Taos Bakes Rebrand

Agency: Ripe Inc.
Creative Director: Donna Romano
Jr. Designers: Kim Schneider, Val Osbourn
Project Type: Produced
Client: Taos Bakes
Location: Questa, NM, USA
Packaging Contents: Snack Bar
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Film, cardboard, corrugated
Printing Process: Flexography, and offset printing

Ripe Inc re-designed the entire product packaging and re-named the product too – a bold move to do all at one time.

Taos Mountain Energy Bars, based in Taos, New Mexico, was launched almost a decade ago by Kyle Hawari and Brooks Thostenson, two childhood friends who moved to Taos to pursue their love of white powder (not that kind). They worked as night janitors at the gym so they could ski all day and soon grew tired of the dry, tasteless protein bars they brought along to recharge energy levels. So, they decided to have a go at creating a better one. And they did. Word spread and demand grew immediately. The Taos Mountain Energy Bar was created for outdoor athletes, inspired by the outdoors.

Ripe worked very closely with the owners and staff to peel back the layers, re-imagine the whole concept and unleash full brand power. Together we discovered that Taos Bars have a much broader appeal than outdoor athletes and because of the top notch ingredients, superior taste and texture, their fan base had grown more diverse than they imagined.

Each bar has its own unique scratch recipe and is baked by hand, in a real kitchen (yes, a big one), hence the name change to Taos Bakes. The new brand design celebrates a communi-T of flavor lovers with emoji style faces sporting a big T for ‘big taste’ and ‘Taos’, of course. The haikus (5-7-5 is also the area code) on the back of each bar celebrate the fun, creative vibe abundant in Taos and of the customer base. Taos Bakes are nationally distributed to all 50 states in the USA.

What’s Unique?
The top 1/4 of the bar packaging is left clear to show the beautiful baked bar inside – highlighting a key differentiator from competition that doesn’t show you what the product looks like because they are often slimy, extruded and visually unappetizing. The serrated edge and overall simple stamp style design mimics a paper sleeve used by a bakery to package fresh baked goods.