THE TEAM
Halley Sinnot , CBM
Cara Coffin, Strategist
Nick Deleon, Strategist
Haley Schrenk, Art Directer
Nate Sauber, Copy Writer
MY ROLE
Tasked with user research and testing, package design, and developing the new brand logo and style.
TOOLS
Adobe Illustrator
Photoshop
Cinema 4D
Overview
PROBLEM
ReaLemon was once a household name, it's core audience is aging out. If the brand doesn't connect to a new crowd while competing against natural lemons, it risks going sour.
OPPORTUNITY
The uses of Realemon go way beyond a simple cooking product. It's extreme versatility and time-saving powers prove that it is the ultimate swiss army knife of the kitchen.
SOLUTION
Appeal to our new audience with a total refresh of the brand's identity, messaging, and even product line.
THE ASK
Give a Mature Brand a Facelift
Journey to Sweetness
EXPANDING OUR AUDIENCE
While ReaLemon consumers are extremely brand loyal, most are in their 70-90’s. My team realized very quickly that it needs to make a change to avoid getting kicked off the shelf. As shoppers have become more conscious about their health and the products they consume, they are turning to actual lemons over bottled concentrates with preservatives. In order to stay in the game, we decided to focus on a younger audience of Lemon loyalists to bring the brand forward.
DISTINGUISHING THE BRAND
ReaLemon’s packaging and the brand have stayed relatively the same since the 1930s. Meanwhile, look-alike brands are pushing ReaLemon out of view and the “all-natural” movement has people turning away from preservatives. With natural lemon's being the top competitor, Realemon is in dire need to show and look like it's better than the real thing.
SPOTLIGHTING THE BENEFIT
People use lemon juice to solve problems. Lemon juice is an unsung hero in the life of Americans. It’s a reliable way to boost flavor while cooking, bartending, and making lemonade/citrus water. While ReaLemon has traditionally been known and used as a cooking product, in reality, it's a product that can tackle jobs ranging from mild to wild. It’s a product that can take your grandma’s famous lemon bars to the next level, but also remove the skunk odor from that incident in the woods you don’t like talking about.
While researching the product we found an opportunity leaning into the versatility and problem-solving capabilities of lemon juice while challenging an industry obsessed with being all-natural.
Strategy!
Realemon is the most versatile product in your kitchen. What you do with it is your buisness.
A Sweet New Style
MAKING CHANGES WHILE STAYING TRUE
Some design elements stayed the same, like the bottle shape and the name, to keep current loyalists on board. However, the logo, color pallet, and label all got a new look to show off the product and stand out on the shelves. We wanted Realemon's identity to feel exciting yet mature to appeal to the fun and yet somewhat sophisticated needs of our new audience.
People use ReaLemon in interesting ways. Our Cap expansion allows more consumers to experiment and explore the power of lemon juice. By creating the new cap options on multiple sizes of our product, we created a solution that reflects all the interesting ways our customers currently use ReaLemon.
OIL STRAW TOP
SPRAY CAP
This cap is perfect coating a hot and ready meal, or the dirty pan afterwards that needs some serious scrubbing.
Geared towards the more skilled chef or drink maker. The oil straw top is an easy way to add a refreshing taste of lemon to any dish or cocktail.
SQUEEZEER
The squeezer in an improvement of the traditional top, with a better liquid flow top, and a cap that doubles as a measuring cup.
And Bottle Caps
Single Flavor Juice Concentrate
This product line includes the traditional lemon/lime within the ReaLemon brand, but also expands into more citrus to include grapefruit and blood orange flavors perfect for fast weekend mixers.
Owning The Category of Citrus with a Brand Extension
Introducing Real Citrus
Real Citrus capitalizes on all of the wonderful fruits that pair so well Realemon. Focused toward young mixologists and in our extended audience, these new flavors are a great natural addition to any mixer. The goals and design choices were inspired by a focus group.
Double Flavor Juice Concentrate
Our double flavors infuse our traditional lemon/lime with a variety of exciting new accents such as Raspberry Lime, and Lemon Lavender. The product line focuses on exploration and delightful experimentation.
230%
more likely to prepare cocktail mixes with liquor drinks
This New Audience is...
128%
more likely to agree with “I like to try new drinks”
A Bright New Addition
It was important to distinguish Realemon and Real Citrus with a chipper tune-up. While Realemon's new focus is to be seen as slightly more mature, Real Citrus' aim is to truly harness the power of exciting citrus.
In Summary These Changes Add
ATTRACT NEW CUSTOMERS
With our new style, Realemon has the ability to stand out on the grocery store shelf. At the same time, our fresh new look will allow us to appeal to a younger, flavor focused audience.
BENEFIT EXISTING CUSTOMERS
The addition of three new caps allows discovery and ease of use with the product. Further pushing our message that what you do with it is your business.
CAPITALIZE RETAIL SPACE
Real Citrus allows Realemon to take over the natural mixer category for alcoholic beverages. This extension fits perfectly with our extended audience and allows for larger profit using most of the same existing products.
