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Jay's 'family' uses graphics to travel

New ownership of Jay’s is using redesigned graphics to help the brand broaden its distribution.

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This year, the packaging for Jay’s salty snacks will undergo some subtle modernization, both in structure and in graphics. The goal, according to new owner Ubiquity Brands, Chicago, is to modernize the appearance of the packages while reinforcing the equity in the venerable brand.

Unlike when Jay’s was a brand name for the Japp family business in Chicago, the brand’s new management is a strong believer in consumer research. “Not many snack food companies believe in consumer research,” says Tom Reynolds, executive vice president for innovation at Ubiquity. “We feel the amount of time and effort we put into qualitative consumer research is directly related to our new products’ successes.”

In terms of its packaging, Reynolds says the company extensively studies what attracts consumers to a package. “We do a lot of focus group work with consumers,” he adds. That’s critical because Reynolds is heading up a total redesign of Jay’s products.

Along with making Jay’s packaging more appealing, the goal is also to make a stronger brand statement for its different varieties. “We didn’t have a cohesive look because each package had been developed when the product was developed,” Reynolds says. “If you lay our former packages side by side, you’d see a lot of different looks.”

Ubiquity retained Haugaard Creative to update the graphics—but only modestly. “Our consumers told us they loved Jay’s and felt they ‘owned’ the brand. They told us they believed it was made locally and so was fresher and had better taste,” says Reynolds. “And the brand’s tagline, ‘Can’t stop eating ‘em!’ is synonymous with the brand.”

Updating the look

“Our challenge was to keep as much equity of the existing package, while contemporizing the look,” says Phil Haugaard, president of the design firm. Working with marketers at Ubiquity, Haugaard decided to use transparent colors over the metallized look to bring a reflective look to the packaging.

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