MAYBE IT’S TIME TO EVOLVE

Most companies would probably admit that their business looks a lot different today than it did when it started. Especially for those fortunate companies that have lasted for 5, 10, 20 years, and beyond. Yet, a lot of small food businesses (consumer brands, restaurants, grocers, etc.) fail to evolve with the times. What may have looked cool and fit well ten years ago has probably grown pretty stale, and may not even represent you anymore.

Additionally, many startups turn to a cost effective resource (family member, student, or freelancer) to develop their first brand identities, and while some companies get lucky with good execution, most brands get just what they paid for – junior level work.

And it’s easy to get complacent and fall into a rut. When your business started, you were conquering the world. You were new, hip, different, and had the fire and passion of a young aspiring entrepreneur. You were ready to take over the world, and you wouldn’t let anyone get in your way. But now that you’ve been around a while and experienced some success, competition has crept in, people’s tastes have changed, and sales have sagged. Even a successful business needs to stay current in order to stay atop their perch, and a lot of companies just get comfortable with the status quo.

Unfortunately, a rebranding can be expensive. Creating a new and consistent brand requires a lot of dominoes to fall. With a new brand identity (logo, messaging, color palette, font systems, etc.), signs must be changed, menus updated, ads redesigned, packaging re-envisioned, websites updated, photography taken, etc. But if done well, the boost to your business can be nothing short of transformative. You can create new buzz. Media will start taking notice again. Products will start flying off the shelves again. Customers will start engaging with your brand again. And the fires that once drove you to your initial success may be rekindled.

If you’re not sure whether your brand is hitting the mark, contact us today. We will perform a free brand analysis to give you an idea how relevant your brand is, what might need to be done to improve upon it, and a ballpark cost for us to do the work. You might not need much. Maybe just a tweak. But it might also be time for a complete overhaul. The good news is that Upstart Food Brands can help you with whatever you need, from brand positioning and strategy to logo design and brand implementation, all for a very competitive investment. Start your evolution today.

Josh Schipkowski

Josh Schipkowski is the founder and chief creative officer of Upstart Food Brands, a St. Louis-based branding agency for startup and emerging food, beverage, pet food, and supplement companies. He spent almost 14 years helping build MarketPlace into one of the country’s leading food marketing agencies before launching Upstart in 2015 to give smaller brands top-agency strategy and creative that make every dollar of their investment count. As CCO, he oversees everything creative and strategic that leaves the agency, from naming, brand strategy, and identity development to packaging and web design and development. At home, he does a self-reported 93.25% of the cooking, usually from scratch, often trying a new technique, and frequently using products from Upstart’s own clients. He also grows hops, grapes, and cider apples for brewing, winemaking, and cider, mostly as an excuse to share great food and drink with friends and family.