How Kashi’s Recent Brand Refresh is Joyfully Democratizing Healthy Lifestyles
No matter how established your brand is, evolution is inevitable. Sometimes instead of a full rebrand, a little “refresh” is in order to better communicate your mission statement to your target audience. Also, audiences inevitably change like the seasons, so it’s critical to constantly adapt to meet their ever-changing needs. Think of this process as slapping a fresh coat of paint on your home and sprinkling in updated decor. You’re left with something a bit more current and vibrant, without the fuss of a full remodel.
For our Silver sponsor Kashi, “nourishing people and the planet with plant-powered passion” was always part of the brand’s purposeful DNA from day one. However, this past year, Kashi decided it was time to double-down on its “real food philosophy” through a strategic refresh.
To better grasp the thought process behind this initiative, we sat down with Kashi’s Director of Brand Marketing Melanie Hall who walked us through the new changes rolling out now to the packaging. Hall emphasized that these subtle nuances better convey Kashi’s mission of “making eating well easy.”
“Our old packaging was focused around the close ups of the food,” Hall noted. “At the time, the story we were trying to tell revolved around how our food is clean. We wanted to visually show how our products are non-GMO Project Verified and organic.”
However, with Kashi’s recent refresh, the updates needed to be more mission-driven and align with the brand story more seamlessly.
Hall distilled it down to four central elements:
- Color wave: On the new Kashi packaging, you’ll notice a striking color wave that elegantly wraps around the entire pack. Symbolically, this is meant to emulate the majestic landscape of California, from the wavy hills and mountain tops, to the breezy coastline. Everything is always in flow.
This type of imagery really underscores that wellness is a constant journey, always in motion, and everyone is on their own unique path. Kashi upholds an unwavering commitment to helping consumers get to their next wellness destination.
Lastly, the Kashi color wave yields a type of harmonious energy that exemplifies the Kashi team as a whole — dedicated to joyfully democratizing healthy lifestyles.
- Taste cues: Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice taste. To convey this concept, Kashi imprinted bold, satiating taste cues designed to light up those taste buds.
For example, you’ll detect a dollop of golden honey on the “Honey Toasted Oat ” cereal box and a sizable cinnamon stick on the “Whole Wheat Biscuits, Cinnamon Harvest” pack. This type of food-forward imagery on the front and back nods to the interactive, enjoyable tasting experience Kashi always cultivates for customers.
- The Kashi leaf: The little leaf that dots the “i” in “Kashi” on the new packaging signals to customers that by choosing Kashi, they’re saying “yes” to all food straight from mother earth.
The old packaging displayed a sheaf of grain which paid homage to the organic, healthy lifestyle movement Kashi pioneered over 35 years ago. So in a way, the leaf on the new pack hearkens to this.
Hall also noted that the little leaf looks like a torch, lighting the way on your individual path to wellness — again, underscoring Kashi’s mission to democratize healthy lifestyles.
- Climate change characters: On the back of the latest Kashi packs, you’ll spot the addition of mini climate change characters cradling the planet. From a visual perspective, this represents Kashi’s ongoing sustainability efforts, which really started during the brand’s inception in 1984.
Next to these little characters, consumers will come across a QR code that maps back to Kashi’s site, outlining its planet-positive efforts around climate change. This also delineates Kashi’s journey to help lower its impact on climate change, a central focus right now for the company.
Aside from the brand refresh, Kashi is remaining 100% committed to making good food accessible to everyone. In fact, the company recently launched two organic breakfast cereals approved in 10 different states for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). At-risk women in this government-operated program can grab three boxes of Kashi cereal, making this the only organic WIC offering available.
Kashi wholeheartedly believes that the journey to healthy lifestyles shouldn’t be restricted by income and everyone should have full accessibility to real nutrition that tastes delicious. “Making eating well easy” is not only visually evident through the refresh, but a core principle Kashi lives by through and through.
Be sure to grab a box of Kashi cereal, scan the QR code, and get exploring!
