Plant-based milk brand Alpro unveils playful new look

Plant-based milk brand Alpro has revealed a brand new look that aims to reassert appeal amid soaring industry demand. The new look focuses on Alpro's ingredients via a series of on-pack and digital design accents.  These include new photography assets, along with a playful tone of voice and bespoke typography from London-based lettering artist Rachel Joy in partnership with Monotype.

Led by global design consultancy Elmwood, the reinvention is intended to enhance Alpro’s position in the global dairy alternatives category.

Refinements have been made with the aim of dialling up Alpro’s brand promise, reinforcing the power of its plant-based ingredients – as captured within a series of health benefits. The resulting restage work has finessed Alpro’s signature assets in line with a fast-paced ecosystem, it said in a statement. 

Elmwood’s new design ramps up flavour both through the photography and the language used by the brand on and off-pack, it said.  Taste descriptor notes such as 'smooth', 'subtle' and 'creamy oat' were brought to the forefront, whilst the brand’s voice as a whole has become more youthful, including onomatopoeia and more descriptive language that helps consumers navigate the variety on offer.

Don't miss: Fanta rebrands with bolder and more vibrant new look

This freestyle voice is combined with a rebalanced palette that combines vibrant whites with pops of colour. The result is a progressive identity, created to appeal to a broader audience – including next-gen consumers.

Building on the brand mark that was crafted as part of Alpro’s previous rebrand in 2019, which was also led by the Elmwood London team, the logo plays a much bigger role in the updated brand world – showing up in more confident ways across various touchpoints and building on the leaf’s iconicity.

A hallmark of Alpro’s new look is the inclusion of a tailored hand-cut font from artist Rachel Joy. Created in partnership with Monotype, it allows greater stretch and variety in the brand’s design aesthetic and underscores its standout flavours.

“It was a great opportunity to partner with Elmwood to work out a new set of brand ambitions that speak to Alpro’s status as category leaders and innovators,” says Dominique Geeraert, head of design for the plant-based division at Danone. “Our new brand experience preserves everything we love about our products while bringing a wittier, more confident edge to our market presence.”

“We’re proud to have worked alongside Alpro for over eight years now,” said Kyle Whybrow, executive creative director at Elmwood London. “When our partnership began, the conversation was very much about educating consumers with a simple, subtle design ethos. However, with a huge boom in awareness, we now have space to consider where Alpro goes next.”

“Through a co-creation process, we decided that there was room to move the needle, creatively, by focusing on Alpro’s wider brand story (rather than pack design alone). The result is an evolved design that focuses on the incredible taste and smooth, moreish texture of Alpro products – from drinks to yoghurts, mousses and more. Along with their positive impact on health and the planet, these changes show clearly that plant-based produce is no longer ‘just’ alternatives or supplements. They’re aspirational purchases in their own right,” he said. 

Whybrow added that the new design will roll out across Alpro's entire portfolio of plant-based product packs around the world. "But we’ve also defined how the brand behaves, working collaboratively with Alpro’s other agencies,” said Whybrow. “This includes the .becoming team based in Brussels, who helped us amplify the global identity and pack design – to broaden the range of markets which Alpro plays in.” 

Alpro joins a growing list of beverage brands that have refreshed their looks this year. Recently, the Coca-Cola company unveiled a new global brand identity for its soft drink brand, Fanta, according to media reports. The refreshed look features brighter, more colourful and more vibrant colours as well as an updated and more simplified wordmark with the removal of the classic orange circle and green leaf.

The rebranding, which was led by Coca-Cola's global design team and creative agency Jones Knowles Ritchie, reportedly aims to inspire people to find the fun in life and to "make the plain playful" with a look that remains "unmistakably Fanta". 

The biggest conference is back! Experience the future of marketing with 500+ brilliant minds at Digital Marketing Asia on 28 - 30 November in Singapore. Uncover groundbreaking strategies that connect leading brands with their target audiences effectively.

Related articles:
Jell-O gets vibrant and colourful new look in rebrand
Navigator Investments Services rebrands to GROW with Singlife
Happy Socks partners 18 artists in vibrant rebranding