In-depth Analysis | How did Sumida River Coffee upgrade its logo, symbol, brand color and packaging based on its brand genes?

Sumida River Coffee - step by step upgrades in logo, symbol, brand color and packaging, quickly becoming the first in the category. Let's take a look at the author's in-depth analysis report, which introduces the brand development history of Sumida River Coffee in detail from aspects such as brand background, project background, goal decomposition, goal achievement strategy, and execution points. It is recommended for those who are interested in the beverage industry, coffee, product operation, and brand operation.

01 Brand Background

In its early stages of development, Sumida River Coffee chose to focus on the relatively niche drip coffee market, which giants were unwilling to invest in. They took advantage of Japan's supply chain to lower the price of professional drip coffee and quickly became the number one in the category.

——From "The Starting Point of a National Coffee Brand | Review of the Case of Sumida River Coffee × Xiaoma Song"

02 Project Background

1. Project Pain Points

According to Xiao Ma Song in the case review, at the beginning of this brand visual upgrade project, they found these problems:

1.1) Improper use of logo and brand colors

There are too many logo versions and different brand colors. In the survey, users have almost no knowledge of brand colors. The packaging design of a single product is outstanding, but it does not look like a unified brand at first glance.

1.2) The conversion efficiency of product packaging is not high enough

Some imported product packaging has neither Chinese introduction nor selling points and trust endorsement. When customers pick up the product, they don’t understand what it is or why it is good.

1.3) IP image is difficult to apply

The previous IP image was a combination of sheep horns and fish, and was named Freshman, which means fresh. Although the appearance is unique, the overall shape lacks affinity, has no connection with the category and brand, and has no benefit to brand building.

2. Project Results

After ensuring sales, on October 19, 2021, Sumida River Coffee officially announced a comprehensive upgrade of its brand vision. They did the following:

2.1) Redesigned the brand LOGO

2.2) Adjusted the font design

2.3) Adjusted brand colors

From the past black-based color, it was adjusted to a bold and bright red as the main color, with classic black and white as auxiliary colors:

2.4) Updated the brand packaging design to strengthen the brand association of the “three circles”:

Past product packaging:

Current product packaging: Sumida River Coffee has not only upgraded its inner packaging bag to the "Sumida River Freshness-Locking Little Red Bag", but also updated its outer packaging box to red as a whole:

Current express packaging box:

Upgraded shopping bags:

2.5) Optimize the terminal store design and upgrade both online and offline:

Online store:

Offline stores:

2.6) Added 3 new IP images

Sumida River Coffee has broken down its brand name into three cartoon IP characters: Sumida, Oda, and Chuanchuan. IP emoticons were also launched simultaneously (search for "Sumida River's Daily Life" in the WeChat emoticon store). The shapes of these three IPs are taken from the three circles in the logo:

03 Project goal breakdown

1. Enhance brand equity

In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to build a brand visual symbol system, form brand assets, and update them to each point of contact with consumers, so as to maximize brand assets through "repeated communication".

2. Improved conversion efficiency

In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to split the goals into two aspects based on the consumer shopping journey, namely improving the conversion efficiency from [noticing to picking up] and the conversion efficiency from [picking up to purchasing].

04 Goal achievement strategy

1. In order to achieve the goal of enhancing brand assets, it is necessary to design a brand visual identity system based on brand DNA

What is Brand DNA?

Brand DNA is a brand theory grafted onto cell biology, which enables customers to remember the brand's interests and personality clearly.

Therefore, brand designers often need to analyze the brand DNA first to determine the brand’s core values ​​and differentiated features, and thus develop a visual image that is consistent with the brand DNA.

1.1) Analysis of Sumida River Coffee’s Brand DNA

According to the information provided by the [Brand Story] on the official website of Sumida River Coffee, the brand DNA model is broken down as follows:

【who I am】

The pioneer of the “drip coffee” category

Why do I exist?

"Let every Chinese drink healthy coffee" is the vision and mission of Sumida River Coffee.

The Sumida River also means "everyone is equal in the face of beauty and hope."

My past

Founded in 2015, in order to fill the gap in China's affordable and healthy "staple coffee", the founding team of Sumida River introduced "drip bagged coffee" to China.

The brand story first took place on the banks of the Sumida River at dusk.

When the founder and his wife were studying abroad, they often shared a cup of coffee together under the beautiful evening. Drinking coffee and admiring the sunset became their most pleasant time at that time.

The name of the Sumida River "TASOGARE" means "beautiful sunset".

【My Future】

Connect fresh coffee with trendy culture to create a unique universe trendy coffee.

【My personality】

Personality traits: freshness, vitality, courage and enthusiasm

【Brand attributes】

Humans, not animals.

Why doesn't it look like an animal?

Because the brand logo is in the shape of three circles with a coffee cup in the middle, it represents sharing a cup of coffee with someone who is willing to share it with you.

Brand personality

According to the brand personality archetype classification: Lover type (because of the enthusiastic personality and the emphasis on the sense of belonging brought by sharing)

According to Jennifer Aaker's brand personality dimension scale: Innocence dimension - Happiness level - Friendly personality (ie: friendly type) According to MBTI test:

E (sharing) - S (sensory) - F (emotional) - P (spontaneous), guessed to be the performer's personality

[My tone]

Pleasant, warm/cozy

[What rational value can I provide to my clients? ]

From the perspective of the category attributes of drip coffee, in order to restore the flavor of freshly ground hand-brewed coffee, freshness is the most critical differentiating advantage. Therefore, Sumida River Coffee regards "freshness" as the most important category attribute.

And starting from the concept of "freshness", this brand upgrade also proposed a new SLOGAN - "If you want fresh coffee, look for three circles."

In order to achieve the ideal coffee freshness, Sumida River has developed a complete set of preservation process systems with the core of reducing the residual oxygen in the packaging. Currently, Sumida River's drip coffee and fresh coffee liquid have adopted the nitrogen filling process, which can control the residual oxygen content in the packaging to less than 1%, preserving the original flavor of the coffee to the greatest extent.

——From "Sumida River | Is the King of Drip Coffee Still Far from Becoming the National "Stuffed Coffee"? [Thomson Johnson Brand Research Institute]"

What emotional value can I provide to my customers?

Compared with choosing other coffee brands, my users will feel the warm atmosphere of "approachability" and "sharing with others".

1.2) Brand visual identity system and its relationship with brand DNA

From the brand logo:

Based on the description of Sumida River Coffee’s brand DNA, the brand personality is: a warm lover type.

Therefore, the three circles contained in the upgraded LOGO have become more "round and thick".

Based on the description of Sumida River Coffee’s brand DNA, the users they serve are: Chinese.

Therefore, the upgraded LOGO bolded the brand’s Chinese name and weakened the brand’s English name, which is more conducive to the brand’s dissemination in the Chinese market and reaching more potential consumers.

From the brand identity point of view:

Based on the description of Sumida River Coffee’s brand DNA, the rational benefit they provide is: “Freshness”. Sumida River Coffee designed a “Freshness” symbol based on the Chinese character “Freshness” and applied this “Freshness” symbol to the systematic packaging of coffee liquid products, which strengthens consumers’ clear perception of the “Freshness” of their products.

From the brand standard color point of view:

Based on the description of Sumida River Coffee’s brand DNA, the rational benefit they provide is “freshness”. The brand standard color also starts from “freshness”, and the color of fresh coffee beans is defined as the [brand standard color].

Obviously, the coffee industry uses red as its brand color, which is contrary to the industry's conventional practice. It certainly takes courage and a provenance. The red color used by Sumida River comes from the color of fresh coffee beans. A strong correlation of this red is the "freshness" that Sumida River pays the most attention to. Although the roasted coffee beans are different shades of brown, fresh coffee beans are actually red.

Therefore, taking colors from nature once again interprets the most basic brand proposition of "freshness".

——From the Design Youth Lab: "After watching this brand upgrade, I remembered three circles"

From the perspective of brand packaging:

Based on the description of Sumida River Coffee’s brand DNA, the rational benefit they provide is: “Freshness”. Sumida River Coffee has launched a new packaging: a freshness-locking red bag, which reduces the residual oxygen content from the previous 1% to 0.8%, representing the industry-leading freshness-locking level.

2. To achieve the goal of improving conversion efficiency, the following visual design specifications are required

2.1) How to shorten the decision path from “noticing to picking up” through visual design?

Color + Symbol + Material - Take the consumer decision path next to the shelf as an example:

Use [color] to attract consumers' attention (far away) Use [symbols] to arouse consumers' interest (closer) Use [materials] to stimulate consumers' feelings (closer)

——From "Sumida River Coffee CMO: From 1 to 10 in Two Years, a 10,000-word Interpretation of Brand and Growth in My Eyes"

【Color】

[Symbols]

The symbol of Sumida River Coffee is a "coffee cup" looking down. This symbol is easy to understand, easy to describe, and can be remembered at a glance. Putting a unified brand symbol on the packaging design of all products can create an advantage on the shelf, and it can be seen from a distance as "Sumida River Coffee".

【Material】

Designers of Sumida River Coffee will go to offline supermarkets to conduct on-site research and photography, and personally check the color and craftsmanship to ensure the product packaging materials have very good visual and tactile feedback on the shelves.

2.2) How to shorten the decision path from “pick up to purchase” through visual design ?

Information hierarchy + highlighting reasons for purchase + planning visual movement lines - taking product packaging design as an example:

2.2.1) Information hierarchy: Sort the information hierarchy of the packaging according to the issues that consumers care about most.

2.2.2) Highlight the reasons for purchase

Through visual elements such as wheat ears, golden coffee beans, gold medals, maps, etc., consumers' trust in quality/endorsement/reasons for purchase is strengthened.

2.2.3) Planning visual movement lines

Control the viewer's line of sight by changing factors such as size, color, and shape.

05 Implementation Highlights

1. Brand color

With strong differentiation characteristics, red is a highly differentiated color in the coffee industry.

Because based on the category attributes of coffee, the brand color is mostly brown.

2. Brand identity

2.1) The shape association of the three circles can express category benefits and emotional benefits

The shape of the three circles reminds us of a coffee cup, representing the category attributes of "drip coffee".

Judging from the distribution pattern of the three circles, it represents a sharing scene with family, lovers, and friends, and has beautiful associations of warm emotions.

2.2) Classic geometric design helps reduce transmission costs

The brand logo is three circles. Because it is simple enough, it can be expanded in multiple media online and offline, which helps to integrate communication.

Moreover, because it does not have too many complicated designs, it is classic and durable and will not easily go out of style.

3. From the brand font

The bold design increases the recognizability of the brand logo.

06 Play summary

From the perspective of brand assets, the first thing to do is to refine the brand DNA.

The core is two points, one is the rational benefit attribute of the category "freshness", and the other is the emotional benefit "sharing and closeness", for example -

1. Based on the rational benefit of the category, which is "freshness", we established visual identification symbols and brand standard colors, and upgraded the brand packaging process;
2. Based on the emotional benefit of "sharing", the shape and distribution of the brand logo are established.

From the perspective of conversion efficiency, we need to think about how to improve the conversion efficiency of offline supermarkets and product packaging through colors, symbols, materials, layout, etc., such as:

1. The color should be eye-catching enough;
2. Symbols must be integrated into the packaging design to create sufficient shelf display advantages;
3. The packaging material should be able to provide good visual and tactile feedback offline;
4. In terms of layout, we should pay attention to the hierarchy of consumers' needs, reorganize the information points, refine the reasons for purchase and highlight them.

If a brand wants to upgrade its visual design, when it comes to connecting with a design studio, it may wish to output a brief from the following four aspects: First, it requires that the category's advantageous attributes be formed into "visual symbols" and integrated into the packaging design pattern and craftsmanship; second, it requires that the layout be focused on and that the priority concerns of the target users be displayed; third, it requires that the brand's emotional benefits be extracted and reflected in aspects such as logo design and font design;

Fourth, all offline packaging must be eye-catching in color and material to create shelf advantages.

07Reference Resources

1. Sumida River Coffee CMO: From 1 to 10 in two years, a 10,000-word explanation of brand and growth in my eyes | Foodaily Daily Food
2. The starting point of a national coffee brand | Review of the case of Sumida River Coffee × Xiaoma Song – Maimai
3. Sumida River Coffee Official Website Brand Story
4. Design Youth Studio: "After watching this brand upgrade, I remembered three circles"
5. Sumida River Coffee Official Account: "We are famous! Sumida River Coffee brand has been completely upgraded"
6. Tomson Johnson Brand Research Institute: "Sumida River | Is the King of Drip Coffee Still Far from Becoming the National "Stuffed Coffee"? "

Author: Ye Ma Fan, WeChat public account: Ye Ma Fan