viewers. It is almost perfectly un-weighted toward any age group or
sex. There is a fairly successful use of a near complement to the red-brown of the bar using a greenish blue.-
Cadbury Chocolate
Founded 1824 London • Wholesale Worldwide • Owner: Cadbury Schweppes
Visual Analysis: This is sort of a palette cleanser. The core audience for Cadbury, as judged from this design, is younger and more
male than any of the others in this analysis. There is no attempt at all to access romance in the design, the emphasis being rather on
the fun of chocolate. The literal quality of the chocolate chunks that are the navigation buttons are meant to amuse. To top things off,
they offer an online casual game to their users. They have used the obligatory Cadbury purple, accented it with a lavender-tinged rust
red; no romantic peaches or rose here.
Competitive Snap-Shot
Shown is the original RCT logo with logos from the sites of Godiva, Dilettante, Ghirardelli and Hershey’s. Following
this page are screenshots of RCT’s cometitors, and below are swatches of the color palettes used by each.
Colors: There is a startling level of agreement in the design efforts of all companies when it comes to selling
chocolate. Most of them use shades of gold, and chocolate brown, all use gradients, especially those meant to create “shine” or a metallic look. The first 3 below are harmonious schemes, with the latter two using near complements (blue) to add kick as an accent color. The first 3 all use a peach, or rosy orange (orangish rose?), which is
interesting in that these 3 are not as old guard as Ghirardellli and Hershey’s. One interpretation is that Godiva and
Dilettante are stressing a more clearly focused feminine and romantic quality. The sport of the group is Cadbury,
who, ironically, pioneered the romantic approach to selling chocolate. Also included is the redesign of the Ghirardelli site, which now features a bright almost brick red and a purple, which work very well.
CONCLUSIONS
What is there to learn from this comparison? Most importantly, RCT has qualities the others
don’t:
• Story
• Character
• Art
• Personality
Story: This is the story involving the cat and Brena G.
Character: This is the development of the cat, Rose.
Art: This is the resurgence of the turn of the 20th century “chocolate box art” that defined
the romantic ideal of the art of chocolate-making.
Personality: This is the development of Brena’s place in the brand, and how she has come
to be called “Rose” like her chocolate-loving cat.
On the face of it, no one is doing what we’re setting out to do.
Still to consider:
• Learning from the color palettes of the competition.
- RCT is on the right track, but we should consider accent colors
• Dilettante has the most sophisticated and effective Web presence.
• Dilettante is perhaps the best model for design.
ROSE’S CHOCOLATE TREASURES
Part III: Extending the Brand
New directions for Rose’s Chocolate Treasures/CPG
Brand Extension Job List:
Refine the logo & typography
Refine the story, characters and personality
Refine the current brand channel
— premium brand channel
Extend the brand/new channel
— popular brand channel
Refine the logo & typography: Logo
New Logo Direction:
Rose the Cat Only
Meringe: Rose the cat was
designed with lines like this
creamy dollop …
Former Silhouette
Whipped Cream: … and
pure white like this.
Re-Sculpted
Sleeker, more
movement
Well-groomed
Sweet
Patient
Responsive
Loyal
&
Ladled Whipped Cream
Meringe Confection
Nipper, the old RCA Victor mascot,
has the kind of sweetness, responsiveness and loyalty we’re after
— and is a great example of how a
character can work for a company.
Refine the logo & typography: Logo
New Logo Direction:
The simplified, stand
alone logo works well
on products, and should
make for acceptable
molds.
Placeholder Font:
FPO
(For Placement Only)
Refine the logo & typography: Typography
Typography?
New Typography:
Still some decisions to
be made in this area.
Refine the story, characters and personality
Story Piece?
Yet to be determined means of
popularizing the story of the 2
Roses. This could be an interesting and effective investment
of resources.
Ideally, this would be a “storybook” that graphically set forth
the official story of the RCT
orgins with Brena and her cat.
It might take the form of a brochure or give-away booklet, or
a Web-delivered gallery.
Competition: lots of character, but not much story.
Refine the current brand channel—Premium
Rose’s Chocolate Treasures — Premium Product
To this point, as has been perceived, RCT’s presence has been as a premium product. Presented as a premium product, RCT positions
itself using the desires of our perceived core customers. These are, again, defined as primarily female, primarily adults 27-50:
Escape from Day
Fantasy
Romance
Self-Indulgence/Luxury
Secret Pleasure
Allied to the desires of our core customers are the perceptions built around the products. Rose’s Chocolate Treasures are:
Rare & Valuable
Handmade
Art Objects
All-Natural
Refine the current brand channel—Premium
Art Nouveau Romance:
Escape from Day
• Fantasy
• Romance
• Self-Indulgence/Luxury
Secret Pleasure
Soft
Delicate
Rose-hued
Detailed
Refine the current brand channel—Premium
Fairy Tale:
• Escape from Day
• Fantasy
Romance
Self-Indulgence/Luxury
• Secret Pleasure
Traditional
Soft
Delicate
Rose-hued
Detailed
Refine the current brand channel—Premium: New Box Direction
The painting at left was done as a fantasy painting class demo to show students how to use aerial perspective and separated grounds — it also showed a
direction RCT/CPG tin chocolate boxes could take.
• It has the elements our core audience would like
• It furthers the cat story
• It features product in the picture
• The silliness of the giant cheese/chocolate actually widens the potential audience, as it should appeal to men as well, i.e., those who won’t react as strongly to the romance/fairy tale aspects of the images.
Shown below is an altered draft, with a white cat and the RCT/CPG tin frame,
as in the current production box, shown in section one of this document.
Fairy Tale/Romance:
Escape from Day
Fantasy
Romance
Self-Indulgence/Luxury
Secret Pleasure
Traditional
Soft
Delicate
Rose-hued
Detailed
Extend the brand/new brand channel—Popular
Extending the brand to popular channels means rethinking the product attributes that have driven our designs to this point.
Premium Product
Popular Product
Perceived Demographic
Female, aged 27-50 middle to
high income
Demographic Tilt
Towards Male, youth to 20s,
modesst to middle income
Descriptors
Escape from Day
Fantasy
Romance
Self-Indulgence/Luxury
Secret Pleasure
Descriptors
Engaged & on the Go
Fun
Easygoing
Just a Little treat
Sharing With Friends
Delivery
Low-traffic and online retail;
Dedicated retail; dedicated
displays
Delivery
High-traffic retail; mixed
displays
Extend the brand/new brand channel—Popular
Extending the brand to popular channels means rethinking the product attributes that have driven our designs to this point. It is important to retain all the key parts of the brand, but alter the
use to reach this new audience.
Popular Product
Indicated Changes
Demographic Tilt
Towards Male, youth to 20s,
modesst to middle income
Color Palette
More saturated colors, harder
edges
Descriptors
Engaged & on the Go
Fun
Easygoing
Just a Little treat
Sharing With Friends
Design
Move toward greater simplicity
and greater impact.
Delivery
High-traffic retail; mixed
displays.
Story & Character
Tilt toward humor, irony, silliness and yes, even the ridiculous and grotesque. Instead of
a serious, sweet cat, the cat is
more of a cartoon.
Design for Delivery
Depend on graphic competition
for attention on non-dedicated
displays. Saturated colors,
harder edges, simplified story
& character aids with grabbing
attention.
Extend the brand/new brand channel—Popular
Draft Bar Direction
Draft Bag Direction
Design leans on an acceptable cartoon version of Rose
the Cat. Uses story to create “chocolate loving cat”.
Colors are more saturated
versions of the premium
palette. Gold foil follows
premium palette and tin
box.
Placeholder Font:
FPO
(For Placement Only)
Extend the brand/new brand channel—Popular
Loose Candy Design Directions
Cat’s Paw
Catseye
Snoozing Cat
M&M Size
Extend the brand/new brand channel—Popular