Cabrales Coffee

Background

Cabrales is an Argentine company founded by Don Antonio Cabrales Vega over 70 years ago, and today it is still managed by the third generation of the family. As a company and as a family, they have a strong commitment: to maintain the quality of their products at the highest level. They dedicate their knowledge, effort, and technological cutting-edge to always satisfy the needs of their consumers and their own passion: to give their name to the best coffee.

With this mission, Cabrales contacted Grupo Berro to review the branding and design of all the company's products.

The Challenge

To ensure that the quality of the products is reflected in the new designs and that the name stands out at the point of sale.

In the initial strategy phase, which we developed together with Fernando Zerboni, we visited the factory in Mar del Plata and learned the differences between roasted and toasted coffees, between ground and whole bean coffees, or between bagged coffee, instant coffee, and capsules. We literally immersed ourselves in the world of coffee.

We grouped all the brand's packaging, which includes over 50 products, and met with the client to understand the 'splash of color' they were referring to. In our analysis, we found that of the entire large family of products, only 4 were the 'engines' pushing the rest of the line, and we clearly needed to focus on identifying the DNA of each of them.

The diagnosis we reached was that the design strategy and brand architecture would be based on updating and extending the identity of the two best-selling and most recognized products in the market: Súper Cabrales and La Planta de Café.

It was decided to organize the product portfolio under two types of coffee: Cabrales for roasted coffees and La Planta de Café for toasted coffees.

The Result

First, we redesigned the identity. With great care, we modified details of the 'cup' symbol, keeping the characteristic base plate but modernizing the cup's style with a more streamlined silhouette. We also adjusted the smoke, creating a more relaxed movement that emphasizes the idea of 'enjoying the moment of a good coffee.' In the case of the logo, we respected the inclination of the typography but redrew it, adjusting details of shapes and letter spacing for clearer readability.

For the packaging design, Cabrales' new branding was structured around updating the design of the roasted coffee Súper Cabrales.

Once the details of that flagship product were refined, we defined an architecture for the entire line, rescuing the application of the brand at an angle, presenting the cup symbol within a 'red tie,' and other attributes from the previous packs.

Based on that architecture, we designed all the products while respecting that general concept and highlighting the personality of each type of coffee.

Beyond the defined bases for the products, each line has to be analyzed with its particularities. In the case of the compatible capsules with Nespresso, which have a thin and elongated packaging, it was surprising how little the Cabrales logo was read; the brand got lost in the packaging. The design decision was to emphasize the name, which is a mark of quality, and we went from a tiny application on the front of the pack to a strong emphasis so that the readability on the shelf is compelling.

Today, the brand and its line of products present a strong and more consistent identity, highlighting the value of the name 'Cabrales,' which is synonymous with good coffee, while respecting the colorful 'splash of color' that the client did not want to lose.