Gipopo

Heads created the image of the new baby food brand GIPOPO

Heinz heritage in a new image

In 2023, following Heinz’s exit from Russia and the buyout of the business by Chernogolovka, the company had to create a Russian ‘successor’ to the previous brand with a new name and graphics. ‘Chernogolovka held an extensive tender to determine who could come up with the most successful redesign of the logo block that would be integrated into the new packaging. 
We proposed an idea that brought our agency the win.

Putting puzzles together: building a happy future
Our agency faced a difficult task: rebranding a brand that is loved and recognised by many. We started to think about what is associative to children in general and what would be interesting for parents and children to see on the pack, as well as to evoke an emotion from the shelf for the consumer. Heads designers and art directors proposed 7 logo block concepts: a house, a jug, a cloud, a puzzle and other ideas. After testing them, our agency and Chernogolovka decided that a logo block in the form of a puzzle element was the best idea, as children learn something new every day and get acquainted with their surroundings. The puzzle serves as a metaphor for interaction and development in general.

Anastasia Ryabchenkova, Heads art director:

“It was very interesting to participate in such a large-scale project, especially with baby food. Although its audience as mums with children from 4 months to 3 years old is as clear as possible, we wanted to come up with something different, unusual, some unused form, but also something that would be a good fit for the project.”

Growth in every spoon
The idea was continued in the stigmas. We depicted them as different puzzle elements and their shapes, which are connected to each other. This is how we managed to emphasise the period of growing up and the transition from ruler to ruler, because certain SKUs are designed for a specific age of the child: ‘Starting complementary feeding’, ‘Expanding the diet’, ‘Trying the pieces’. This is an additional superstructure in communication – a choice of special products for the baby, a confirmation of uniqueness.

Designing the packaging was the next step. Any branding, dies and fonts, hippo mascot and colours could be used. But there was an additional challenge: there was a different Heinz design architecture on the shelves from 2020. We revived the ‘old’ version, hotly loved by mums. In the foodgroup design, we kept the left-to-right diagonal dynamic, which is played out on all the packs, redesigned and made it tastier, and also kept a dedicated space for the mascot. We tried to depict him in his original form and drew him in different poses and interactions with the product.

A friend who grows with you
As the Gipopo brand took the hero’s name, the focus on the hero increased. We had to retain the recognisability of the Heinz heritage, while at the same time partially reinterpreting the hero in the development of the new design. We depicted him in different poses depending on the age categories, emphasising the growth characteristics of the toddlers and categories. On the products at 4+ and 5+ months the hippo is still sitting, at 6+ months he can hold a spoon, and at 12+ months he already starts to move more actively and is even ready to ride a treadmill.

Maria Maidurova, Heads designer:

“I enjoyed working with the character: it’s always interesting to present the character in motion, to give him something to hold, to play with his character, to breathe life into him. The Gipopo range is wider than the former brand, so we rendered some new poses for the new products: on a treadmill for snacks and porridge 12+ months, in interaction with the product for fruit figurines and puffs.”

A palette of childhood flavours
The variety of ranges required a calibrated approach to visual positioning. We developed an age and range navigation system based on colour schemes and easy-to-use puzzle-like branding. The branding colours were selected from the logo palette to create a unified visual language.

Green, traditionally associated with environmental friendliness, has become the colour of the stamps emphasising the natural composition: ‘WITHOUT added sugar’. The bright orange colour, which attracts attention, is also marked on the branding emphasising the absence of additives: ‘WITHOUT dyes, preservatives and GMOs’, as this is a very important parameter for conscious parents. Pink, the colour of play and fun, highlights the branding ‘Training Fingers’, while blue, representing calmness and trust, is chosen for the branding ‘Inulin improves digestion’. A separate colour, dark blue with a star pattern, is used for liquid porridges and the branding ‘Calm baby’s sleep’. This colour coding helps parents to quickly navigate through the range and find the right product for their child.

Heads and Chernogolovka worked together to develop over 65 SKUs. We have developed a whole system consisting of categories by age and consumption situations and a huge number of items: dry and liquid porridges, bars, corn sticks, multigrain and fruit figurines, purees in glass and pouch packs and other baby food products. Mums across the country can now delight their babies with Gipopo products with interesting, colourful packaging!

Anastasia Emelyanchikova, Senior Brand Manager of the Baby Food business unit of Chernogolovka Group:

‘We consider the redesign a success: 82% of consumers recognised a familiar brand, which is now on the shelves under a new name. And according to Brand Pulse data for November, our target audience already recognises the Gipopo brand 51% of the time. We are delighted with this result and will continue to work further on building brand awareness.’