Shikatani Lacroix

Shikatani Lacroix is proud to have designed the new logo for Concerned Children’s Advertisers (CCA). Included below is the press release from CCA:

For 20 years, Concerned Children’s Advertisers (CCA) logo has been widely recognized featuring a hand-drawn exclamation mark It became apparent that the logo should evolve to reflect the new organization. With that in mind, a working group of the Board of Directors, including Laura Baehr (Corus Entertainment), Catherine O’Brien (Nestlé) and Kathryn Matheson(Pepsico), worked alongside CCA’s staff and design agency Shikatani Lacroix to revitalize the CCA logo and better expose the organization’s child-friendly spirit.

That said, we are pleased to present to you the English and French versions of CCA’s new logo (attached). The new logo continues to utilize the equity in the exclamation mark in a more playful, friendly way. Additionally, the use of the organization’s colours, blue and green, reinforces the organization’s child and family friendly nature. Finally, the inclusion of the program name, Long Live Kids, identifies the rallying cry that drives the organization’s work.

On behalf of the Board and the organization, we would like to thank Laura, Catherine and Kathryn for leading this project – a true example of their professionalism and passion for CCA. We would like to thank Kathryn for helping us to obtain a very talented agency in Shikatani Lacroix, from the research they did to the final execution, Diane Mullane, Senior Account Director, and Bob Capling, Senior Designer, have absolutely delivered and were a pleasure to work with.

Overall, revamping CCA’s look and feel more clearly defines the organization and the positive work we do to give Canadian children the tools to be media and life wise. This will enable our audiences to better understand the important role we play in helping children to lead long, healthy lives.

Background

Weston Bakeries wanted to introduce two new bread skus to their line of bakery products and retained Shikatani to design the packaging. The Red Fife, a super premium offering, initially discovered in 1882, and the Old Fashioned White Bread, a premium white bread made with all natural ingredients and no preservatives were the new additions to the Weston family.

Challenge

The challenge for SL was to bring out the history in Red Fife. The bread also needed to be positioned as Weston’s best offering with the added need to call out the year 1882 which signifies the history of the Red Fife wheat ingredient.

The need for Weston White Bread was to highlight its old fashioned feel and the fact that the bread uses regular flour and no preservatives. Additionally, it was important to get across the message that the bread was made fresh in-store.

Solution

The Red Fife design places strong emphasis on the story of its wheat ingredient. The year 1882 plays a prominent role on the front panel, which is accentuated by an image of the original Weston’s bread factory from the 1800s. The back panel tells the story of Red Fife wheat creator David Fife and supports the historical elements while also accentuating the product’s high quality.

The design for Weston White Bread centers on ingredients, freshness and history. The copy “Made Fresh In Store” displays prominently above the Weston’s name while additional elements highlight the history of the Weston’s brand. The back panel simply but effectively promotes the product’s wholesome qualities and its use of only natural ingredients.

Results

The new designs successfully communicate the history and appeal of the two delicious offerings and are currently being launched in stores.

Background

In February 2009, Frito Lay Canada’s Doritos® brand broke new ground through the launch of the Doritos® Guru campaign. The brand launched an Unidentified Flavour of tortilla chips into the marketplace and asked consumers to name the flavour and develop the 30 second ad for it for the chance to win $25,000 and 1% of the flavour’s future net sales. The program was incredibly successful and was deemed not only one of the most captivating marketing program in the country but one of the largest consumer generated contests in the entire world. One of the key successes of Doritos® Guru was the packaging, designed by Shikatani Lacroix that appeared in-store. It was simple, clean, captivating, intriguing and unmistakably Doritos®. The bag had incredible in-store presence and could literally be seen from across any given store.

Challenge

In 2009, Canadians talked about the Doritos® Unidentified Flavour package because they had never seen anything like it before. Knowing Frito Lay Canada was launching Doritos® Viralocity in 2010 and a second Unidentified Flavour of tortilla chips, how do you stimulate the same amount of conversation and interest toward the bag?

Solution

Based on the brand personality and positioning, Shikatani Lacroix designed a bag that was uniquely different from the 2009 white packaging yet leveraged some of the equity while still being distinct. The dollar sign was maintained, with new design elements added to help invoke curiosity and entice consumers including the use of the gold as well as hot pink.

Results

Shikatani Lacroix ignited consumer’s curiosity with a unique design that is bold and dynamic yet clean and simple, clearly standing out on shelf – a key driver in the success of the 2010 Doritos® Viralocity campaign.

BACKGROUND

An established product innovator, PepsiCo wanted to be the first in Canada to launch a revolutionary new beverage – vitamin-enriched water with a low calorie all natural sweetener called PureVia, a pure extract of stevia. Based on the success of previous collaborations, including Aquafina Plus+(R) vitamin-enhanced water, PepsiCo entrusted Shikatani Lacroix to create packaging designs that would showcase the Aquafina Plus+ Vitamins 10 Cal Brand and its new wave bottle.

CHALLENGE

PepsiCo had launched the first Aquafina Plus+ brand in Canada in 2007, which led to explosive growth in Canada. It was important for the new packaging of Aquafina Plus+ Vitamins 10 Cal to grab attention and communicate this new and unique benefit. With the addition of the dynamic wave shaped bottle, the packaging needed to clearly communicate the low calorie offering and clearly differentiate from the Base lineup. It also needed to integrate Aquafina within the overall design, and create strong differentiation between the flavour offerings.

SOLUTION

The unique wave-shaped bottle needed to evoke elements of water, giving Aquafina Plus+ Vitamins a refreshing look and a colourful design. SL explored design concepts that would encapsulate the new Wave Bottle shape while also prominently featuring “Vitamins 10 Cal” in bold colours to match each variety and clearly communicate the uniqueness of this product. Like the enhanced water, the dynamic bottle design adds a new “twist” to PepsiCo’s hydration portfolio.

RESULT

The new Aquafina Plus+ Vitamins 10 Cal design stands out on shelf, creating a rainbow of colours within the different flavours, emphasizing Pepsico’s leadership position within their hydration portfolio.

Welcome to the second edition of ShikNews, where our team has been cooking-up a design and branding storm.
Project Mosaic (photo montage of projects with captions only)
• Cox Communications Store
• Tetley Alice in Wonderland
• Jays Welcome Kit
• Frito-Lay gold bag

G&T Wins Retail Council of Canada Store Design of the Year
The new G&T store design which was launched in 2009 in Vancouver has won the coveted Retail Store Design Award for mid size chain.

Vivitas Women Wins the Grand Prix New Product Award
The Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD) presented the 17th annual Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards™. The new Vivitas Women products won in the OTC category.

KeHE New Identity
Shikatani Lacroix was retained to develop a new identity and brand standards for KeHE Foods as part of their acquisition of Tree of Life. SL is responsible for the new identity and its application across a wide range of advertising and branding initiatives.

New Hire: Adam Aziz – Public Relations Manager
Shikatani Lacroix has a new face heading up social media and public relations for the firm. Adam Aziz joined SL in April and has over 10 years experience in the entertainment and web development industries. He will be working with Mr. Lacroix in growing visibility of the firm while assisting clients in their social media initiatives.

Retail Asia Expo 2010
JP Lacroix will be speaking at the Retail Asia Expo 2010 on June 22 in Hong Kong. With an attendance of 4,500 registered participants for the various conferences and more than 20,000 visitors, this is the largest retail conference outside of the U.S.

Toronto SEGD Place Branding Conference
JP Lacroix recently spoke about Place Branding at the SEGD conference in Toronto. He also discussed how technology would assist the visually impaired in navigating public spaces. Wayfinding users and industry leaders attended the conference.

DesignLounge
The first quarter of 2010 kicked-off in high gear with four video webinars and five white papers, namely:
• CEO is a Brand
• The Blink Factor
• Social Media 101
• Branding with Cause (June 1st)
More than 250 participants have enjoyed these live interactive sessions. In September, we will be kicking-off the season with a session on LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). October will bring an in-depth look at the importance of brand position.

Sponsorship of Girls Hockey
Shikatani Lacroix Girls Pee Wee Rep Team sporting their Silver Medals.
Our girl’s team won their league championship – then moved on to win the silver medal in the Ontario round of the playoffs – ranking 2nd out of 27 teams.

Pro-bono Work for the Jays Care Foundation
Since 1992, Jays Care Foundation has been empowering children and youth in need; inspiring them to make positive choices and helping them realize their dreams by providing access to programs that support physical activity, education and life-skill development. The organization was given access to two VIP booths at the Rogers Centre and SL offered its services to fully design the new space, including signing and interior décor. The new space will be opening this summer so stay tuned for final photos of the project.

Building Homes in the Dominican
Shikatani Lacroix’ own account manager, Frankie Lavallee donated her holidays and retail project management skills to help build homes and a church in the Dominican. The staff of Shikatani Lacroix were pleased to help sponsor her worthy initiative. Frankie sported a new sprain foot on her return, a testament to her body surfing agility.

For more information and contest details, please visit the official site at: http://www.refresheverything.ca/

BACKGROUND
The Toronto Blue Jays are two time World Series winners and the only Canadian team within the Major League Baseball franchise. The team enjoys strong fan base with the 2010 opening sold-out game seeing more than 46,000 excited supporters. Shikatani Lacroix (SL) was first retained by the Jays to help develop a Jays Stadium Official Team store at the Rogers Center. The store has become the highest merchandise sales per capita in MLB. Following this success, the Jays retained SL to develop a welcome kit for kids joining the Official Jays Fan Club.

CHALLENGE
The previous kit had received mix reception from young fans in addition to having limited capabilities being merchandised at the various retail outlets. In addition, the kit needed to better connect on an emotional level with the younger fan base while also appealing to parents, who ultimately would make the final buying decision. The original kit was fully closed and did not effectively communicate what was included in the welcome package, leading to boxes being damaged when parents tried to open boxes on display. Finally, the project, which was initiated in early February had to be completed prior the opening game in early April.

SOLUTION
Borrowing SL’s experience in electronic game packaging, the new “Jr. Jays Club Official Membership Kit” featured a fifth panel that allowed for better content communication. The new graphics better linked with the Jays mascot “Ace” and the physical Ace Clubhouse area within the Jays Official Stadium Shop. The back panel graphics also integrated the Jays Care Foundation empowering children and youth in need since 1992, inspiring them to make positive choices and helping them realize their dreams by providing access to programs that support physical activity, education, and life-skill development. The new vertical package and unique graphics allowed for strong billboarding at store level, increasing the merchandising and visibility of the offering.

RESULT
The new Jr. Jays Club Official Membership Kit has received strong response from fans and sales of the new welcome kit has exceeded the original sales numbers

BACKGROUND

Petro-Canada, one of Canada’s largest oil and gas companies, retained Shikatani Lacroix to develop an employee branding program that includes campus recruitment initiatives that build on the company’s vision. The mandate was to develop an employment branding strategy that could evolve over the years throughout all of the company’s HR, marketing, work environment and recruiting initiatives.

CHALLENGE

Since the new branding initiative was to impact a broad range of employment touch points over a long period of time, and within various areas of management of the organization it was imperative that the program be rooted in an overall strategy and brand position. In addition, there was a high sense of urgency that the new initiative lead with the campus recruitment in the spring of 2008.

SOLUTION

SL initiated a strategic branding process to better understand employee and student needs and perceptions of Petro-Canada that lead to an umbrella employment brand statement “ Your Potential, Our Possibilities” expressed as part of a tagline and unique identity linked to their corporate Maple Leaf icon. In order to provide a range of visual tools that reinforced the employment brand message and essence, SL designed the “Opportunity Ribbon” that reinforced the key brand messages and which was leveraged as part of communications, website and interior facility wayfinding and common areas. SL was responsible for the development of the fully integrated program, including the development of the campus recruitment advertising, first of its kind digital brochure and a host of other communication elements. SL also worked with Petro-Canada on on-boarding and knowledge tools to better link the Employment Brand strategy to on-going HR initiatives

RESULT

The overall program, and specifically the campus recruitment program was a huge success, both in increasing Petro-Canada’s profile and access to top candidates in addition to provide a platform to gain visibility on an on-going basis.

Background
Tetley, Canada’s tea leader, has partnered with Disney ‘s Alice in Wonderland to launch an exciting new line-up of limited edition package designs. Drawing on Alice in Wonderland’s tea party themes, Tetley Canada will be featuring characters and imagery from the movie on a range of Tetley products, including Orange Pekoe cartons promoting a Mad Hatter Tea Party contest, Tetley collectible tins, and canisters. Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, due to appear in theatres March 5th, 2010, is directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, and Mia Wasikowska as Alice.

The Challenge
The design needed to capture the whimsical feel of the Alice in Wonderland movie, along with the personality of Tim Burton’s characters, while clearly communicating the Tetley brand. The timing for this project was extremely limited due to printing timelines, the fast-approaching release date of the movie, and the multi-level approval process, which required approvals from Tetley, Disney, Tim Burton, and the talent featured in the designs.

The Solution
SLD created stunning designs that captured the artistry of Tim Burton’s creation while maintaining the Tetley brand equity and other key elements of Tetley’s packaging architecture. On the Tetley Orange Pekoe cartons, SLD integrated Tetley’s blue with the blue tones used in Burton’s Alice imagery, and incorporated an Alice in Wonderland tea cup image into the design, thereby linking the tea-party themes from the film to the product. On the Tetley canisters, SLD emphasized Tetley’s three limited edition flavours using bold, flavour-specific colours along with visuals of their corresponding Alice in Wonderland characters. The SLD studio drew on its amazing capacity to work cooperatively, creatively, and efficiently to design and produce artwork for ten skus in only two weeks.

The Results
SLD’s designs ensured the Tetley brand remained recognizable on-shelf without compromising Disney’s Alice in Wonderland imagery – Tetley and Disney, and were thrilled with the results.

Background

TD Canada Trust, Canada’s second largest financial institution identified the need to evolve their retail experience to better reflect the needs of the customers and their “Comfort” brand position. That is when Shikatani Lacroix Design stepped in and developed new digital signing and in-branch communication architecture for TD, to create a new customer-centric experience.

Challenge

The new design needed to seamlessly integrate with the existing branch décor while ensuring that the new elements stood-out and properly complemented the sales and service layout. Another challenge was the way the new experience had to be delivered as part of current facility budgets, with no incremental spend allocated to the new program.

Solution

Shikatani Lacroix (SL) developed a new décor program that worked with the current facility décor while communicating a lighter and fresher image to customers. In addition, SL created some unique experiential features that include a Community Room designed to fit larger groups of customers, a Community Wall that shares a pictorial story about the local area along as well as a large LCD screen that features the latest community programs. In addition, a Kids’ Area was created, equipped with books, toys, and a computer that provide access to safe and fun children’s websites. Interactive units such as web kiosks, and online brochure library were installed to enhance customers’ bank experience.

Results

Response by customers and visitors has been overwhelmingly positive.