Back to back black: Pure Leaf trades glass for carton in premium tea relaunch

20 Jun 2019 --- Pure Leaf has relaunched its premium teas in the UK and the Netherlands with a brand and packaging redesign by London agency PB Creative. The agency was tasked with delivering a packaging overhaul that communicates the brand's strong sustainability and responsibility ethos. Transferring the packaging from glass to carton was a key redesign change implemented by the agency, while the signature black color has stayed-put.

One of the first tasks was to move Pure Leaf from plastic jars to a more sustainable carton format – a move that was deemed essential to reflect the brand’s intrinsic sense of environmental responsibility. The design team worked with packaging partners to create a box structure that increased the scope for brand, variant and provenance expression on pack, highlighting the strong taste appeal across all of the black, green and herbal blends.

“With the continued negative press surrounding plastic usage, the appeal of paper and carton board is surging. Aside from the strong sustainability credentials, these substrates can deliver a much more premium consumer journey when considered appropriately, through the use of varnishes, blind embossing and die cutting, not to mention beautiful brand design,” Pete Hayes, Co-Director of PB Creative, tells PackagingInsights.

Strategically, it was imperative to create shelf stand-out and set Pure Leaf apart from its largely kaleidoscopic competitors, notes the design agency. So PB Creative capitalized on the original core brand color – black – which had taken a back seat to variant shades in previous design iterations.

This approach instantly unified and premiumized the range and created the opportunity for dramatic brand blocking. Vibrant variant colors have been chosen to emphasize individual flavor profiles, as well as create a sense of indulgence and make it easy for consumers to navigate the whole line-up. The black canvas really makes these colors pop and imbues the packs with a sense of luxury and taste appeal.

PB Creative has also used spot-varnish finishes and embossing to further denote tea type and give a high-quality tactile look and feel to the pack. And to further celebrate the origin of each variant, the team designed unique box tags with patterns inspired by each tea’s source – building on the provenance messaging.

“Building on the story of provenance and everyday premium quality was key to this brand redesign. Pure Leaf wanted to celebrate its story and the amazing quality of its products, which proved fundamental to our new look. We set out to achieve greater brand clarity and stand-out, and the results have an elegant, high-end look and feel,” says Lloyd Moffat, Creative Director, PB Creative.

The PB Creative team has created a modern, premium design that reflects the “carefully curated, environmentally responsible and first-class nature of the range,” as well as helping it achieve prominence in an increasingly busy category.

Pure Leaf’s range of single-origin and blended teas uses ingredients sourced from top producers all over the world and is made in collaboration with reputable tea masters in the industry. The brand shares that it goes to great lengths to source its tea in a sustainable and responsible way, and prides itself on using traditional manufacturing methods to produce the ultimate “cuppa.”

In May, UK hand-gel brand, Carex, relaunched with a holistic 2D and 3D redesign by brand and packaging design agency PB Creative. Carex approached PB Creative with the challenge to develop a new 2D and 3D design that would communicate brand ethos, boost branding, on-shelf stand-out and range navigation, as well as provide consumers with better functionality and portability. “Ultimately, it achieves covetable stand-out in a sea of generic bottles and has an almost jewel-like appeal,” notes the design agency.

By Laxmi Haigh