Brandon designs wagamama retail range

All About Food, an innovation firm working exclusively with restaurant brands and chains, worked with wagamama to bring the Asian restaurant’s brand into retail. Through range of meal kits, pastes and sauces, designed by global branding agency Brandon, All About Food wants to encourage consumers to create their own wagamama experience at home.

Wagamama was inspired to promote the benefits of nourishing both the body and mind through cooking, and make it easier for people to do so, especially with the UK hospitality taking a big hit during the pandemic. The brand realised that consumers want to expand their cooking repertoire but are unsure how to do so.

“With restaurant footfall obviously down on previous years, and consumer attitudes and lifestyles constantly changing, the brand needed a way to remain relevant in consumers’ lives. The new range actively gives shoppers the courage to be a little more adventurous through the familiarity of wagamama’s classics loved by so many – and hopefully many more to come,” says Clare Furlonger, marketing director at All About Food.

The new grocery range emphasises the concept of giving buyers the tools they need to recreate the wagamama taste, but allowing for a personal touch of creative flair. It is precisely the ‘adding your own touch’ aspect of the brand that inspired the basis for the design, explains Steve Conchie, executive creative director at Brandon.

The idea is brought to life through photography that places the food at the centre of the pack, with illustrations that visually represent consumers experiment with food and getting creative.

The clear ‘shop’ and ‘cook’ sections for the ingredients list and cooking instructions on the back of the packaging makes it easy for consumers to recreate the wagamama flavors.

“Obviously, it was also important to make this range clearly from wagamama to drive brand awareness in a new channel, so its instantly recognisable identity takes pride of place against a black background to signal its premium quality. Additional key assets, such as the wagamama red tab and Wok from Home logo, are used to communicate its ‘from bowl to soul’ message and to create a clear link back to the all-important tips and cooking instructions to encourage trial,” says Conchie.