A RANGE OF PROBLEMS

What began as a pitch to win a position on GMI’s roster turned into a refresh of the world’s largest Mexican food brand. The Old El Paso range had extended to hundreds of products and in the process had become a victim of its own success. On pack communication was inconsistent and almost impossible to shop. Consumers were being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice at the fixture and with no clear way of navigating it. As a result, they would often walk away without making any purchase at all. Add to this regional variation and the project became a vast exercise in rationalisation, semiotics, information psychology and logistics – we loved it.

CLARITY IN SIMPLICITY

In order to reach that end, the pack was deconstructed and rebuilt from the ground up, ensuring brand equities were retained and respected but unnecessary layers of badges and claims were removed. Every element on every facing was evaluated and either reconditioned for purpose or discarded. Hierarchies were made consistent, allowing for clear shopability across flavours and product offers.

All changes were tested across a multitude of SKU’s and unanimously approved across multiple markets, which was quite the undertaking.

“The team at Ocean took apart our pack and put it back together in such a clever way that our problems with shopability were solved without any of our key brand elements being affected or compromised. Ocean’s approach to problem solving was both methodical and demanding. They challenged us to think about every element on pack to ensure it was working hard enough. The outstanding research results from across the globe proved they were the right agency for the job.”

Christophe Huybrechts, Regional Brand Manager, Old El Paso