Les Charcutiers PorkShop

Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Positioning/Copywriting, Product Naming, Packaging, Photography, Advertising., Social Media... Creation and launch of Les Charcutiers PorkShop, an authentic, artisanal dry-sausage making boutique in Montreal.

ENJEUX
Startup artisanal charcutiers PorkShop came to DesignSociety with a specific challenge: to rapidly expand their word-of-mouth artisanal cult charcuterie business from private foodservice into a national brand - without alienating the small cult / foodie following they had developed, or jeopardizing their authentic recipes and artisanal curing methods in the process. Oh, and in about two month's time. Sobey's (the second largest food retailer in Canada) was already set to make the deal, having fallen in love with the product at a food conference.

SOLUTION
The first step was to rapidly synthesize the brand story and craft a new identity that would resonate authentically with foodies; then build a suite of packaging that would embody these values at retail and expand notions of their artisanal quality and traditional craft methods.

Working with true artisans in their own fields, we created a bank of hand-drawn illustrative elements, and developed an entire hand-drawn typeface to parallel the importance and value of hand-crafted quality in the brand story. We then named each of the products with notions of the regional provenance of the actual ingredients that compose them, personifying the products, adding a layer of storytelling and simultaneously communicating flavour profiles.

These three core brand messaging tenets were applied across all storytelling, naming, packaging and brand development:

Pure, Certified Ingredients
Rare, Artisanal Air-Drying Method
Innovative Flavour Profiles

This storytelling approach (and the excellent product quality) helped PorkShop reach the attention of Sobeys – the second largest food retailer in Canada, and resulted in the brand launching nationally in Y1 of the rebrand.