Over the past 25 years The Bleiker’s Family Smokehouse has built a reputation in Yorkshire for their craft, quality and innovation in smoking fish. However, their ambitions to grow have been limited by an outdated and unrelatable brand that has struggled to gain stand out in the smoked salmon category.

Bleiker’s needed to consolidate and refresh their proposition and future-proof their brand as a contemporary option amongst a traditional seafood aisle with the aim to bring in younger audiences into the category.

To really understand the business and uncover their internal ambition, we immersed ourselves in the Bleiker’s world and smoking process through team workshops, customer insight sessions & research.

Research revealed that salmon’s unique combo of big flavour and great health properties makes it a growing favourite with food loving Millennials. However, its perception was dated and reinforced by supermarket category cues, leaving its consumers uninspired.

We wanted to shift the attitude of smoked salmon from an 80’s dinner party starter to something much more exciting and invite this younger generation in with something insta-worthy.

KISS defined a unique new positioning and brand soul, capturing Bleiker’s passion for smoke-craft; The Home of Smokecraft. This new proposition puts an emphasis on the process and transformation that happens to the fish in the smokehouse itself; a radically different approach to the typical seascape and provenance orientated cues in the category.

Inspiration came from the family smokehouse and their creative approach to flavours which led to a standout creative design that feels fresh, fun and flavourful, appealing to a younger health and flavour conscious consumer.

“The quality of the creative approach and the design was really impressive and the way in which the brand is a truly visual representation of the brand values.”

The smokehouse story is expressed on the packaging through a strong smokehouse shaped architecture, bellowing out the fragrant smoky flavours while framing the fish inside.

This playful approach to the window breaks up the square that’s typical of the category and acts as a key element in the packaging’s storytelling.

The Bleiker’s logotype has been recrafted to evoke an expressive and proud Yorkshire spirit whilst importantly being familiar to lovers of the old design. That paired with the smiling fish brings a touch of humour to an otherwise over-serious category.

The smokehouse architecture seamlessly adapts to different packaging formats across the portfolio. A tall side wallet structure was developed to premiumise the flakes and mackerel packs, allowing the smokehouse pride of place.

With a growing range of 12 core products and a long list of exciting flavour innovations in the pipeline, Bleiker’s now has a distinctive set of unique brand assets to future-proof the brand and allow for effective yet easy introductions of additional NPDs.

Since the rebrand, along with sales uplift and rapid growth in listings across the UK, Bleiker’s Smokehouse has picked up awards and media attention and is now a recognised smoked salmon product in the weekly shop.

Along with winning the Great Taste Awards, the rebrand itself won GOLD for best visual identity in FMCG, SILVER for best brand evolution in the Transform Awards 2021, and SILVER for best rebrand in the Food and Beverage Awards 2020.

With the new brand out in the wild, we’re thrilled to have helped Bleiker’s reposition itself towards an exciting new future, with the strategies and tools in place to support its new phase of growth.

A huge thanks to Charlie and Annabel for trusting us with your family brand, Rachel for bringing us on board and Vickie for introducing us.