Date
2023
Client
Ocean Spray
Ocean Spray Redesign
Situation & Strat
Ocean Spray is a well-known brand that isn’t known well at all. Thought of as a big juice brand, the real story proved much more fascinating. Our job became less about refreshing a brand — and more about rediscovering a brand story that deserved to be told.
Ted and Chelsea, Paul Miller, Kersten Vasey, Daniel Alfonzo, Brien Hollowell
Work
Brand Strategy
Packaging
Storybuilding
Identity
Portfolio Architecture
Copywriting
Illustration
Photography/Art Direction
Brand Activation
Brand Guidelines
CRAN LORE
We put on the waders and got knee-deep in the bog. The more we waded in, the wilder it got. We learned cranberries grow on 100-year old vines passed down from generation to generation; Ocean Spray is actually a farmer-owned co-op, co-founded by a trail-blazing woman; cranberries are so unusual, farmers often invent their own machinery to handle them. And cranberries are so tart, few can handle eating them raw.
. . . MEETS CRAN LOVE
Another big discovery — fans are wild about Ocean Spray. From a guy named Doggface skating his way to TikTok stardom to die-hard canned sauce fans standing on tradition, Ocean Spray cranberries attract fierce opinions and strong characters. We tapped into something powerful — and set out to build a connection between the wildness of the bog and the passion of cran fans.
We created a visual and verbal “Wildly Uncommon” brand world reflecting those grittier, bog-to-the-bone ways that have always been bubbling just beneath the surface. You’ll see it in the more confident type and edgier art direction. The hand-done quality of the layered textures is a nod to the hands-on work of the farmers. When we needed a wave, we built a real-world wave machine to capture the energy in ways CGI couldn’t. As for the identity, we understood there was no need to walk away from years of equity and that it only needed some measured updates. Overall, we wanted to show people a side of Ocean Spray they hadn’t seen before, yet still feel connected to the 100-year old legacy. We found that story in the details, and brought it out with the rally cry, “Born Tart. Raised Bold.”
