French Squirrel
CLIENT CASE STUDY
CAPABILITIES
Brand Strategy
Brand Identity Design
Illustration
Packaging Design
The Project
Sydney, the Founder of French Squirrel, came to us direction-less, seeking strategic guidance on how to build her first business and brand from the ground up. We provided her with reassurance, a confident mindset, a strategy backed Brand Identity Design System and Packaging Design for her first two mission driven products lines: Berets and Bateaux’s. Creating a strong, cohesive brand system set Sydney up for success, enabling her to apply it to future products as her business grows.
Since working together she’s successfully developed more flavor sku’s and two additional product lines. All of which are now stocked in 205 retail locations across the USA!
How Good Design, Solves Everything
Delivering an aligned brand identity system to Sydney, she was able to apply and show brand consistency across all channels giving her a more professional presence and allowing her to quickly grow her social media following from 0 to 3K+. And was able to confidently approach and apply to retailers to carry her product.
Now operating with focus and a clear vision for her brand – Sydney has expanded her Beret product line to 40 locations in 16 months – across major retailers around the country, like Erewhon, The Fresh Market. As well as, successfully launching a second product line: Bateaux’s, that is now sold at Erewhon and other retailers.
Customers, family and friends have all complimented her on her logo specifically saying – it truly encompasses the brands’ personality. Strong brand recognition that your consumers resonate with leads to loyal customer base and proves French Squirrel’s ever widening brand reach.
*Update – within 3 years, French Squirrel products are now in 250+ locations on both coasts and across America. They’ve also launched a 3rd successful product in 2023 called Bisous which is now in 1,000+ Home Goods locations. Our solid brand and packaging design system set French Squirrel up for success, making the look and feel easily transferrable to all products as she continues to expand her business and product line over the coming years.
The original Beret packaging label design we designed for their first launch.
The Product
Berets are nutrient dense protein bites coated in 100% pure, organic chocolate. Bateaux’s are stuffed organic medjool dates coated in 100% pure, organic chocolate. Both are real food snacks made from organic, good-for-you ingredients.
The box design for a Beret six pack.
The revised and refined Beret packaging design.
Why a Greater Mission Matters
Sydney is not only an entrepreneur but also a Certified Hormone Specialist. Her Beret’s thoughtfully include the key components of a balanced and hormone-friendly snack: protein, healthy fats, fiber and healthy carbohydrates. As well as, stress-managing adaptogens, like maca, ashwagandha, and rhodiola rosea – all known to reduce stress on the body, thus positively affecting your hormones. Sydney has gathered numerous testimonials that speak to when eating her products, customers' blood sugar levels became more balanced, as her carefully crafted combination of ingredients stabilizes blood sugar which also aids in balancing hormones.
Additionally, her Bateaux’s are created with the best quality of dates. Dates are proven to lower inflammatory markers like IL-6 in the brain, decreasing your risk of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Food really can balance and heal and French Squirrel showcases that power beautifully.
These products are meant to prove how snacking can actually be good for you and to approach eating like most Europeans. French Squirrel means to dismantle a culture of numbers and calories and aims to focus on promoting eating real food and real ingredients that’s meant to be enjoyed. As well as, how real ingredients can be power in healing and balancing your body.
Our Process
All the design decisions we make throughout our process are thoughtful, consider all the details, are concept driven, and lead with intention that’s backed with strategy.
We’re grateful that Sydney recognized this and valued it in the Branding & Packaging we created for French Squirrel.
Sustainability in Mind, Always
The main ingredient in their Bateaux’s are Dates which is a zero-waste crop. Date palm biomass has amazing sustainable uses like being used to make bio-fertilizers, bio-fuels and fuel pellets that can be used in place of coal to power plants and other industries. They’re also a very hardy crop, drought resistant and have been said to be able to remove toxic metals from the environment.
In their Words
“One of the most notable things about Alex is her alignment with the values of the brand mission. Every single detail always went back to the foundation of the brand, which is very meaningful to me as a founder. I remember being encouraged to not write the number of grams of protein, fiber, etc. on our packaging. She mentioned that including those numbers on the packaging was ‘anti-French’ and she could not be more true. I now use that argument when people have asked, because French culture is not about numbers, it’s about the ingredients and real food”.