Digital Craft > Form

DE-EXTINCTION BRAND CREATION

KOTO, New York / DE-EXTINCTION / 2024

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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

Why is this work relevant for Digital Craft?

Our partners at De-Extinction came to us determined to challenge the status quo in disposable packaged goods. We inherited a space that looked visually bland and verbally formulaic, creating a transactional look and feel that lacked the personality and charisma we felt the cause needed. We needed a way to distinguish ourselves from the sea of sameness, to make sustainability a concept that drove change rather than an empty platitude. Taking inspiration from movements and protest across the world we landed on a unique way to get our message across that felt true to our company and category.

Please provide any cultural context that would help the Jury understand any cultural, national or regional nuances applicable to this work.

It is of course widely understood that over recent years there has been a heightened focus on the impact food packaging has on our environment. Many companies have launched with the ambition to revolutionize the industry, but before our work was released the sustainable packaging industry was a sea of sameness. We inherited a space that looked visually bland and verbally formulaic, creating a transactional look and feel that lacked the personality and charisma we felt the cause needed. Think muted brown, beige and green. Our partners at De-Extinction came to us determined to challenge the status quo in disposable packaged goods. Fueled by a desire for change, a distaste for empty promises and the will to tackle the industry head-on we took the first steps down this path together. So, we brought back the dinosaurs to warn us about the risks we face. Complementing their vibrancy and expression with a color palette and typeface that match that urgency. The name – created by the agency– aptly captures this ethos and desire for action perfectly.

Background:

Our partners at De-Extinction came to us determined to challenge the status quo in disposable packaged goods. Fueled by a desire for change, a distaste for empty promises and the will to tackle the industry head-on we took the first steps down this path together.

We inherited a space that looked visually bland and verbally formulaic, creating a transactional look and feel that lacked the personality and charisma we felt the cause needed. We needed a way to distinguish ourselves from the sea of sameness, to make sustainability a concept that drove change rather than an empty platitude.

Describe the creative idea

Taking inspiration from movements and protest across the world we landed on a unique way to get our message across that felt as true to our company and category as it did to the cultural moment.

We brought back the dinosaurs as central characters here to warn us about the risks we face. Complementing their vibrancy and expression with a color palette and typeface that match that urgency. The name – created by the agency– aptly captures this ethos and desire for action perfectly.

The target audience was quite niche - we sought to make the brand appealing to the owners, operators, decision makers and purchasers at major food retailers and QSR chains. And we understood that brand matters to these people just as anyone, so eschewed the category norms to create something truly distinctive and memorable.

Describe the execution

The rebrand of course spans all touchpoints of the De-Extinction business. Since we were working with the founders of the company at its inception we were able to really integrate the idea throughout every element.

De-extinction’s logo, a curvy and friendly dinosaur, symbolizes the brand’s essence. The bold emblem fosters instant recognition across various platforms. Our illustration style revitalizes extinct creatures with renewed energy, presenting them as symbols of both approachability and the urgency of extinction. This fusion of playfulness and gravity creates a compelling call to action for preserving life on earth.

The selection of Grotesque n9 for the font reflects historical roots as the first sans serif typeface, echoing De-extinction’s mission to breathe new life into the old. This typeface masterfully balances expressiveness and functionality, serving as a typographic representation of the De-extinction ethos—reflecting reinvention for an unconventional, bold future.

Supporting the brand is a gaggle of dinosaurs in a (deliberately) crude illustration style. Motion and digital design brings the dinosaurs to life with their odd proportions, clunky line work, and lo-fi animation. We carefully crafted the personalities of the dinosaurs with deadpan expressions, cute underbites, gangly cadence, and fluorescent coloring. The motion design in particular adds humor and personality to an otherwise dry industry.

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