Although women control 85% of consumer spending, 59% of them feel misunderstood by food marketers, according to ‘Harbinger Women and World of Mouth Study 2012.’ Startup brand Kirsty’s aimed to address this issue with the packaging for its ready meals by creating an intelligent design for its ready meal range that ‘talks the language of women more eloquently.’ Kirsty Henshaw is a young mom in UK, who launched a dairy-free ice cream range in 2010, which got her a listing in Tesco. For her new ready meals range, Henshaw decided to address the issue with marketers that women faced.
“Through talking to our core consumers at initial focus groups, two factors drove our decision to radically change our branding for the new range,” explains Henshaw. “Firstly, it
was clear that some negative perceptions around taste and experience existed in the ‘free from’ category. So we wanted to create something that stood for taste and deliciousness first.” Henshaw appointed Redshoe Brand Design, specialists in packing and brand
design for women, to realize her vision for the product’s packaging and the agency duly responded to the challenge.
Emma Jones, managing partner at Redshoe, says, “The ambition for the project was to launch the very first, completely allergen free range of chilled ready meals, and create an
inspiring brand that people could really trust. Part of our role was to help Kirsty define what that should be. With no advertising budget, the packaging needed to be so much more than, well, packaging.” While the allergen free aspect of the product is important, Redshoe reckons it has succeeded in designing packaging that immediately and primarily shows its contents as a tasty meal. Its ‘free from’ message is carried without giving the shopper the
feeling there is a large pointing finger above them in the aisle with ‘allergy’ in bold letters.
