Exporting Dutch Nature
A user-friendly global branding system
FrieslandCampina, Frico
Visual Identity / Packaging / Brand Activation / Content Creation
20%
Growth in core markets
Frico is a true heritage brand, dating back to the beginnings of the “Foundation of Friesian Cooperatives Dairy Export Association”, formed in 1898. Well over a century and many mergers later, this organisation is now FrieslandCampina.
With typical Dutch entrepreneurship, by 1936 Frico had a network of 160 trade partners, with divisions in 62 countries. Recognisably modern branding was established in 1964, with the symbol of a mouse, arguably more distinctive (if less appetising) than the Frisian cow (along with the word ‘Holland’) that was introduced in the 1990s.
Our challenge with the Frico redesign was to create an identity and packaging design that captured the value of the brand in an increasingly commoditised category.
Recognising that in its biggest markets the main competition is processed cheese, the strategic repositioning of Frico as ‘simply natural’ allowed the brand to move out of its premium niche based on Dutch craftsmanship.
Design Solution
Despite this change of emphasis, the brand’s heritage and origin remain hugely important to the new positioning.
For many markets in the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) region, the vision of Holland’s lush, green meadows and big, open skies provides a strong reason to believe in the ‘simply natural’ proposition.
Our design solution seeks to ‘own the generic’ by placing the Frico brand as the gateway to an idyllic Dutch landscape. Cheese is all about taste wherever in the world you live, so our packaging features a bold, mouthwatering image of the main usage occasion, and a series of claims (varying by region) to support consumer beliefs that cheese is essentially a more convenient form of milk, with its important nutritional benefits.
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