Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

Derrick Lin

Global

Creative Agency: Dossier Creative
Client: Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
Location: Canada
Project Type: Commercial Work
Completion date: Jun 2013

the challenge
Reinvigorate Rocky Mountain’s flagship line of triangular-shaped gift boxes that captures the Rocky character and drives sales.

the brief
As well as refreshing the existing gift boxes, a new premium tier would be introduced. Also, holiday versions of the gift box would be available during the Christmas season, and year-round, a product that would cater to tourists’ desire for Canadian memorabilia, both as souvenirs for themselves and as gifts for people back home.

the strategy
Creating the premium-tier, the Black Series, could be done with colour, which would allow for strong continuity between the new tier and the existing line.

For the Christmas editions, we wanted to interpret Christmas the Rocky way. Our objectives were to play with convention to accentuate a lightheartedness that is an important part of Rocky’s makeup.

The key to success for the tourist version of the gift box was to develop a look that would be recognizably Canadian without falling into the kitsch that some place-specific souvenirs succumb to. We wanted to create a keepsake item that would be sought-after, particularly in retail locations with high out-of-town visitor traffic.

the process
Using a black and silver colour palette, we developed the premium gift box as an understated statement of elegance, relying on sculptural embossing over the entire face panel to suggest quality.

With the Christmas boxes, we researched expressions of Christmas outside North America and also in the past. We were inspired by the flowing elegance of certain interpretations of a lithe Santa Claus and used that as a model to illustrate a typically Canadian winter scene and one evocative of the holidays. We augmented those illustrations with spot metallics and opaque whites of snowflakes to add to the festivities, printing everything on brown craft substrate for the warmth.

With the tourist gift box, we examined the underlying emotions associated with remembering a visited place. One seeming constant was a certain sense of nostalgia that underlies those memories. Taking that as our cue, we imagined how some typical Canadian motifs can be interpreted from that perspective. We looked to historical souvenirs for our inspiration. Using the maple leaf as the central device, we illustrated a version that harkened to an older period in our history, with a hint of varsity iconography to reinforce its visual strength. To underscore further the association with Canada, we chose a deeper red to be the dominant package colour. Quality was also conveyed through an embossing treatment of the Rocky Mountain illustration used in the identity and enlarged to accentuate the textural pattern, as well as selective use of metallic foil and spot varnish.

the result
When placed on the shelves, the packaging created a striking portrait of Rocky Mountain’s character throughout the year. Our client felt the project outcome was exceptional, ‘a 15 out of 10’ – ‘The tourist box has done exceptionally well throughout the summer season, which is not generally a period of gift box buying… and although the Christmas box is only just hitting the market, we have seen franchisees order about 75% of their inventory in this style for this period.’