California Prunes
After its initial development, the industry was first organized under the Dried Fruit Association of California in 1908. The association oversaw sales contracts, transportation, pure food laws, and legislation. As the industry grew it needed an organization specifically focused on California Prunes. Thus, the State Marketing Order for California Prunes was established in 1952 and the California Prune Board has been operating continuously ever since.
In 2017, the members of the California Prune Board gave the FleishmanHillard Sacramento team the opportunity to rebrand California Prunes to showcase the advantages of the product, particularly its nutritional benefits, and attract new consumers through print, digital, motion, social, and mainstream media.
Client: California Prune Board
Category: Branding
Timeframe: Jun 2017 - Aug 2019
Role: Graphic, Web, Motion Design
The Rebrand
After extensive research and creative development, both California Prune Board and FleishmanHillard teams introduced the new brand on behalf of the industry. It took nearly two years to complete the rebranding but the collaborations and the nonstop development process paid off as it was well-received by consumers and stakeholders upon its release.
We began the journey by recreating the outdated logo and introducing a friendly, clean, and modern typographic mark with a tagline that can be easily translated into a variety of languages. Fifteen separate designs with approximately 50 variations were originally developed for consideration. Ultimately, four were tested with consumers, members of the trade, and industry influencers. The chosen logo below scored high among all audiences for use of font, color, and overall design, and it was rated highest on communicating our product benefits and motivating desired behaviors.
Style Guide
We used the logo and tagline as our north star to develop the style guide to expand the rationale behind every aspect of the brand’s new aesthetic, and to educate anyone who will be of support to the brand. Finally, we created a brand book that solidifies the brand of California Prunes and is easily understood for what it stands for and believes. The California Prunes brand exists to prime the marketplace to embrace California Prunes and to set the stage for commercial marketers to take the message “the last mile” as they see fit.
Online Presence
The California Prune Board also wanted to reinvigorate their online presence by reflecting their fresh brand into their website. The goal for the redesigned site is to house informational resources about California Prunes including recipes, healthy living, history, partnerships, news about the industry, and international sectors.
Social Media
Another way to amp up California Prunes’s online presence was to join social media. We’ve produced a variety of social media content ranging from recipe photo/video shoots to influencer events. These are then published on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter to generate engagements and to introduce the product to a whole new range of audiences. We partnered with many influencers to attract younger audiences, and we also work with our registered dietitian ambassadors to promote new research findings and share the nutritional value of California Prunes.
Traditional Media & Advertising
Alongside social media content are traditional print media and advertising. We often partner with trade ads and magazines to promote the product, we schedule photo shoots of prune growers and recipes made in-house that will then be distributed through the publications. These images are also used for webinars and other online resources.
Video Content
Videos are another way that we elevate the brand, we’ve created many motion design work for California Prunes, from the logo animation to educational videos, and these content generate engagements and are usually well-received by the consumers and stakeholders. We bring our registered dietitian ambassadors to a variety of broadcasting networks nationwide to speak about the product and its wonderful benefits. Typically, this is a segment on a variety of morning news shows, as this is where our main audience can be found.
