John Wm. Macy's To Unveil New Brand Identity At Summer Fancy Food Show

Concluding a yearlong study, John Wm. Macy's CheeseSticks will display a new brand identity to attendees of the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City today. With a new logo and redesigned retail packaging, the Company will do business as John Wm. Macy's Family Bakery.

"This year we're celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the CheeseSticks recipe that launched our business," said John Macy, founder and President, "but we thought we could do a much better job reaching consumers. We think our new branding and packaging will help us do that. Since the Summer Fancy Food Show is America's largest specialty food and beverage show, this is definitely the place to roll it out."

A brand-consulting project in the spring and summer of 2015 convinced John and his brother Tim, Vice President, that their packaging could be more effective if its design and brand messaging highlighted the values and character of their family business. In January 2016, John and Tim appointed Zunda Group, a branding and package design specialist based in South Norwalk, Connecticut, to rebrand the business and its packaging.

Zunda Group kicked off the process by going back to basics, hosting a brand-building workshop for John Wm. Macy's family members, sales team and key marketing advisors for an open exchange of ideas. Input from the workshop established initial branding priorities and led to the development of 18 preliminary design concepts. Subsequent dialogue between Zunda Group and its client refined the priorities and narrowed the field to four revised design concepts for presentation to focus groups.

"We had our own design favorites going into the focus group meetings," said Tim Macy, "but feedback from consumers made it clear there was more to learn." After six focus group sessions, two leading designs emerged.

Conducting additional quantitative research would have broken the project timetable, so the Company developed and distributed an online survey to its 5,000-member consumer email-marketing list. The survey produced a clear favorite and set the stage for studio photography and final design work. In a race with the clock, final artwork went to press just five days before the Fancy Food Show.

"The results fully justify our decision to go with Zunda Group," Tim Macy added. "Their entire team contributed to a collaborative process that combined their sensitivity, creative insight and strategic design skills with our business values and objectives to produce a brand identity and packaging that really tells our story."

Source: John Wm. Macy's Family Bakery