Project Overview
Pop Fiction is an exciting new popcorn brand with a personality and spark never seen before. Cutting through the fast growing market, Pop Fiction offers something new to consumers, in a category, which has previously only been dominated by brands borrowing cues from the cinema world or conservative health players. Enter Pop Fiction. A quirky brand with an unexpected look, jumping off shelves and into Australian’s hands.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Justine Donaldson – Creative lead
Viv Gibson-Thomas – Strategist/Writer
Katherine Hunter – Strategist
Vanessa McMahon – Account Director
Lachlan McKernan – Account Manager
Project Brief
The brief required 3 things from the designers:
1. Launch a brand from scratch. From name, identity, personality, palette to tone of voice, we had to take the brand from zero to hero, to find a way to deliver fun and healthy popcorn to Australians through design with maximum impact.
2. Position the brand as BOTH ‘Healthy’ and ‘Fun’. Never before seen in the Australian popcorn category, we had to break category norms and create a healthy popcorn brand, which wasn’t conservative – and a fun popcorn brand, which wasn’t unhealthy. It was a rare combination and demanded a unique treatment.
3. Target Millennials. Reward the younger consumer with more than just delicious and interesting popcorn. We had to raise the bar and create something completely new for this space and target audience.
Project Innovation/Need
Forget the standard ‘salt grinder’. Ditch the vinegar picture. Pop Fiction is a game changer when it comes to visual cues. Think speedboats, superhero masks and double rainbows. The crazy spectrum of colour is filtered throughout the Pop Fiction packaging, from flicking through opposite ends of the pantone book, to adding colour and life to packaging copy all the way down to the usually sleep inducing terms and conditions. Everything about Pop Fiction is unexpected, warm, modern and entertaining. Even the name ‘Pop Fiction’ was created by our designers to capture the idea of storytelling, shifting the perception of popcorn from an occasion-based snack to memorable moments with friends. It’s all about bringing unexpected pleasure with an unexpected snack.
Design Challenge
There was very limited budget for launch, so we needed to be innovative around the packaging and Shelf Ready Trays (SRTs) in order to have maximum impact in store. We designed SRTs, which are not only the delivery mechanism but also act as a tool for consumer communication and brand awareness.
Effectiveness
The client, JC’s were rapt with the outcome; “What The Contenders came up with was fantastic. Everyone we have spoken to loves the brand.”
To create such a powerful piece of packaging from scratch which can emotionally connect with its audience from first sight is a true testament to the creatives involved in the project. Pop Fiction was launched in 2016 and is currently being rolled out at independent retailers across the nation. Plus, with such a visually arresting and professional brand, the client has been able to secure distribution for Pop Fiction at both Dan Murphy’s Liquor and Caltex Convenience Stores nationwide.
Graphic Design - Three Dimensional
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages used in packaging. Consideration given to: clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience; the approach, including marketing and branding concerns, the dynamics of the retail environment, environmental considerations, and legal requirements; the component parts of packaging graphics such as colour rationalisation, information layout, feel and tone of illustration and photography, and finishes, and how they are used in isolation and in relation to each other; and the relationship to the anatomy of the structural design.
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