The packaging range solution for Tyson Foods, Inc.

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P&W has produced the packaging design strategy for one of the world’s largest food companies.

The Arkansas-based company, Tyson Foods, Inc. is a multinational corporation that operates in the food industry as the world's second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork.

The company ranked No.79 in the 2020 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

TYSON FOODS, INC OVERVIEW

Tyson Foods, Inc has 123 food processing plants and, as of 2018, Tyson Foods, Inc. employed around 141,000 employees. The company has an impressive portfolio of food brands including: Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm and State Fair.

Tyson Foods, Inc. distributes protein products to a variety of foodservice customers including hospitals, schools, nursing homes and military bases. They also sell their produce and prepared foods through all major distribution channels, including grocery stores and discount stores.

PROJECT BRIEF

Earlier this year, Pemberton & Whitefoord were approached by Tyson Foods, Inc. with the challenge of designing the packaging for a new range of frozen chicken products for the Tyson flagship brand, to be launched in the European Foodservice market.

The food innovators wanted to expand their offering in Europe to continue the brand’s legacy with high-quality foodservice products, helping businesses, distributors and chefs.

The new range of 28 frozen poultry products is to be sold to restaurants, cafés and caterers. The 2-tier range, which caters to a broad range of consumers, includes raw, skewers, coated and fried varieties such as Southern Fried Crispy Chicken Mini Fillets and Coated Chicken Schnitzel.

STRATEGIC SOLUTION

P&W clearly delineated the ‘Speciality’ and ‘Core’ ranges by black and red packaging design solutions. Via a clear design strategy, P&W ensured differentiation between each product via well-defined colour-coding and mouth-watering product photography, demonstrating to chefs an appetising representation of the cooked product.

After conducting market research, considering 2020 market trends and studying packaging innovations, P&W produced and presented diverse creative solutions to theTyson Foods, Inc. team. The creative route you see here was selected for its informative yet innovative design.

P&W’s design thinking behind the chosen concept was guided by five key principles:

1.   To capitalise on consumer recognition of the Tyson brand

2.   Bold colour-coding for strong product and range delineation

3.   Mouth-watering photography to entice consumers

4.   Unified incorporation of 13 languages

5.   Product visibility via windows into the product

CRAFTED COPY

Effective packaging speaks to consumers directly; both via visual and written language. There is a definite discipline to producing copy for packaging which consists of three key factors: empathy, lucidity and spatial-awareness.

P&W were intrinsic to the crafting of the copywriting on both front and back of every pack and within the catalogue and brochure. It was essential we encapsulate the informative yet personable tone-of-voice of the Tyson brand.

From short product-descriptive copy for back-of-pack to extended explanatory prose for the product catalogue, P&W ensured that Tyson’s visual and written brand messaging was entirely unified.

RESULTS

Our team incorporated the recognisable Tyson brand logo at the visual entry point of each pack, and selected strong black branding for the ‘Speciality’ range and confident red for the ‘Core’ range.

Product photography is aligned to the bottom right of each pack, with gourmet products presented on garnished plates at a ¾ angle for the ‘Speciality’ range and on more rustic, textured boards at an (almost)overhead angle for the more casual-dining ‘Core’ range.

All of the packaging integrates a total of 13 languages on back and front of pack for each product. It was essential for P&W to address the language and labelling needs of customers to help ensure the success of the Tyson brand across all European countries.

The sustainable packaging is also full-recyclable with items produced in Europe packaged in 50% bio-based plastic material and items from Thailand and Brazil packing in recyclable monolayer plastic.

The shelf-life of all of the products is 18-months and they are portion controlled, encouraging zero-food waste.

Working with Stephen Conroy, P&W collaborated with the client to art direct and quality control photography.

As a full-service creative agency, P&W did not stop at producing the packaging design solutions. Our creative team produced comprehensive brand guidelines to ensure cohesive brand messaging. P&W also produced the brochure design as well as explanatory data sheets to help sales teams and foodservice customers.

The confident brand slogan “Keep it real. Keep it Tyson” is integrated across marketing collateral, including exhibition boards, signage and uniforms.

P&W design agency Partner, Adrian Whitefoord, directed the project. He remarked: ‍

“It was vital our team produce strong and communicative creative packaging which expressed high-quality and versatility of the Tyson products. Numerous languages provided clarity for chefs and stood out from competitor foodservice brands. We’ve succeeded in creating the new range, a catalogue and packaging guidelines in our first project with the company. We look forward to partnering with Tyson again across their exciting and growing portfolio of products.”

TESTIMONIAL

Ultimately, as design service providers, our principal objective is to ensure our clients are pleased with the outcome of working with P&W. Tyson’s Brand Marketing and Packaging Development Manager of Europe, Viken Boniekerian, commented:

‍“P&W’s creative strategies and branding expertise have been instrumental in the realignment of the Tyson brand for the retail and food-service sectors in Europe. Their first class brand packaging skills are complimented by excellent project management, collaborative methodology and meticulous attention to detail. We are delighted with the professionalism and creativity that P&W continue to deliver, their strategic approach is always at the heart their commercially astute branding solutions.”

COMPANY HISTORY

To give a brief overview of the company’s humble beginnings, Tyson was established by farmer John W. Tyson in 1935. In 1931, during the Great Depression, John moved his wife and young son to Springdale, Arkansas in search of new opportunities.

John began delivering chickens to larger markets in Kansas City, St Louis and eventually Chicago. John then invested in a poultry-growing operation and a commercial feed business.

The company benefited during WWII, as chicken was not included in the list of rationed foods. By 1957, the Tyson firm built its first poultry-processing plant in Springdale. Throughout the 1960’s,Tyson carried on its expansion, buying up competing farms.

Don Tyson took the company’s wheel in 1967. Over the next three decades, Don helped Tyson Foods, Inc grow into one of the globe’s prominent food producers.

If you’d like to learn more about the history of Tyson Food, Inc., click here.

As a full service creative agency,P&W’s creative solutions stem from an understanding of innovative market research, design strategy, branding,2020 market trends and 2020 packaging innovations. P&W is much more than just a packaging design agency, it is involved with all facets of giving a voice to your brand.

If you want to discuss the needs of your brand or retail brand, get in touch today.

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