Norsweet
Complete brand building & implementation process for a value-driven Norwegian smart food D2C company
Client
Norsweet
To Fight Against Global Sugar Consumption
Not only did the brand founders want to reach a new audience and exist in the highly competitive FMCG market, but they also wanted to work towards a larger goal and global movement – the fight against global sugar consumption. NorSweet encourages their clients to eat less and eat smarter; Funktional had to bring that idea to life and communicate it across all messaging and brand touchpoints.
To Distinguish Products
The health and wellness food market is steadily growing and becoming more concentrated. It also tends to be more expensive than regular supermarket food products. We kept this in mind when coming up with our brand and communication strategy – how do we create value for the customer and solve the potential barrier of higher costs? Furthermore, how do we distinguish our product when there is already a considerable range of healthy food products available?
Discovery & Research
Before starting the conceptual work, we completed the exploration stage. We wanted to confront our ideas with the client’s vision to be guaranteed full understanding. We worked under clearly defined conditions – the client knew the team, delivery plan, and the list of requirements with detailed priorities.
Having agreed upon the scope of the project, we were able to commence work. We started with strategic workshops with the client where we got to better understand his ideas regarding the brand, the selected target groups we should go after, and broadly discussed the distinguishing brand features and values. This also helped us diagnose problems and predict challenges, allowing us to come up with solutions in advance.
As part of the discovery stage, we performed in-depth market research and analysis over the competition and industry trends, from which we learned that visuals, inspiring content and a strong mission play a key role in this industry. We also learned that modern brands and customers are departing from the idea of “diet culture”, instead focusing on the embracement of a healthy eating lifestyle that is attainable, long-term, and focused on positivity rather than on creating impossible aspirational aesthetic standards and simply promoting weight loss.
To better understand how to overcome the challenge of differentiating the product on the marketplace and providing a real value for customers, we also prepared our own research: conducting interviews on our target audiences. From this, we collected insights and identified consumer behavior that helped us verify our planned strategies and ideas – all the way from the design of the packaging, to the customer journey on the website and social media content. We were able to narrow down our target audiences to adults who maintain active and busy lifestyles, who already are or are looking forward to adopting everyday healthy eating habits.
Brand Strategy
The first step in the development of this new brand strategy was to define NorSweet’s target audience, objectives, concerns and, most importantly, positioning which we defined as: for health-conscious people, NorSweet is the guilt-free smart food made out of natural Norwegian ingredients. Afterwards, we constructed a ‘brand platform’ integrating brand promise, brand value proposition and shared values, building a strong mission statement.
The main goal of our messaging was to transmit the idea that NorSweet is nutritious and tasty smart food with Norwegian heritage that helps you stay in control of your health and enjoy the everyday. We wanted to make healthy eating exciting and approachable rather than boring and academic or prestigious, as well as relating the notion that NorSweet can easily adapt to even the busiest of lifestyles and help individuals stay in control of their health. For those people that argue against the claim that healthy food can be delicious, we promoted the premise that “tasting is believing”, encouraging customers to try sugar-free and natural NorSweet products and see for themselves.
We enriched our strategic assumptions with one-to-one research, creating a direction for the implementation of the company’s business and image goals, anticipating future trends and directions of market evolution.
This formed the foundation of all the design and creative routes that were explored and presented.
Design
We decided to use light, non-overwhelming colors and patterns that would appeal to audiences. The design elements on the packaging reflect both the Norwegian story of the smart food as well as the key features of each product, and are visually different from the competition even at first glance. The distribution channel of e-commerce allowed us to depart from the standards of shelf packaging, permitting us to utilize minimalistic and original illustrations which are an important element of the entire identification system, rather than the necessity of including images of the specific product itself.
We paid tribute to the Scandinavian origin of the company, and at the same time combined this minimalism with the eye-catching and light design of a modern and friendly brand. Why? Driven by a focus on healthy choices for their family, the target audience is mostly female.
Visual Language
We knew stock food photography wouldn’t cut it. Our specific vision for unique, stylized environments and product interaction could only be achieved through custom visual language; therefore, we teamed up with our long-term business partners: Panopticon – a production house, Marek Siol – an award-winning chef, and Gabriela Sowa – a well-known food stylist.
We worked based on mood boards, and during the session, our team appeared as supervisors (and, shhh, testers of the delicious dishes).
Web Design & UX
The client wanted to start selling as soon as possible, which is why the work on the website was divided into the MVP stage, followed by further implementations. In the beginning, we focused on creating the UX strategy and flow maps, succeeded by medium-fidelity mockups, so as not to forget about any functionality relevant to customers (which was determined based on brand strategy, workshops, and user interviews). We prioritized user journey touchpoints, established channel roles, and focused on creating a positive experience of NorSweet’s customers.
After receiving approval from the client, our team of designers began working, proposing a design in line with current trends and consistent with the rest of the identification. Thanks to our utilization of AGILE methodology, at the same time as we were implementing the MVP version of the website, we were able to work on its extended version in parallel, in which we focused on building a website full of valuable and interactive content for users.
All this was done based on the checklists agreed upon with the client, functionality, and quality requirements. As part of the effective implementation, we worked on PHP, HTML5, WordPress, Elementor, Sass + CSS 3.0, js technologies, and we used the BugHerd tool for ongoing and efficient feedback.
Our work on the website did not end after being published – as part of the “brand ownership” model, we utilize Growth-Driven Design, regularly updating the website based on user data and behaviors to optimize customers’ experiences and make sure that it consistently meets their highest expectations.
Marketing
Individuals from NorSweet’s target groups have different questions, concerns, and needs at various stages of the sales funnel. We divided the marketing strategy activities based on key goals: brand recognition, sales, and educating customers about the benefits of NorSweet products. The above strategies would not work without the employment of a highly researched and customized promotional strategy.
To drive sales, we prepared communication across social media, marketing automation, PPC activities, multi-faceted cooperation with influencers and ambassadors, as well as PR.
Copywriting
We crafted a tone and voice that is unique to NorSweet in a way that not only feels authentic and natural, but engaging and educational as well. We gathered a team of wonderful copywriters and implemented our concept step by step – from sales and product texts, to the website, through printed materials (such as leaflets, catalogs, and brochures), to elements of cooperation with influencers, advertising, and social media content.
Thanks to such all-around support, the client did not have to worry about anything.
Optimizing Time and Cost
The clients’ awareness was very high from the beginning – they knew that they did not want to create a classic marketing department within their organization. Correspondingly, they decided to entrust us with all activities related to building the brand. Thanks to this choice, we shortened the duration of the project and increased its dynamics – all based on our team’s extensive experience and effective “Brand Ownership” process. We were able to define a target group and completely build and implement a new brand, website, social media & content strategy and numerous marketing materials within one year.
A Brand That Sells
Working with some of the biggest brands in the industry has taught us a lot. Based on the processes of the AGILE and Growth-Driven Design methodology, we were able to successfully implement an all-inclusive branding project within a relatively short time. Taking advantage of many technological opportunities, inviting experienced specialists to cooperate with us, and relying on our vast experience, we helped build a unified e-commerce brand that can be scaled to many markets and will not only sell but most of all, give people a unique experience and a willingness to change for the better.
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