Paul Findlay owns Yousli. Anna Rogers and Paul Findlay own HubGroup the agency that developed the Yousli brand. HubGroup came first. This is their story. PKN is featuring Yousli for its business idea, for its branding and packaging design, for its sustainable packaging, for triumph in packaging for the online retail process and because while many want to create a new niche food product or brand, many try and few succeed. This one has.
PKN: Why did the two heads of a design company decide to launch a muesli brand? What have you learned as brand owners?
Findlay: We are both quite obsessed with food and brand experiences and I was making a lot of great muesli creations from quality whole foods from home, as I couldn’t find the right muesli blend for me out there. The only problem with this was that I couldn't find the right ingredients when I needed them and was always running out of the good stuff…”Where are mulberries and cacao nibs when you need them! :)” The online make-you-own muesli model just made perfect sense to me.
We have learned many things through this process. The major lessons for me are:
1. Build your website properly up front, or build it twice.
2. Get your numbers and distribution sorted and tested early, before you launch.
3. Define your brand and get it right at the core… before you do anything, brand planning is key, if you want your brand to have a confident authentic voice.
Paul Findlay and Anna Rogers
Rogers: Branding is what Paul and I do – while beautiful and relevant design is an absolute strength of ours, our creds in brand strategy and finding a brand’s unique story and voice from the very start that really inspires us. We define and build brands for other people every day. We’ve toyed with the idea of developing brands our own brand for years, but somehow clients brands have always come first. I have to put my hands together for Paul (who actually owns Yousli) he dug deep, pulled late nights and early starts to push this great idea through without once taking his eye off HubGroups clients. I’ve learned through the Yousli experience…(and really through every start up brand I’ve worked with) that commitment, clarity about why you’re doing what you’re doing, buckets of determination and some good seed funding are what you need to get new brands up and running. But most of all being prepared to have a go. The only way you are going to find out if it’s going to work…is to do it. Watch this space for our next brand venture…
….now over to Paul.
PKN: Where did the branding idea come from and how did it alter as it was developed?
Findlay: We were talking about this idea of customisation internally at HubGroup (our branding agency) and we hit a sweet spot of this brand being very democratic, and that it’s all about you. Then we developed the thought further and captured this idea of getting more ‘you’ in your muesli. From this the name Yousli was born, this was when the penny dropped for us and everything came together. The ideas were flowing freely from this point on.
PKN: Where did the tube packaging idea come from? The smiley face? The plain brown paper?
Findlay: Our brand essence is 'Feel Good Food’, so we wanted to embrace this thought and have some fun with it. That’s where the happy rounded typography, the smile came and our tag line, Make your day, came from. We like the idea that when you open your pantry in the morning, Yousli is smiling at you – Makes my day every time :)
We also like the idea of using the smiling tube as a character through our social media channels, he (Yousli) recently went on a culinary adventure through Europe, in search of the perfect muesli, he reported back his findings through Instagram and Facebook.
PKN: Major packaging decisions – sourcing, materials and processes decision, overcoming obstacles…and of course those intrinsic to Yousli’s being an online brand.
Findlay: Packaging had to be strong enough to withstand Australia Posts distribution handling, that’s were the idea of postal tube came from, they’re built to withstand pressure. We worked closely with a packaging company called Darpac, to develop a stronger tube than the regular post tube. We also included a foil lining to keep ingredients fresh inside. Ands then we put it through a rigorous test – we called it The Jump Test. We would pack the tubes of different sizes and thicknesses with product and jump on them until they popped at the bottom or top. The strongest tube made it through to the final cut. It was important for us to have the right size to stand up in the pantry and not take up too much pantry width space, act as a pourer and be easily posted in Express Post bags.
Thankfully we work with many FMCG brands, as well as a lot of brands looking to gain a larger digital footprint and wanting to build deeper connects with their customers, so this was the perfect project for us. We also have a great digital offering in our Brands to Life building, so we could create and build the online store from the ground up, as well as develop and the social media strategy, key messaging and the creative for the brand.
PKN: What sustainability features did you implement?
Findlay: Our tubes are made from 100% recycled papers, our lids are bio-degradable and we deliver in Melbourne on bicycles as much as we can. We also have 1kg refill bags and we promote ways for our customers to use their tubes, like pasta containers, cookies jars.
PKN: How are you advertising and promoting the brand? Plans for future growth?
Findlay: Yousli is just over 12 months old now, growing rapidly and getting a lot of attention.
We promote our brand through various social media channels, seed with quality food bloggers and get it out there through markets and great events like the Taste Festival and online food sample concepts like Goodness Me Box. We will be ramping up the markets through summer too. We also do special chef co-lab pre-mades (we have 9 pre-mades currently) with our favourite chefs. Shane Delia from Maha and Spice Journey (on the SBS) has created our last one, a fantastic Middle Eastern take on muesli.
PKN: Do you intend to stay online only, or....? What would be the main design and packaging changes you'd need to make for bricks and mortar retail?
Findlay: Yes we are currently mainly online and we will keep it that way for now – but you never know! :) We do wholesale to some great cafés and it has been really good for us to get the Yousli name out there. We wouldn’t need to change much at all (if any) with our current packaging, it would certainly stand out.
