how sweet it could be

Zulka is the most popular, best-selling sugar brand in Mexico. It is also sold in some markets in the US which have a high Hispanic customer base, but in those markets the product is merchandised in the ethnic food section rather than with other sugar brands such as C&H, Domino, etc. 
The client came to us wanting to build a national distribution and realized their current package design (see above) would need some work to appeal to the US consumer and compete against other national brands.
Our research found that consumers reacted negatively to the name Zulka, and very positively to the family-owned, small and eco-conscious farming and production practices of the company, along with the minimal processing and subtle flavor differences between the typical bleached white sugar and the Zulka products. With this in mind we created a variety of concepts which reflected these benefits and the engaging visual cues of the brand’s origin and personality. We even proposed a different brand name for the product line which we included in some of the concept layouts.




After much discussion and deliberation, and despite the research findings,  the client realized they would be uncomfortable making a revolutionary change in the package design. We then created several layout options which were closer to the existing design of the original package and branding, one of which was accepted by the client and selected for finalization.

The product is in national distribution now, and selling well. I guess we’ll never know what the results would have been had we been able to produce one of the original design concepts!