Package Design - August 2014 - 18

Rebrand elevates DennyMike's
offering and provides more
value to the brand's fans.
By ROBERt LEROsE

R

ebranding a popular product line
can be a difficult balancing act in
package design. The reboot has to
appeal to current loyal customers
without sacrificing the product's
soul and, at the same time, be bold
enough to break into new markets.
DennyMike's brand of authentic Texas-style
barbecue seasonings and sauces faced the challenge of transforming its cute packaging and
comical signature design into a more sophisticated, witty style for high-end retailers.
The tone of the brand hadn't changed much
since it hit store shelves in 2006. "It had more of
a California surfer look," says founder Dennis
Michael Sherman. "The symbol for DennyMike's
was a big-footed, larger than life caricature that
was freewheeling, casual and fun."
While the eccentric comic-like character
might have resonated with consumers, the
overall brand and design strategy worked
against DennyMike's. The bottled sauces came
in 8-oz. flask-style glass containers that were
smaller and more expensive than competing
18

AUGUST 2014

brands. The 3-oz. tins had a window on the front
cover that allowed sunlight to deteriorate and
discolor the seasonings, which were packed in a
hard-to-use Ziploc bag. Whatever high-end
cues were conveyed by the expensive packaging
were cancelled out by the label design, which
might be relatable and memorable but certainly
doesn't connote premium.
"We were five and six times higher than the
normal grocery label barbecue," Sherman says.
"That unit cost label on the shelf was absolutely
scaring me. We had to react or we would have
been toast completely."

HIGHER VALUE, LOWER PRICE
Sherman and his production manager, Brian
Walker, decided to switch to a larger bottle.
They started with half a trailer of 14-oz. bottles and the decision to debut new packaging
at a more economical $4.99, which still kept
the brand in the desirable category of a super
premium specialty food.
Sherman then brought in his long-time
design agency Pulp+Wire to come up with a

new look that was more appropriate for a
small batch, all natural product line. "The
challenge was to have a high-end product
that's sophisticated, but also to marry this
and balance it with a very personality-driven
brand," says Taja Dockendorf, owner and creative director.
Dockendorf 's team began an intense
period of research-going to stores and photographing the seasonings section, interviewing
customers to find out what they liked about
the original DennyMike's packaging, looking
at brands in a range of categories to see how
they articulated their core brand values
through design. This research helped drive the
development of mood boards for the project.
"We knew we wanted to keep bright,
punchy colors for the purpose of brand recognition," says Katie Bernier, Pulp+Wire's senior
designer on this project. "That's one thing that
people have repeatedly said that they love."
Dockendorf and Bernier toned down the gradients of the original colors, though, to give
the new labels a cleaner, more polished look.
Package Design - August 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Package Design - August 2014
