There is a lot of talk in the design community about the redesign of the much-loved syrup brand. It is iconic - one of those brands everyone has in their cupboards and that has had little redesign attempted on it. In fact so little that the design of the Victorian style tins haven’t changed since 1883 - a Guinness World Record1.
But in not changing their design much in the past, Lyle’s are now faced with an issue that only a significant redesign could solve – they need to appeal to younger consumers. Whatever they did was going to be wrong because people don’t like change.
So what lessons can we learn from the redesign of a brand with significant heritage?
The brand story is important
The original logo features a dead lion, surrounded by bees, who have made honey inside the lion’s carcass. It is based on the story of Samson from the Bible’s Old Testament and denoted by the quote “out of the strong, came forth sweetness.”
In redesigning a brand with this much history, it is important that we don’t lose sight of the brand story. In changing the styling of the lion within the logo, technically the story hasn’t changed. There is still a lion and there are bees. You could argue that it is much clearer now - the bees are more like bees rather than flies, flying around the lion. However, the lion’s status is much more ambiguous. The response from the Church seemed to suggest that the story was not being retold as well in the redesign. Sam Margrave, a member of the General Synod, the Church of England's legislative body, told the Telegraph: “There is nothing modern about ditching tradition or sidelining Christian messaging.”2 further suggesting that Lyle’s may “feel the need to eradicate their connection with their Christian founder’s iconic logo.”
Heritage is in the detailing
Along with the strength of the brand story, I can’t help but feel that the heritage has also been lost. In the over-simplification of both the lion and the pack generally, most of the ornamentation has been removed. In taking away all the detailing on the squeezy bottles but keeping it on the tins, the two now feel very disjointed - one modern and one old, the newer of which loses the connection that it had to the past and the original feels stuffy and outdated.
The intention to appeal to younger consumers may well be correct, but in over-simplifying the brand assets, the brand is now more open to copy cats as brand equity has been lost. New assets that are more product-focused have been added with the inclusion of syrup droplets, which are then used off pack. In being product focused they are not ownable and can easily be copied.
Consistency is key
Any brand designer will tell you that consistency is key to creating and maintaining a strong brand. Lyle’s have benefitted from their consistency over the years - they haven’t changed their design for over 150 years! It seems now they intend to have two designs that will work alongside each other. One for the tin, and another for the squeezy bottles and the brand world. The inconsistency in the representation of the brand only serves to dilute its messaging and the communication of the brand values further.
Memory Structures shouldn’t be forgotten
What has been maintained well in the redesign is the continuation of the arched type. This is something that is part of the iconic nature of the brand and key in consumers’ memories. In the simplification, though, we have lost the depth of including the white in the design and this gives it a different colour footprint in consumer’s memories. I wouldn’t be surprised if consumers now struggle to find it on shelf. Below you can see an incremental redesign of the squeezy bottles, which uses the existing logo - the elements of white and ornamentation are deemed important here and aid recognition of the brand.
Going Slow is Best
Controversy is often born from big and drastic changes, which in turn can sever the emotional connection consumers have with the brand and risk losing loyal consumers. What a brand can do to avoid this is make incremental changes over the years. This way we don’t have a Victorian brand lost in the 21st century with a need to appeal to younger consumers, who quite frankly are from a different planet than the very first customers the brand was designed for.
A brand such as Cadbury have done a good job of this as we have gradually been taken on the journey with design changes in small stages, allowing us to continue to have a deep emotional connection with the brand, despite it looking very different now than when it started. We still think of Cadbury as an old and iconic brand, and below you can see the changes are clear and celebrated. These packs from across the years are currently being sold in supermarkets in the UK, celebrating their 200th anniversary.
1 Guinness World Record: 2007 source: http://lylesgoldensyrup.com
2 Quoted from The Grocer “Lyle’s Golden Syrup Rebrand- justified or cultural vandalism?” Date: 23 Feb 2024.
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