Pride of the South

Makikihi Fries

onfire design makikihi fries packaging design 2

Makikihi, South Canterbury 1893. This is where the story of the Bleeker family’s love of Agria potatoes started with Jac Bleeker - founder and chief potato scrutineer. Still family-owned today, the brand grows, harvests and cuts premium Agria potatoes locally and only puts the very best in each bag. We were tasked with bringing this story to life with a brand refresh that helped the brand push into North Island retail.

Deliverables

Brand Strategy
Tone of Voice
Brand Identity
Packaging Design
Communication

onfire design makikihi fries packaging design 2
onfire design makikihi fries packaging design 3

We focused on the core story - Jac only picked the best Agria potatoes to be cut and frozen (the first in New Zealand to do this) into bags. We created a branded badge with Jac at the centre, taking design cues from traditional beer brands to encapsulate the ‘judging’ moment.

onfire design makikihi fries packaging design 4
onfire design makikihi fries packaging design 5

A two-tone potato sack, brimful of potatoes, is used as a visual cue to the locally sourced harvesting while also used for brand and variant colour blocking. Big, bold typography is straightforward and echoes their fry making-mantra of ‘keep things simple’.

onfire design makikihi fries packaging design 9
onfire design makikihi fries packaging design 7

The brand is also first to market with a distinctive smaller bag - sized to contain two scoops of chips which is the standard serving for a family sit down dinner. A new look for a legacy brand looking to the future; doing Jac proud.

Following the refresh, data shows Makikihi Fries has grown preference for its chips in Canterbury by a whopping 9% and the rest of South Island by 7%.

onfire design makikihi fries packaging design 8

© All images are copyright of Onfire Design and cannot be used without prior permission.