The children’s hour: Kabuto Noodles revamps noodle pot packaging for children’s range

28 Mar 2019 --- Kabuto Noodles has commissioned London-based creative agency B&B to revamp the packaging of its new children’s range of pot noodles. The redesign is introducing shorter noodles delivered in brightly-hued, smaller-scale pots with milder flavors and builds on the original, award-winning brand identity that the agency previously created for Kabuto. The brand saw its popularity and revenue rise within the last five years, with the latter reaching £5 million (US$6.5 million).

“Following our core range, the launch of ‘Kabuto Kids’ is a direct response to consumer demand. We listened to our consumers and on understanding that the core Kabuto range was already being used as a practical option for kids’ dinners or an after-school snack, we saw an opportunity to refine our existing offer and better meet our audience’s needs,” Crispin Busk, Founder of Kabuto Noodles says.

Kabuto requested that B&B crafts a new kid-friendly range extension that celebrated the brand’s authentic Asian-inspired flavors with a British twist and retained the impact of the original identity.

“It was crucial to us that the wider brand identity wasn’t diluted or made too childlike and B&B has struck this balance perfectly with a witty, playful brand language and visual identity that transcends the kids’ category and appeals to consumers of all ages,” Buck notes.

The result is a colorful “Kabuto Kids” range that draws on the strength of the core brand equities – such as the logo and typography – but with an added playfulness, seen in characterful Samurai faces within the logo on center-pack and interactive games on the back.

“The main challenge many brands face when diversifying their product range is how to make the brand relevant for new audiences without losing the strength of the original identity. The strength of the core design equities of the Kabuto brand seem to translate seamlessly across multiple product ranges,” says Shaun Bowen, Creative Partner at B&B studio.

Children’s snacking options are boosted by age-appropriate packaging that touches into children’s preference of colorful, witty packaging. This fact is, in combination with consumer demand for sustainability, portion control and inventiveness are all driving R&D teams to think across multiple axes at once when it comes to developing new packaging designs for the growing snacking market. Some key trends include natural-aesthetic packaging, smart labels and luxury reusable packaging models.

Packaging is influenced by wider trends in the food and beverage industry, as such facets – such as consumer eating behaviors – demand fast-evolving and functional packaging solutions. Innova Market Insights has included snacks on its annual trends list the past two years. For 2019, “Snacking: Definitive Occasions” has been placed as the number five trend.