How Welch’s Stayed Top of the Vine: A Fresh but Familiar Look

Over the years many brands have stuck to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra when it comes to their packaging. And on the whole, we’d largely agree with this sentiment. Packaging is the main — and often only — touchpoint consumers ever interact with, and significantly altering it risks disrupting buying patterns and weakening established memory structures.

That said, there typically comes a time when change is necessary. But that shouldn’t be confused with meaning a complete brand overhaul. Campbell’s Soup faced this exact dilemma in 2021 when the need for a facelift became exceedingly evident. In response to declining sales the soup giant’s packaging was given a facelift — but only subtly. The drop-shadow was removed from the wordmark, a sleeker typeface introduced, and simple imagery was added to each variant to more easily cue the flavor within. Minor changes in the grand scheme of things, but major in their ability to breathe new life into a pack design that had remained largely static for the best part of half a century.

This more thoughtful and incremental approach is what we like to call a ‘considered evolution’ — refreshing a brand’s look while maintaining the elements that are the most relevant and recognizable to the brand. It’s a common thread across many of the most successful pack redesigns we’ve ever tested, and provides a gentle reminder for brands to be careful of overstepping the mark (or reinventing the wheel) when considering a redesign.

This is particularly important for category leaders who must evolve and stay relevant and contemporary without losing the hard-earned familiarity and trust they’ve built over the decades. Which brings us to U.S. grape juice brand, Welch’s, who tactfully navigated this conundrum — staying unmistakably on-brand while incorporating the necessary tweaks to remain the first choice for shoppers.

Rather than breaking conventions in an effort to stand out from the competition, Welch’s — as a category leader — instead leaned into these conventions for their refresh. The brand deprioritized green landscape imagery (signaling freshness and quality) and instead amplified its distinctive purple palette to more clearly signpost the brand and product. Similarly, the grapes themselves became more central and prominent, with the addition of water droplets to the product imagery adding an extra burst of refreshment and flavor appeal.

Were these subtle enhancements on their own absolute game-changers for the brand? No. Were they ever intended to be? Definitely not. But what the brand’s cumulative efforts did result in was the new pack maintaining similar levels of distinctiveness, appeal, and brand connection. Which in itself proved that the redesign was well worth undertaking, losing little of what makes the pack so effective at shelf while simultaneously giving it a fresh coat of paint (so to speak).

The lesson? Packaging doesn’t need to shout to be heard, especially when the brand’s existing memory structures are as strong and developed as Welch’s. Sometimes, the smartest move isn’t reinvention — it’s a refresh. And as Welch’s has shown, doubling down on what makes you distinctive can be far more powerful than chasing change for change’s sake.

‍