Have Your Cake and Brand it Too
I am an avid lover of both baked goods and puns, so as soon as I heard we had a new client named “Cake Placid” I knew it was right up my alley. Growing up, my family went to Lake Placid almost every year for Thanksgiving and it’s become one of my favorite places in all of Upstate New York. Add that to the idea of getting to look at pictures of cupcakes in the name of research? Count me in.One of the difficulties right off the bat was to convey the sweet nature of baked goods, without making it look like every other cookie cutter bakery logo out there (pun fully intended). After going over the client’s expectations and our own ideas, the Tramp team came up with three initial concepts to capture the spirit of both the Adirondacks, and the delicately decorated but heartily sized treats Cake Placid has to offer.
We ended up with what we call a Franken-concept, that combined the fonts, decorative accents, and colors from each version.
Once we nailed down the logo, it was time to give it all the fun applications it deserved. Functionally, we needed a simple sticker to place on anything from the cake boxes to take-out bags, that would reinforce the brand and repeat the contact information and details. Knowing the triathlon culture in Lake Placid, we also designed a cake-themed eurosticker, for those of us who choose to forgo marathons in favor of bicep curls with a cupcake in each hand.
For a wedding magazine ad, we started by taking a look at the competition. Everything we saw involved a predictable collage of staged portraits; too-perfect looking cakes, strategically-posed wedding parties, same old same old. We wanted something that said “our brand and reputation are so strong, we don’t need to shove three dozen photos in your face to prove it.” The logo on a thick swath of white frosting proved to be just that; a perfect balance of sweet and confident.
As Thanksgiving approached I was delighted to hear that the plan was for the Hurley clan to trek it up north for the first time in a few years. True to my love of baked goods, I suggested we see things in person. We stopped into Cake Placid and took it upon ourselves to count by cupcake, all the things about which we could feel grateful (emphasis on full). Also great!
