Made for gyms. Designed for appetites.

Pure Protein product lineup including bars, shakes, crisps, and bites arranged on a blue background — packaging redesign by Beardwood

Company - Pure Protein

Summary

Pure Protein invented the protein bar in 1995. By 2022, the packaging looked like it. Quest, RXBar, ONE…the competitors had all modernized. Pure Protein looked like something your dad kept in his gym bag.

Here's what made it worse: even loyal customers admitted the brand looked dated and medicinal. The bars tasted great, but the packaging didn't tell anyone that.

Consumer research found the obvious-in-hindsight insight. In a category where every brand screams protein grams and macro counts, "tastes great" is actually the #1 purchase driver. Pure Protein's old packaging scored 23% on taste communication. Twenty-three percent. For a product people genuinely love eating.

Services

Brand Strategy
Package Design
Logo Redesign
Visual Identity System
Photography Direction

Original box design for Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter bars

Redesigned box of Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter bars with appetite-forward photography — packaging redesign by Beardwood

The brave idea

Make it irresistible.

Then prove it’s protein.

We built “Energized Nutrition,” a CPG branding system designed around appetite appeal. Larger-than-life photography with texture you can almost taste. Chocolate flecks floating. Caramel dripping. A deeper ocean-blue that actually pops on shelf. Nutrition facts in bubbles instead of clinical boxes. A strong upward diagonal that gave a strong sense of motion.

Designalytics tested it, and consumers preferred the new design 68% to 32%. Taste communication jumped from 23% to 74%. Purchase intent increased 57%. Six months after launch, sales grew 18%. Not just growing, outpacing the category.

THE GROWTH

The new design rolled out from May through August 2023. Within six months we saw 18% sales growth while the category grew slower. Bain Capital came in with a significant stake by December. 1440 Foods invested $60+ million in a new manufacturing facility and acquired FitCrunch. Recognition: 2024 Designalytics Effectiveness Award. Dieline Top 10 Redesigns of 2023.

18%

sales growth within six months

57%

increase in purchase intent