Gift bag - M&S Bakery - Brief

Brief:

To create a new area within M&S dedicated to selling freshly baked, in store, cakes and biscuits. To promote the idea of cakes and biscuits for Celebratory and occasional purposes. To produce an identity to do so, along with a packaging range, allowing customers to produce their own selectionary box for their own personalized occasion.

Considerations:

How will you promote the idea of these products being for occasions?
How will your packaging designs hold a range of different sized and shaped products?
What occasions will you design for?
What message will you convey in your advertisement material?

Background:

Bakeries were once dedicated to producing birthday cakes, wedding cakes and other such occasional items. Now we see less and less freshly produced caked, instead lines and lines of prepackaged boxed items in rows of aisles. Cakes have become and indulgent snack rather than an occasional item. 

Deliverables:

Create a new identity for M&S Bakery Section
Produce a packaging range for a maximum of 15 Occasions
Produce advertisement material
Design in-store graphics and stands for produce
Come up with a usable idea for a 'Pick and Mix' cake packaging stand

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Problem:

1. M&S Bakery doesn't supply fresh cakes / biscuits
2. M&S Bakery bread products have a strong ethos and branding, M&S Cakes and Biscuits don't

3. M&S Cakes aren't baked in store, nor are they fresh
4. M&S Cakes and Biscuits have a weaker branding and stance than the Fresh Bread instore
5. Cakes are for celebrations, M&S's Packaging and Graphics don't promote this idea

Solution:

To re-brand M&S Cakes and Biscuits section to the same standard as the Bakery, design an area dedicated to fresh cake and biscuit produce in store with M&S. To Produce a range of packaging which can be selected by customers to pick and choose their own range of fresh produce to package, determining occasion. The packaging will promote the idea of celebration and occasion rather than for unhealthy snacking.

Range:

A range of packaging, suited to a range of people, occasions and celebrations
To produce an identity for Cake Bakery, to use across a range of in-store graphics, labels, packaging, signs, stands, promotional and advertisement material.
Packaging styles need to consider different cake sizes, shapes and delicateness. 

Distribution context:

Dedicated area within M&S for selling fresh produce, providing a packaging and 'Pick and Mix' station

Tigerprint Giftbag - M&S Bakery - Visit

Tigerprint Giftbag - M&S Bakery as it is

I wanted to have a look at the existing design M&S Bakery has, finding it very rustic, old fashioned and having a hands on approach to selecting your items. The Bakery though only focused on breads and savouries, there was no real focus of cake items, just a small area dedicated to fresh produce, most of the cakes could be found boxes up in lines among the aisles. 

I want to provide M&S with a dedicated area for fresh cakes, creating the branding, packaging, labels and retail graphics. Along with this, will be a focus on the idea of giftware, being able to hand pick and package your own cakes with your own choice of packaging according to the occasion. I also want to incorporate M&S's cake personalisation service which isn't well known or advertised currently by M&S.

A feel it would be a good idea to link the giftware range M&S already has, to the bakery section. With this I can focus on store layout, signage, wayfinding and retail graphics. I can see this resulting in being a large project but feel the end result will be strong.

Tigerprint - Giftbag - Re-think

After brainstorming the brief, I came into interest of the Bakery within M&S. I wanted to promote the idea of giving a bakery item as a gift, by supplying a range of suitable packaging. These will come in a range of shapes and sizes suited to a range of occasions. M&S food packaging has already attained an iconic style, so I want to push this forward, giving the bakery a style of their own, having a fresh new outlook on packaging. The style I want to be quite eccentric using geometrical shapes to hold a range of different cakes and pastries. 

I need to look at the range of ways and materials you can use to package a cake, considering ecological impact, the ability to see the product through the packaging, and considering the products needs - for instance holding a cream cake in the centre of a box to avoid the inside of the box being smothered in cream. 

I want to re-brand M&S Bakery alongside the packaging project to really back up the idea behind - using bakery items as a gift.

To do list:

• Look at M&S Giftware
• Look at M&S Bakery and the way they package their items
• Which items are suitable for gift
• Gift wrapping options?
• Look at the branding of M&S
• Look at M&S Advertising
• Look at existing food packaging in M&S

Tigerprint Giftbag - Display stand

As discussed in my context blog, I want to use the products and packaging I produce, to become its own form of display stand. To stack the boxes to become a shape, like I've seen in many other retail stores but not many food outlets. I came across one in Topshops retail window which gave me the original idea:

Tigerprint - Gift boxes?

Another interest of mine is packaging, and as I was looking through M&S I found it lacks in supplying gift boxes, I found just one set online. Seeing this as a niche in the market I thought about creating a possible giftbox line for M&S, creating a range to suit all sizes and shapes, occasions and sexes. Packaging alone isn't enough to make up the brief, so I was thinking about producing a creative advertisement piece for in store, using the idea of boxes, to promote the new product line.

Tigerprint Gift bag - Re-written brief

To create, promote and advertise a stationary set / Gift packaging line for M&S. The occasion is open in regard to theme of the stationary set, you can create either one, or a set / series. We want something that bit different in regard to occasion, something which either M&S doesn't offer a lot of, or at all. The occasion could be something personal to a particular location of a store, and therefore specialist for that store: E.g. Eid in a Highly muslim populated area. Consider location, and suitability of products and design.

The designs need to be fitting for the M&S branding, but also new and fresh for the store. 

Retail Graphics
Display
Advertisement
Proof of usability

Research project into background behind occasions, try to avoid obvious images and design ideas


Possible occasions to consider:

• Eid (Highly populated with muslims)
• Graduation (highly populated with students)
• 100th Birthdays (older community)
• New home
• Same sex marriage
• etc

Research what stationary stores offer a lot of, and very little in regard to occasion