Ben’s Soft Pretzels is a national soft pretzel chain you can find in stadiums and malls.

They had an outdated brand from their initial launch back in 2008, and came to us for a new website and social media management. The brand had very limited capabilities and was missing key assets.

When we decided to refresh it, the goal was to make the brand timeless and modernized, which would then help our team to level up their social media presence and website.

Strategy & Approach:

Learn the client. My team and I sat down with the client and asked them questions about their brand, including their values, mission, and driving factors.

Learn the consumer. My team and I facilitated case studies with 4 small groups to get their thoughts and feelings toward the brand. We learned about the feelings and emotions they felt when seeing Ben’s and tasting a warm soft pretzel. We showed them several word marks and color palettes and asked them to report how each made them feel.

Build Archetypes. Building a brand can be intimidating, but archetypes help create a framework. Using archetypes allows us to define the brand’s values and personify them.

Use archetypes and market research to build a brand. From the research we conducted, we were able to draw valuable insights and build a brand off established archetypes, building a persona that would resonate with Ben’s Soft Pretzels’ target audience.

Everyman (70% Core) Magician (30% Influence)

Our biggest challenge was eliminating discrepancies between what the audience saw Ben’s as versus how the client wanted to be seen. For example, Ben’s has Amish history and features an Amish man as the key icon. Many people in the small groups didn’t realize it was an Amish brand or icon.

The solution? Build a brand that accommodates both. Maintaining the brand's history is important as that is the brand’s story and driving force. Meanwhile, we were able to make it fun and add elements that people want to interact with:

• fun phrases and brand language

• brand marks that represent the brand’s goals and values (showcased below)