Crutella — chocolate for creative and good mood

Crutella — Private Label Chocolate for a Young and Creative Audience

Private labels are becoming an increasingly important part of the FMCG landscape, creating new opportunities for retailers to develop distinctive brands and build long-term value.

As part of this trend, the retail team approached Clever Branding with a task of developing Crutella, a new private label chocolate brand designed to stand out in a highly competitive category.

The business objective was to create a brand capable of generating long-term value within the chocolate category. For retail brands, this means not only creating an attractive product, but also building a strong connection between consumer → brand → retail.

To develop this connection, we began by studying the category, its competitors and the needs of potential consumers.

Finding an Unoccupied Audience

Our analysis showed an opportunity to focus on young women and men aged 18–25, an audience that was relatively underrepresented within the category.

To better understand their motivations, we conducted 8 qualitative interviews, exploring:

consumer needs and tensions;

barriers to purchase;

selection criteria;

consumption situations;

perceptions of brands within the category;

willingness to switch to a new brand.

We then tested the identified hypotheses with 225 respondents in a quantitative study.

The research confirmed that chocolate is a relatively brand-dependent category, but also revealed that consumers were open to trying new brands. This meant that Crutella needed either significant advertising investment or a strong combination of insight, positioning and value proposition capable of motivating consumers to switch.

The Brand Insight

Analysis of the research findings and creative exploration led us to an important insight:

“We consume chocolate to create something interesting and new.”

This became the foundation for the brand concept.

We developed several design directions and concepts for online promotion and tested them quantitatively. The winning direction featured an original character inspired by the visual language of 1930s American animation.

The character became an important part of the brand identity: it reflects the flavour of each chocolate variant while creating a recognizable visual system for differentiating the range.

The retro animation aesthetic also brought a contemporary cultural reference into the category. By reinterpreting a visual language associated with classic animation, we created a distinctive and charismatic world for Crutella.

Extending the Brand Online

To support the launch beyond the shelf, we also developed Instagram AR masks, creating an interactive way for the target audience to engage with the new brand.

The final packaging system was developed across 3 SKUs, creating a distinctive and cohesive family of products.

The originality of the design generated strong consumer interest, with some consumers even beginning to collect Crutella labels. The new product also attracted attention from bloggers, who highlighted both its taste and visual identity.

By combining consumer research, positioning, distinctive character design and an understanding of modern retail, we created a new private label brand with the potential to become a long-term player in the chocolate category.

Everything will be Crutella!