Ziggurat Brands was a branding agency focused on the food and drink sectors. They designed packaging for some of the biggest retail brands in the United Kingdom like Greene King, and global brands including Pepsi. Their design philosophy involved asking tough but important questions to brand owners. And as you will find out below some of their projects ruffled a few feathers in high places.
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Bottlegreen
Bottlegreen were looking for a fresh direction for their bottles and chose Ziggurat to redesign their cordial and mixer bottles. Design Week reported that the new art was hand-drawn to make the brand softer and more approachable, and that the bottle shapes were adjusted to mimic champagne in order to create ‘quality cues’.
Yogiyo
Yogiyo had a great story to be told and Ziggurat Brands were chosen to tell it through their branding design. The brand was created by a couple who met in Korea and when they moved back to the UK they started selling authentic Korean food in London markets. Their sauces were a hit and went on to win backing at the Dragons Den in 2015, with some of £50,000 investment set aside for branding by Ziggurat.
Pepsi Raw
In 2008 Ziggurat worked with PepsiCo to launch Pepsi Raw, their first new brand in the UK since Pepsi Max in 1993. The same product was marketed in the US as Pepsi Natural but Ziggurat helped reposition the product for the UK market. The minimal design and ingredients were hoping to follow consumer movement away from fructose and towards more natural sweeteners. Unfortunately the beverage was withdrawn in 2010 due to soft demand in grocery and retail.
New York Bakery Co
Ziggurat combined with Neil Jeremy in 2017 to redesign New York Bakery Co packaging. The goal of the rebrand was to maintain the classic US feel but introduce a cleaner and fresher style. The packaging was part of a £4m investment that also included a cobranding venture with Friends (the TV show) to add even more New York flavour to the brand.
Jonathan Crisp
Self-labelled ‘posh crisps’ brand Jonathan Crisp worked with Ziggurat Brands and illustrator Paul Baker in 2005 to create these packet design supposedly featuring figures from high society. In fact one design had to be withdrawn due to complaints from Buckingham Palace. The project was nominated for a D&AD award in 2005.
Press Coverage
Over the years Ziggurat and their branding philosophy were covered in many branding and packaging design publications.
- Dieline (2009)
- Foodbev (2009)
- Customer Think (2014)
- The Retail Bulletin (2021)