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Brand-new brand stories
Branding has always been our key service. Last year we were delighted to re-brand one of Galway’s biggest food companies. We developed the new name, William’s Gate, as well as the new logo and look and feel. We were also responsible for every application from van livery to signage, to website. William’s Gate has been very well received by the people who work there, by the parent company, BWG, and by the industry at large. Key to its success was the research we did on Galway history. There we found a compelling story that reflected the company’s long history. Watch a video we made about the branding process here:
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Recycling stories
It’s been our privilege to help our clients reduce the amount of packaging they use. We used to describe ourselves as packaging designers. Now, we might better call ourselves un-packaging designers. We’ve helped Wild Irish Game consolidate their retail offerings into one multi-purpose recyclable sleeve. We’ve helped Tipperary Water transition their signature pack from plastic to carton. We’ve helped McCambridge implement a host of recycling and composting initiatives. The momentum feels unstoppable. Let’s hope it makes a difference.
Still telling Irish food stories
We don’t like to dwell on it but we’ve been working on branding for Irish food producers for nearly thirty years. DFM itself is fourteen years old. We’ve seen a lot of changes. What was once a rentier-style industry dominated by high costs, slow turnarounds and technical specialists has been democratised. Anyone can now reach out to the consumer instantly. Anyone can take a good picture. Anyone can place an ad. So we don’t sell technical ability. We sell knowledge and we sell story-telling. Whether its the side of a milk carton or a social post, story-telling is what we do.
Dining in and out stories
In the last few years we’ve enjoyed working closely with some of the best chefs in Ireland. Over lockdown, we produced more than fifty recipe videos to promote the John Stone Beef online shop. During the same period, we wrote, photographed and designed two recipe books for John Stone Beef. It’s been an honour to work with so many talented and enthusiastic chefs and to produce something as enduring and cherishable as a proper, hardback bound book.
Bread & butter stories
We never called ourselves packaging designers – we’d always prefer to talk about brand design. But you can’t control what others say; we were packaging designers to the outside world. Packaging design was a category once – when the supermarket aisle and the television ad mattered more. A box, a bag and a bottle could swing a sale so brands invested in them. No more. The front line is now digital. Now we shoot video, we run online ad campaigns, we update sites, we curate socials. And yet the food and drink products still need a box, a bag or a bottle. Today good packaging designers are hard to find. But we’re still here.