Revitalizing a Brand: Naked & Saucy's Rebranding Journey

A successful rebranding project requires thorough research, collaboration, and a clear understanding of a brand's vision and goals. This is exactly what Naked & Saucy, manufacturer of a popular line of organic cooking sauces, did for the recent launch of their bold, new, eye-catching, and drool-worthy branding.

Here is a peek into the story behind this rebranding, along with valuable insights into the process from Naked & Saucy’s key partners, Crew Marketing and Altro Labels.

The Rebrand

Finding the right partners to bring your vision to life is essential to a successful rebranding campaign.

To begin, Naked & Saucy enlisted the expertise of Crew Marketing Partners, a strategic and creative agency specializing in consumer packaged goods, to guide them through the rebranding process. This involved establishing the marketing foundation, moving into the creative brief, and brand platforms, and then designing the final packaging.

To bring the vision into reality, Naked & Saucy worked closely with the professional custom print team at Altro Labels, to ensure the perfect execution of their new label designs.

Client Collaboration - Marketing

Collaboration is key: Crew Marketing Partners engages a collaborative approach to rebranding, working closely with Paul Gill, founder of Naked & Saucy, to ensure that their vision and values were reflected in every aspect of the new brand identity. Paul guided the rebrand through the entire process, starting with the development of the Marketing Foundations, which laid out the brand's unique selling proposition, target audience, and key messaging. This step was crucial to ensuring that the new brand identity was aligned with Naked & Saucy's business goals and objectives.

The challenge: Message hierarchy and simplified packaging. The company name and the product name were becoming competitive on their previous labels, and how it translated to the retail packaging. It had become cluttered with too many messages.

The goal: To make Naked & Saucy's Unique Value Proposition clear and simple, and create packaging that could effectively reduce out-of-store marketing expenses by maximizing in-store impact. Additionally, the branding had to be structured in a way that engaged consumers and conveyed the appropriate hierarchy to facilitate their understanding of the product, thereby encouraging them to try and purchase it.

Naked & Saucy products are organic, ethically sourced, do not contain soy, are vegan, gluten-free, and taste REALLY good; therefore emphasizing the taste appeal in a visual manner on their packaging and ultimately reflecting the ‘drool factor’ of their products was essential to their final design.  

Strategy: Crew developed a creative brief that captured the brand's personality, tone, and style, which was then used as a blueprint for the design team to craft the new visual identity. Through an interactive process, the design team shared various design concepts with the brand and sought feedback at every stage. This approach ensured that the brand was involved in the development of the new brand identity and that their feedback was incorporated into the final product.

Research and Development: The context at the shelf was considered to ensure that the Naked & Saucy products would stand out amongst the highly competitive aisle of sauces. How?  By using a cognitive AI tool that allowed them to evaluate the clarity of messaging and the comprehension on the shelf.

Design: Teal has been the lead colour for Naked & Saucy products since their inception. Crew aimed to ensure that their products would catch the eye on the shelf, creating a strong brand identity by using one recognizable color, along with signature "drips" within each label.

Each product label would tell its own story with unique and complimentary colours while the use of food photography was used to enhance the story of the flavour, creating the “drool factor” for consumers. The typeface was inspired by graffiti, to keep the design edgy and align with the brand identity.

Label Execution

Altro Labels takes great pride in their commitment to excellence, and this extends to their collaborative approach with partners like Paul, as well as their pre-press designers and production team during the final design process.

The goal: To select the right label size, material and finish that would reflect the brand vision while considering the unique use of the “drips” cut-out within the label artwork. Testing and sampling were important steps to ensuring a seamless transition of the labels from print press to product manufacturing. These steps also ensured that the vibrant brand colors of the labels would be consistent across all SKUs, leaving no room for discrepancies.

The rebranding journey of Naked & Saucy serves as an excellent example of how a strategic and collaborative approach can lead to successful outcomes. The right packaging is essential to your brand's success in the retail marketplace, and collaborating with the right partners is key to bringing your vision to life.

Considering a Rebrand?  

Thoughts from Naked & Saucy Founder, Paul Gill:

Your label is your #1 marketing tool. Don't be scared to make a switch if it is necessary. Consider an evolution of the design to its final state as a way to lead customers from one design to another. I believe this is one of the most important investments a brand can make and thus shouldn't skimp on it.

Thoughts from Crew Marketing Partners:

Having a strong foundation of where your brand is going, what you want to be and who you are has a trickle-down effect across everything that you do. Identifying that upfront is crucial. If you’re in the CPG space, your product packaging is the #1 communication tool that you have as it's always on and ensures you’re investing well in your product & the packaging.

Thoughts from Altro Labels:

Three things to consider when it's time to bring your new rebrand to life are size, material, and finish. Size: Your custom print partner can help you determine the best label size for your packaging by reviewing the specs for your bottle or container. Finding the perfect label fit is critical for both the production process and consumer impression. Your provider can also help you determine which size will be most cost-effective. Material: Different materials have unique properties and strengths that can impact the label's durability, adhesion, and overall performance. Understanding how your products will be used by consumers, as well as how your labels will be handled during production, is essential when choosing the right material. Finish: Glossy, matte, pearlized, textured, bold, subtle...the possibilities are endless, and the right print partner will be able to guide you through all your options to bring your vision to life.