Greg Hrinya, Associate Editor02.12.15
Little Bird Curious Confections has eschewed the box in favor of flexible packaging.
Little Bird Chocolates underwent a rebrand that included new packaging and a new name. The “Curious Confections” moniker highlights the company’s highest selling item.
Sara and Corey Meyer were looking for a fresh way to market their new product – Fire Bites. The Brooklyn couple stumbled upon the idea a few years ago when experimenting with holiday treats. The more common candied fruits led to limes, grapefruits, lemons – and finally jalapenos.
The Little Bird creation is a jalapeno covered in chocolate and sprinkled with a dash of sea salt. Fire Bites just needed an outside-the-box package to meet its outside-the-box idea. That’s where Adam Padilla, CEO and co-founder of BrandFire, came in. His team created a resealable bag with a little red bird that resembles a hot pepper. This has resulted in increased sales and brand recognition at market and trade shows.
“They were always very careful not to be confused with a Nestlé or a Ghirardelli,” says Padilla. “They didn’t want to look like they were super mass-marketed, but they still wanted to retain that homespun edge. There’s a difference between having a homespun style and actually being homespun, and I think they wanted to step it up a notch.”
The pillow pack packaging is made of foil and features a gloss finish. It was printed on a rotogravure press and includes six-color spot processing. Each pouch can hold 1.5 ounces of chocolate.
The redesigned packaging hit store shelves in November 2014. The new concept targets heat seekers instead of marketing the treat as traditional chocolate. Since 90% of Little Bird’s business was in hot peppers and similar culinary oddities, BrandFire aimed for the candy’s main audience.
“People love it, and they go to heat seeker conventions,” Padilla says. “Like anything else, they’re advocates of hot peppers. They’re asking for Fire Bites by name, which is so much easier than asking if they have those little jalapeno chocolates. To have that kind of handle is so helpful for them.”
Fire Bites are available in multiple flavors, including dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. The company has also released Fire Bark, which is like a brittle. Ten bushels (roughly 360-400 pounds) are produced every two weeks.
The package’s design is meant to stand out on the shelves. “They’re white with really nice, bold photography on the front and clean typefaces with red and black popping off the white,” explains Padilla.
Since November, Little Bird’s sales have matched its output from the previous year and a half. The products were featured at Zest Fest and will be on display at the Fiery Foods Show from March 6-8. Both shows take place in Irving, TX, USA.
“Sometimes it’s good to identify a specific thing you do really well and that other people aren’t doing,” Padilla adds. “That’s what’s happening here. I think people now have a thought: when they think about Little Bird, they think spicy, and that’s a nice thing to be able to create. If you stand for everything, then nobody remembers you for any specific reason. I think that’s the biggest lesson here, to brand narrow and smaller for bigger results.”
This Valentine’s Day, the traditional heart-shaped candy box is not for the birds. In fact, Little Bird Chocolates underwent a rebrand that included new packaging and a new name. The “Curious Confections” moniker highlights the company’s highest selling item.
Sara and Corey Meyer were looking for a fresh way to market their new product – Fire Bites. The Brooklyn couple stumbled upon the idea a few years ago when experimenting with holiday treats. The more common candied fruits led to limes, grapefruits, lemons – and finally jalapenos.
The Little Bird creation is a jalapeno covered in chocolate and sprinkled with a dash of sea salt. Fire Bites just needed an outside-the-box package to meet its outside-the-box idea. That’s where Adam Padilla, CEO and co-founder of BrandFire, came in. His team created a resealable bag with a little red bird that resembles a hot pepper. This has resulted in increased sales and brand recognition at market and trade shows.
“They were always very careful not to be confused with a Nestlé or a Ghirardelli,” says Padilla. “They didn’t want to look like they were super mass-marketed, but they still wanted to retain that homespun edge. There’s a difference between having a homespun style and actually being homespun, and I think they wanted to step it up a notch.”
The pillow pack packaging is made of foil and features a gloss finish. It was printed on a rotogravure press and includes six-color spot processing. Each pouch can hold 1.5 ounces of chocolate.
The redesigned packaging hit store shelves in November 2014. The new concept targets heat seekers instead of marketing the treat as traditional chocolate. Since 90% of Little Bird’s business was in hot peppers and similar culinary oddities, BrandFire aimed for the candy’s main audience.
“People love it, and they go to heat seeker conventions,” Padilla says. “Like anything else, they’re advocates of hot peppers. They’re asking for Fire Bites by name, which is so much easier than asking if they have those little jalapeno chocolates. To have that kind of handle is so helpful for them.”
Fire Bites are available in multiple flavors, including dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. The company has also released Fire Bark, which is like a brittle. Ten bushels (roughly 360-400 pounds) are produced every two weeks.
The package’s design is meant to stand out on the shelves. “They’re white with really nice, bold photography on the front and clean typefaces with red and black popping off the white,” explains Padilla.
Since November, Little Bird’s sales have matched its output from the previous year and a half. The products were featured at Zest Fest and will be on display at the Fiery Foods Show from March 6-8. Both shows take place in Irving, TX, USA.
“Sometimes it’s good to identify a specific thing you do really well and that other people aren’t doing,” Padilla adds. “That’s what’s happening here. I think people now have a thought: when they think about Little Bird, they think spicy, and that’s a nice thing to be able to create. If you stand for everything, then nobody remembers you for any specific reason. I think that’s the biggest lesson here, to brand narrow and smaller for bigger results.”