SuperSafe

Agency: Phoenix Wharf
Creative Director: Chris Gwyther
Location: United Kingdom
Project Type: Produced
Client: Vital Group
Product Launch Location: Global
Packaging Contents: Next-level safety and cleanliness products
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Plastic, Cardboard

Bristol-based branding and interiors agency Phoenix Wharf, part of Istoria Group, has created a new brand identity, product architecture and packaging designs for the SuperSafe™ product range, which offers customers a personal and professional range of next-level safety and cleanliness products.

SuperSafe™ is owned by The Vital Group, with whom Istoria Group has worked since 2018 on sister brand Vital Baby. Phoenix Wharf designed a pop-up shop for this baby products innovator in John Lewis in Oxford Street, for example, whilst Ignition, Istoria Group’s Queen’s Award-winning exhibitions company, has designed Vital Baby trade show stands across Europe.

“When Vital Group came to us to discuss the re-working of SuperSafe™, which included new products responding to the Coronavirus crisis, Istoria Group CMO Lindie Kramers commented, ‘we kicked off with a workshop to help redefine the brand. Our aim was to reflect vision and values and create a proposition that would resonate with the range’s B2B and B2C target audiences. This led to a new over-arching product architecture, a well-defined USP and a brand promise, ‘Making the world a safer place, one innovative product at a time’, that works across the overall range.”

Vital Group’s Director Dean Tollman added: “SuperSafe™ has been a successful brand of Vital Group for over 18 years. We felt, however, that the existing branding didn’t reflect our vision for the future. We’ve previously worked with Phoenix Wharf on projects for our other brands and could think of no one better to team up with on this – their professionalism, teamed with their ability to bring our ideas to life, make them our go-to for creative projects. Meticulous brand workshops helped us review the existing market and really get our heads around how we needed our brand to play in this category.”

The output of the workshop was a defined strategy that included the new brand promise, USP, tone of voice, product and ingredient stories and a clear brand and product architecture. The new SuperSafe™ ‘PRO’ hero range slogan is ‘Don’t just be safe. Be SuperSafe™’ and health is very much the main brand focus, especially in circumstances where health and safety are at risk. SuperSafe™ products have been used for many years already, for example, by police forces, prisons, NHS hospitals, mental health units, schools and offices throughout the UK and internationally. The tone of voice for the new overarching brand was defined as being serious and scientific, whilst also being friendly and personal, with a look and feel that was confident and which, above all, invoked trust, with all statements and claims backed by science.

‘Phoenix Wharf then developed the logo mark, logo icon, colour identities and hierarchy for the range, as well as sub-brand marks, typography and graphic assets, including patterns and grids for packaging and other applications’, Chris Gwyther, Creative Director of Phoenix Wharf added.

The new SuperSafe™ range uses a black and white primary colourway with a highlight colour for each of the five sub-brands, using a brand identity system inspired by the periodic table. Each sub-category uses a grid structure for the packaging design to denote the sector it will be used in. The design is equally applicable to professional or consumer audiences.

The five SuperSafe™sub-brands are:
Hygiene – using a deep blue sub-brand colour, ‘Hygiene’ is a range of personal and home sanitising products covering every bacteria- and virus-busting need, from 70% alcohol to alcohol-free and natural, child friendly options.

Protect – using a bright apple green sub-brand colour, ‘Protect’ is a range of personal protection equipment (PPE) to provide barrier protection for the user from bacteria, viruses, fluids and chemicals.

Groom – using an aquamarine blue sub-brand colour, ‘Groom’ is a range of personal care products, made using soft and safe materials, already used daily in HM prisons and mental health institutions, to minimise risk of harm to prisoners, patients, wardens and carers.

Cater – using orange as the sub-brand colour, ‘Cater’ is a range of adult feeding utensils, made using safe, soft and durable materials. They are also used daily in HM Prisons and mental health institutions, to minimise risk of harm to prisoners, patients and their wardens or carers, without compromising functional usage. The products are patent-protected, reusable and fully recyclable to minimise cost and impact to the planet.

Pro – using a dark shade of cyan-blue as the sub-brand colour, ‘Pro’ is a range of professional products and services for schools, sporting venues, shopping centres/retail outlets, theatres/cinemas, conference/ exhibition centres, gyms – or any venue where large scale sanitisation is required to protect visitors and staff.

Dean Tollman, Director of Vital Group concluded by commenting on the experience of working with Phoenix Wharf: “Their team really took the time to delve into the finer details of our brand and what our core values were as a company before helping us to achieve the SuperSafe™ brand that we know today. As ever, it was a pleasure to work with them again.”

What’s Unique?
The range and branding had to work both for B2B and B2C audiences and balance a serious and scientific feel with a friendly and personal look. The brand identity was inspired by the periodic table.