Project Overview
Mr Chen’s is a family-owned and loved company who have been bringing Australians the best of Yum Cha for over 40 years. As a locally owned business, the brand was founded in 1982 by Peter Chen whose childhood experiences with cooking in Vietnam ignited a passion for introducing authentic, Asian flavours to his new Australian community. Since 2015, his pioneering legacy has continued with his daughters, Lucy and Nancy leading the next chapter of growth and innovation.
With a portfolio lacking cohesion or representation of the quality and authenticity behind the products, the team at Mr Chen's engaged The Edison Agency to revitalise the brand and create a system for future growth.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Amber Bonney - Founder/Head of Strategy
Brian Llagas - Design Director
Marina Rolfe - Senior Designer
Steph Elhrich - Designer
Steve Wren - Business Director
Matthew Oconnor - Senior Finished Artist
Project Brief
Family is at the heart of everything Mr Chen’s does, with every product inspired by the passion and techniques passed down through generations. As a brand, they believe that the best meals are shared with the people we love and take great pride in making seriously good quality Asian food that’s simple to prepare - giving Australians more time to savour their meals with their family and friends. Chen Foods partnered with The Edison Agency to rejuvenate the story and visual identity of their brand and expand its appeal to a new generation of Asian food consumers.
The new positioning and brand relaunch sought to create impact through:
- Revitalising the Masterbrand’s story and visual assets
- Improving cut-through on shelf and resonance with consumers
- Develop a Masterbrand portfolio architecture strategy for future range navigation across Frozen and Ambient
- Create a future proof design system for internal rollout across the dumplings including internal implementation by Mr Chen's design team
- Generate appeal and interest amongst the next generation of Asian cooking consumers with a high impact and flavourful brand expression
Project Innovation/Need
After 40 years of success in the Australian market, Chen Foods engaged the Edison Agency to help them prepare for the next phase of growth and revitalise their relationship with customers. With an established reputation in their core category, frozen dumplings, Mr Chen’s now operates in 8 categories – (frozen snacks, meals, gluten-free, ambient sauces, noodles, meal kits, pastes and coconut milk) and has ambitions to continue to innovate with new products, formats and occasions.
With an influx of new competitors to the frozen and ambient categories, the brand was at risk of losing relevance with consumers due to a lack of distinction, consistency, range navigation and sensory flavour cues. Uncovering a rich storytelling platform for the brand was key to building their presence and credentials as authentic, “family flavour experts”, and increasing affinity for this Aussie-family business with a truly Asian heart. The brand also sought to highlight the heart of quality ingredients that Chen’s products are famous for.
Design Challenge
The Edison Agency’s solution has amplified the unique Mr Chen's family story and created a fresh and dynamic design system that’s flexible and brings together all ranges under a unified structure with a solution for premium tiered ranges and future innovations. Anchored to the new positioning, “Family Flavour Experts”, the new design captures the authentic spirit of the Chen family with light-hearted stories and anecdotes connected to the flavours, recipes, process, and eating experience of the family’s most-loved meals.
Hand-drawn illustrations bring the Chen family stories to life and capture the real people behind each recipe. The family characters and their love of flavour and cooking have been celebrated across the ranges like Grandpa Yeye’s Classics, Grandma Nainai’s Seafood range and Sister Meimei’s modern plant-based products. Vibrant ingredient cameos highlight the family’s passion for quality that sits at the heart of the products. It’s a human-centred design solution that connects the passion of multiple generations of the Chen family with a new generation of Australian food lovers - creating a brand shift that’s unpretentious, and warm and has cleverly transformed each package into a canvas for authentic storytelling.
Effectiveness
Lucy Chen, Co CEO, Chen Foods said, "The Edison Agency team worked closely with us to do our massive Rebrand of Mr Chen’s, really listened to our story, and took us on the journey of working out what would work for us and our brand. Not only did Edison nail the brief but they were also able to also provide us with really well-thought-out and high-quality alternatives which we were able to work further on. More importantly, they were a delight to work with and I cannot recommend them enough!!.
We're thrilled with the new foundation and identity to continue Mr Chen's growth in Australia as the authentic family-flavour experts"
Graphic Design - Identity and Branding - Retail
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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