Grounded
Folgers Coffee Rebranding
Why Folgers?
I chose Folgers Coffee for several reasons… it has been an iconic coffee brand since 1850, coffee is a staple of the American diet, and I couldn’t help but think of Folgers as “my grandparents coffee brand.” I am not alone in this either. I conducted an expert interview with Micheal Brown, the Director of Business Development for Vermont Coffee Company, and he agrees that Folgers has lost touch communicating their values and company mission.
Company Research
Rebrand Goals
The purpose of this thesis project was to overhaul the outdated and out-of-touch company, Folgers, to reignite its core principles while attracting a wider, more age-diverse audience. Most notably, the name changes from Folgers to GROUNDED because it represents more than just the ground that the coffee comes from—or the grounds of the coffee—but that the company is grounded in its commitment to quality, craft, and care, both for the consumer and the earth.
Speaking of which, GROUNDED recognizes the significance of the climate crisis and that consumers are factoring the environment into their decision-making process. Why shouldn’t Folgers—a multi-million dollar company—make an effort to be less negatively impactful on the environment? That’s why GROUNDED practices sustainable farming as well as packages the coffee grounds in infinitely recyclable and reusable metal canisters that are not only functional, but multifunctional.
The challenge of the rebrand was not to entirely throw away the identity of Folgers. Familiar graphics like the mountains and sunrise from the standard design are elevated by the simplicity of the 2D illustrative style. This thesis project is meant to emphasize that even small changes can make a positive difference. This is how GROUNDED is waking up the world.
Logo Redesign
The inspiration for re-branding Folgers Coffee came from a desire to turn something dated into a fresh, and simplified version of itself while accentuating the new company values: sustainability, accessibility, and quality.
The target audience remains the original Folgers consumer and expanded to a younger demographic due to the revitalized look and feel which utilizes simplified, 2D-flat illustration.
The name GROUNDED, is representative of the new values which are grounded in the company core. Furthermore, it is a pun relating to the grounds of the coffee.
GROUNDED coffee’s primary logo is a combination mark which utilizes the most important aspect of the company, the coffee bean.
The style is illustrative and youthful compared to the dated Folgers logo. The negative space between the shapes creates movement and definition of the inner split of a coffee bean. One half acts like the mountains in which the coffee beans are grown, while the upper half pictures a sunrise.
The typefaces used are Peace Sans for the primary logo name and Arboria for the secondary label under GROUNDED.
Overall, the logo utilizes color, shape, and negative space to create the a dual effect portraying both the bean as well as an abstraction of the original Folgers logo, mountain and sunrise scene.
P.S.
GROUNDED considers even the smallest details of its identity… like rounding the corners in the logo type for better synergy with the logo icon.
Brand Book Pages
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Package Design
A big part of GROUNDED is the packaging. Packaging is just as important to consider as the health of the coffee beans, so GROUNDED opts for a more earth-friendly alternative to plastic: infinitely-recyclable aluminum.
It takes significantly less energy to produce cans, bottles, and plastic-alternative containers out of recycled materials vs. virgin materials.
Aluminum can be recycled using less than 5 percent of the energy used to make the original product.
Recycling one aluminum beverage can save enough energy to run a 14 watt CFL bulb (60 watt incandescent equivalent) for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.
epa.org
Additionally, the labels each include a recipe specific to the blend/flavor of the coffee. On the opposite side of the label, there is a description of GROUNDED as a company and the ideology behind the brand.
Ad Campaign
The purpose of this ad campaign is to shock, educate, and promote the GROUNDED brand.
Shock factor comes from the images of trash piled up on land, on shores, in our waters. These images overlaid with the motto Waking Up The World brings to light what people like to put out of their minds… but the reality is that it’s always been there and will continue to grow worse without waking up to the pollution crisis.
Education comes from learning new ways to use things we think are useless after the contents have been spent. GROUNDED’s campaign educates consumers on the reusability of the can in stylish ways to hopefully encourage consumers to do the same.
Promoting GROUNDED focuses on the values because a company’s values should speak to the consumer on an emotional or psychological level. Quality of the beans, Craft of the container and blends, Care for the environment.
Web & App Design
The mobile site is an extension of the new GROUNDED brand style featuring 2D illustrative style and micro animations: the clouds and birds going across the sky, the world spinning, and coffee beans falling onto the page.
(The videos don’t display the motion features because I animated the desktop site and mobile app in Adobe XD)
Desktop
Mobile