Fresh Thyme Private Brand Grows Rapidly
Since 2015, Midwestern natural and organic grocer Fresh Thyme Farmers Market has grown its private brand products to include some 400 items. The 41-store Fresh Thyme, with locations in 10 states, has worked with Los Angeles-based The Creative Pack to design a private brand that reinforces its core values: honesty, superior value, straight talk, and shopping ease.
Fresh Thyme’s private brand program – which spans everyday staples such as canned tomatoes and cooking oil to innovative items like Italian-imported gelato and cookie butter spread – emphasizes clean ingredients and locally sourced products, as often as possible from Midwest suppliers.
The retailer’s robust private label program is guided by a clear set of objectives:
- To create an impactful, easy-to-shop design that maintains a natural, organic stance
- To communicate the brand’s high food quality standards on pack
- To emulate Fresh Thyme’s fun and inviting brand voice
- To complement its existing farm fresh design aesthetic used in-store and online
The process to build Fresh Thyme’s integrated private brand program involved incorporating a few existing design elements from the retailer’s marketing guidelines, including its iconic tractor logo and earthy color palette.
The winning design solution began by creating a solid infrastructure, defined key design elements: an eye-catching “farm horizon” features a silhouette of Fresh Thyme’s tractor; a bold, legible product title that coordinates with the color-coded sky; a quirky, handcrafted product illustration; and clear messaging that communicates the product’s clean ingredient content.
The success of Fresh Thyme’s private brand has quickly come full circle. In 2016, the design has gained recognition and awards by design industry leaders such as GDUSA for its innovation and excellence in private label branding.