Auntie Brandy's Branding

The Situation:
Auntie Brandy's, a new company needed a brand that would grab attention and appeal to a more sophisticated palette in a 100-year-old food service category.

The Assignment:
Create a memorable brand and retail layout featuring Brandy, one of the company founder's, while at the same time reinventing how customers relate to purchasing treats.

The Solution:
Create a vibrant environment to showcase the cookies and the personality of founder Brandy as everyone's favorite over-indulgent aunt (a combination Auntie Mame and the real Auntie Brandy). We used a vibrant, eye-catching color palette that focused on red, purple and mustard with citron accents to create a playful, animated atmosphere that would appeal to a broad audience.

Research highlighted a number of areas in other concepts that had either become dated or were unfriendly to the customer. We made the personality of Brandy bigger than life with oversized posters of her interacting with kids and baking in a kitchen.

We incorporated the client's mission of giving to the community through literacy programs by dedicating a portion of the store to a sitting area that invites customers to get comfortable and provide a place to read to kids each day. A line of merchandise was created that played into cookies, reading and gift giving.

The Results:
Within a month of opening, Auntie Brandy's sales were double original projections, and employees were fielding questions about how many other locations they had. Regional and national expansion plans are in the works.