Jar Goods: to INSPIRE people fall in love with cooking

Client: Chobani Food Incubator, Startup client Jar Goods

Challenge: White Space Exploration, Brand Positioning, Brand Activation

My role: Brand Strategist

Agency: Collins

New York, New York 

Joy in a jar 

Jar Goods is a startup, chosen by Chobani Food Incubator. Jar Goods make and sell all-natural sauces, and wanted to translate their founders’ love of food into the company’s brand DNA.

We envisioned a sensorial brand which celebrates moments of joy -- when you pop the lid off a jar, waft the scent of the rich flavoured sauce. You can break away from the mundane world of the expected, and transform any moment into a joyful one.

Love the customers, not the product

To dimensionalize the hopes and fears of cooks and food lovers, we began with a cultural brand audit of timeless notions like dining, cooking, and convenience. “I feel loved and cared for, when my boyfriend cooks something for me,” said one interviewee. Meanwhile, the boyfriend shared, “Sometimes, I don’t have the time to cook anything, I feel guilty compromising for convenience.” Like the boyfriend, don’t many of us feel that food might be love, but cooking is a chore?

Emotional connection amidst the chaos of modern life

When people purchase pasta sauce, they seek not just the sauce, but a way to emotionally connect amidst the chaos of modern life. This told us that Jar Goods would resonate most with its customers by offering itself as a shelter from that chaos, a place that not only allows but nourishes connection. Jar Goods, then, is actually competing against companies like Blue Apron or KFC, rather than other sauce brands. This brand territory is connect with those who feel, deep down, that “Cooking is magical. I transform ingredients into meals, and food into love.”

We hit upon the one emotion which encapsulates the commonly shared experiences and ambitions of all home chefs: joy.

Jar Goods: Joy in a Jar   

Jar Goods is the heart of “a world of uncompromised meal making.” And in that world, it plays the role of a helpful friend, an extra pair of hands in the kitchen. By establishing this guiding identity, Jar Goods knows what they need to do to connect via visual tools and language.

That translated into specific creative solutions of celebrating joyful cooking. We suggested Jar Goods to fully embrace their unique brand structure - the shape of the jar. This visual would serve as a cue, across all communication channels, to inspire and help home chefs. Digital strategy also embraced “joy” as its foundation. We introduced two new hashtags dedicated to the joy of meal-making and the celebration of jars. We embodied the visual and verbal solutions in a new tagline:  joy in a jar.

It was a pleasure to work with Laura & Melissa Vitelli. We are looking forward to see Jar Goods on every table. #joyinajar