From bland to bold. Redefining plant-based standards with Tesco’s Root & Soul.
People want to eat more greens without compromising on indulgence but often find themselves staring at a sea of limited, uninspiring, overprocessed options when walking down supermarkets’ aisles. rnrnTo leave behind consumers’ concerns around artificial meat-mimics ingredients and overcome the bland and boring veggie-stereotype, we celebrate the expertise and the flair that transform fresh, simple produce into flavoursome dishes, and created a brand identity for this new Tesco range that will trailblaze natural plant-based eating for good.
From side-of-plate to center stage.
Consumption of meat-free meals is increasing, though no longer driven by a move to vegan products. Consumers wanting to reduce their meat intake, are now looking at more naturally plant-based products like veg, pulses, nuts, grains and seeds as a healthier and more sustainable alternative to bland-tasting, overprocessed meat mimics options.
The Opportunity
Inspired by the dedication and respect Tesco puts in for growing, nurturing and preparing the veggies to enhance their natural flavours, we set ourselves the task to proudly elevate them from side-of-plate to center stage and clearly depart from the brash, silly, or flamboyant dominant category semiotics often deployed to compensate for poor meat-mimics quality and bland product flavours.
The Unordinary Idea
The brand embodies the two aspects that make this range special: quality ingredients rooted in nature, freshly picked and expertly prepared with flair, passion and soul, leaving customers happy and fulfillled. This duality was reflected in the Unordinary Idea of ‘Breathing new life into nature’s own cuisine’ which drove both the name and the identity.
Launching with 12 SKUs, we created a compelling visual identity to express the brand personality on pack as well as in comms across the store. Bespoke botanical illustrations work alongside a textured background canvas to convey the authenticity of the natural ingredients and the vibrancy of flavours.
The design system allows to create dynamic compositions that vary per product, giving a sense new energy and life into the products used in each dish whilst enhancing taste and quality credentials across multiple categories and formats including salads, vegetable meals, and galettes.
Sam Stone, Creative Director at Coley Porter Bell, said: We wanted to celebrate the humble vegetable itself through illustration and allow the product itself to convey the fullness of flavour. There are already many plant-based brands on shelf that use a bold abstract representation of flavours so we decided to create a brand that was confident in displaying the authentic manner and rich expertise the growers and chefs perfectly combine to create a satisfying veggie dish.
The Results
Caroline Kelly, Head of Design at Tesco, said: “We are thrilled to build on the growing naturally plant-based trend with Root & Soul to expand into a distinctive new space and further solidify our position in this space. We have worked closely with Coley Porter Bell to create a brand identity and design that showcases vegetables, pulses, grains, nuts as the heroes of the range and offer our customers – be they vegetarians, flexitarians or meat reducers – exciting, tasty options for them to add easily into their eating habits and lifestyles.”
