Kotimaista, S Group

The brand growth story of the year

Kotimaista, S Group

Contributions

Brand Identity, Packaging

Awards

Gold Effie Finland, 2021
Vuoden Huiput, Gold Award, 2020
Dieline Awards Silver, 2021

Industry

FMCG, Retail

Our client had landed on an opportunity – to turn their supermarket chain into a fashion destination. Creating a brand with Finnish popstar Antti Tuisku, we designed the fashion collection and built the brand. Leveraging Antti's fame, we launched it, resulting in 1700% increase in online sales, and doubling overall clothing sales

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S Group hired BOND to redesign the package concept for their private label brand, Kotimaista, which had been lagging behind in shelf competition and brand recognition. It had received poor grades for quality and taste and both usage rate and customer awareness were considerably lower than its competitors.

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After BOND simplified the package design, Kotimaista increased in popularity and its reputation grew from the 106th most valuable brand in 2019 to 28th in 2020. Brand awareness increased from 62% to 94% and the usage rate from 54% to 86%. Likewise, all brand perception metrics experienced a considerable boost, with Kotimaista ranking first in price, clarity of information and perception as a domestic brand, and second in taste and quality.

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Ambitious yet achievable goals.

The vast majority of Finns value domestically produced food for its quality and purity. However, many are reluctant to pay more for domestic products. The Kotimaista brand is targeted at the “Finnish food lover” in all of us, and thanks to its affordability, everyone can now buy them. In the beginning of the project, clear objectives were pointed out.

Clear design system enables flexibility. The cornerstones of the design concept are blue as the main colour, delicious images, fun illustrations, clear product naming and custom typography. The hierarchy between these is built to be flexible in a way that suits each category.

Each product recognisably represents the Kotimaista brand without compromising its category. The design concept was made to fit the commonly used packaging formats in order to keep the price low. Blue was used as the main colour in order to achieve recognisability in different categories and make shopping easier. Blue also communicates Finnish identity and increases the feeling of quality.

Desirability was improved with portion images and illustrations, aiming to make even affordable domestic food look delicious. Several creative solutions within the concept deviate from conventions, giving the impression of high quality despite the low price, thus withstanding examination all the way to the table.

Becoming the top private label brand. According to a 2020 study about private label grocery brands, Kotimaista brand awareness has increased from 69% to 94% in the span of 12 months, taking the number three spot in the market.

Additionally, the usage rate increased from 54% to 86% in two years. The same study also ranked Kotimaista first in price, product info and perception as a domestic brand, and second in taste and quality, where it had previously performed poorly. Overall brand perception has risen drastically compared with the previous survey, as the top spot is now taken by Kotimaista (8.25), leaving Pirkka in second place (8.04). Today, consumers are most likely to recommend Kotimaista when it comes to private label grocery brands.