Saucery: A Lip-Smacking Brand Name and Identity
Know-How: B2B | Brand Copywriting | Copyediting & Proofreading | Creative Direction | Cultural Research & Analysis | Naming | Verbal Brand Strategy
Just a Peek
Personal naming and verbal brand strategy project for a small branding agency that collaborates with culinary professionals.
Uncovering Inspiration
The first half of the brief described the company as “a small branding agency that conjures up flavorful, powerful messaging that packs a punch for restaurants and independent food vendors.”
I concentrated on the following keywords and phrases from the brief: “small,” “flavor,” “conjures,” “packs a punch,” and “powerful,” and explored what they meant to culinary professionals.
After conducting extensive audience and cultural research, I discovered that these words converged around “sauce,” which is significant to chefs and cooks.
In the Mood
Developing flavor is a crucial skill that all food professionals must master through a balanced combination of foods, cooking techniques, textures, etc.
Everyone loves sauces, from chefs to food truck vendors, because they ramp up the flavor of every entree.
The second half of the brief called for brand messaging and tone that was “bold, punchy, witty, and versatile enough to extend to every area of our business.”
Versatility is one of the hallmarks of any great sauce, and this quality inspired me to seek images of colorful sauces to hone in on their various applications.
Bare Essentials
Once I understood the client’s motivation behind their branding and knew the right vehicle for getting their message in front of a receptive audience, I had to figure out how to create a naming strategy that blended their needs with their audience’s.
To accomplish this, I made a list of qualities that were important to both groups, including overlapping traits, like “versatile” and “powerful.”
Balanced
Flavor
Powerful
Witty & Bold
Conceptual
Versatile
Fleshed Out
Below are handwritten sketches of my process, beginning with the full brief, detailed breakdowns of keywords within the brief, key audience insights and perspectives, early and final company name contenders (and the rationale behind these choices), and mini-processes for creating the tagline and unique value proposition (UVP).
The Full Monty
Brand extensions were must-haves for the company name, and as you can see below, I stretched the idea of “sauce” and its numerous associations to the limit.
The focus here is not just on different sauces but the techniques that make them droolworthy using roux and stock, which add depth of flavor and speak to culinary professionals. Or pulverizing fresh herbs and spices with a mortar and pestle to unlock their full flavor profiles—a secret ingredient of finger-licking sauces.
I also created punchy brand copy and extensions that the client can apply to their business today and continue to build upon in the future.
I selected “BN Riptide” by Brandon Nickerson for the logotype because the font’s wavy flow and ripples signify the agency’s fluid creativity and dynamism. (And sauce!)
