Client & Sector

Grizzly Supplements

CPG—Sports Supplements

Project Objective

Diversify and expand DD Beverage & Nutrition’s portfolio of sports supplements by designing for a fresh segment of fans.

Deliverables

Brand Strategy

Brand Identity Design

Product Packaging

Marketing Materials

Social Media

Year

2021

Groundwork designed the Grizzly Supplements brand, a fan favorite that quickly scaled to over $1 million in its first year of sales.

To begin, Groundwork’s creative director and chief strategist, Nate Ripley, met with CEO Andrew Drayson and the DDBN team to lead a collaborative brand strategy workshop. Together, Groundwork and DDBN identified insights defining what Grizzly stands for and why it matters.

High-fidelity mood boards help translate strategic x’s and o’s into visual language. We model our ideal customer’s best life, reflect their goals and aspirations, and vibe with them. From mood boards come concepts, and from concepts come finished brands.

Athletic,

rugged,

outdoorsy,

masculine,

youthful,

adventurous,

and energetic.

Part of the brand design process is to think outside of the 16:9 box.

Designing a brand to look great in the vacuum-sealed confines of a computer screen is one thing. Making sure it looks great in the real world is another. Brand elements need to thrive in a massive range of applications. They need to look great from screen to print, from a tiny thumbnail image on Instagram to a gigantic billboard spanning the side of a 12-story building.

In Grizzly’s case great merchandise, apparel, and advertising designs were especially important based on customer preferences and product use.

Product packaging is an extension of the customer and their wants.

In addition to UX considerations like read order and use occasion, DDBN wanted Grizzly to be dynamic enough to find on the shelf with a passing glance. The brand’s key color, “quicksand,” shines here. It’s different enough to stand out among competitors but still speaks clearly to an adventure-seeking, athletic audience.

The brand’s wild flavors were another consideration. Committing to the principle of “show, don’t tell,” we decided with DDBN to feature bold flavor imagery. The result is a more engaging retail experience and a product line that’s easier to understand and identify—a tangible win with a bottom-line impact.

Even the freshest design in the world is irrelevant if no one has heard of you.

Like the rest of the brand-building process, social media design centers around customer desires. Customers want to buy to belong. So if you create an identity your customers connect with, they'll buy-in. Successful social media design is about clearly broadcasting that identity. When your true fans hear the message, they'll know you're for them and that they're for you too.

Project Results & Impact

DD Beverage and Nutrition’s new Grizzly Supplements line was an immediate success, generating over $1 million in revenue in its first year. National retail chain GNC Canada was so impressed they moved to carry the brand exclusively.

Grizzly is now available nationwide at GNC stores. The brand wins new fans through social media and GNC regularly promotes Grizzly, both in-store and online. The brand continues to grow quickly year over year.