Personality branding

Ziggurat Brands Managing Director Adrian Collins believes that brands need to have a personality, and the larger than life creator of Mrs Massey’s chutneys was all the inspiration his design team needed to develop an instantly recognisable and successful brand.

When Nicola Massey decided to work with Ziggurat Brands to develop a brand for her local chutney business, the team began by developing a ‘pen portrait’ of her.

The information from this initial interview was fed back to the design team and four potential brands were devised. ‘We instinctively knew which one we wanted Nicola to choose.’ Collins says: ‘We just hoped she felt the same way.’

Fortunately, she did. ‘Sometimes you don’t need a picture of yourself for something to be instantly recognisable," she says. "They had captured me completely: the pink, the humour, the use of the utensils in the design. It’s unmistakably me.’

‘Part of the reason we were so excited about taking on this project was the challenge of creating a completely new look for what has become a very boring market sector in terms of design and branding,’ explains Collins. ‘Mrs Massey and her products – both very modern and vibrant – were crying out for something completely different.’

The resulting brand is a bright, bold design featuring colourful text and a background made up of cooking utensils. A far cry from the homespun look that still dominates the rest of the market. 

Several aspects of the Mrs Massey’s brand reflect the woman behind the chutneys. For a start, the utensils that make up the background images are actually Nicola Massey’s own, the very ones used to make her chutneys. In addition, the name of each product reflects her passion and humour as well as capturing the eating experience. So within the range we find 'Ravishing red onion relish', 'Delightful drizzling oil' and 'Gorgeous garlic and chilli ketchup'. 

In 2005, Ziggurat Brands won an FAB packaging design award for Mrs Massey’s at the 7th International Food and Beverage Advertising Awards. Nicola Massey joined Ziggurat Brands on the stage to collect the award and recalls: ‘the announcer said “and for one night only – the real Mrs Massey!” The audience were amazed that I was an actual person. There are so many ‘named’ brands within the sector that don’t have the integrity of a real personality behind them. It made me realise how important the link between me and the brand had become, and how integral that has been to our success.’