Natural Champions BBQ Sauce
Identity, Packaging
WHERE
If you know what the difference between grilling and barbequing is, then you probably also know who Rockin’ Ronnie Shewchuk is. He’s the author of BBQ Secrets, Planking Secrets and BBQ Secrets Deluxe and a highly regarded competition barbeque champ. Ron and his team, the Buttshredders, made barbeque history in 2001 when they became the only Canadian team to ever win a USA-based barbeque competition in a stunning upset at the Oregon State Open Barbecque Championships.
Not too long ago Ronnie teamed up with veteran hot sauce maestro Denzel Sandberg of Denzel’s Hot Sauce to craft a line of barbeque sauces. Recognizing the need to create a brand and packaging of the same award-winning calibre as the contents, Ronnie and Denzel turned to Industrial Brand.
IDEAS
Our first move was to have lunch with Ronnie at a local Brazilian all-meat buffet. Our second was to have brunch with Ronnie and Denzel at a cajun place where we also sampled a new sauce they were playing around with (had to order an extra side of potatoes to test that out on!).
Both Ronnie and Denzel are award winning champions in their respective areas, and their sauces had already won prestigious international awards. In addition, the sauces are made of all natural ingredients with no additives or preservatives. It seemed only “natural” to brand the sauces as “Ronnie & Denzel’s Natural Champions”.
Following an intensive review of both the local and international barbeque sauce market, we determined the packaging needed to address the premium contents and price point to give consumers the reassurance that they were getting fantastic sauce value. We needed to do this without resorting to gimmickry or straying too far from a traditional bbq feel.
We achieved this while also working within the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) rather stringent labeling laws and utilizing the existing bottle form factor and the client’s current labeling printer and machinery.
WORK
The result, aside from constant and immediate urges to fire up our office Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker, is a brand that is uniquely Ronnie & Denzel’s, applied to a line of sauces that dramatically captures the essence of the high quality ingredients and obvious passion and talent of its creators.
The impression is of a sauce worthy of the price that doesn’t abandon the equity of Ronnie or Denzel or the essential smokey, wood-fueled tradition of meat glorification that is real southern barbeque. These are bottles that inspire you to fire up the coals (or turn on your grill).
