Joy of Private Label development

A package of Flying Flag Fishhouse Sea Clam Juice gave me unexpected joy this weekend! My wife, Patty, made dairy-free (one of us has an allergy) clam chowder adapting a recipe from Duke’s in Seattle!

Here is the history of the private label packaging design as I remember!

Several years ago, while working at FSA as a category manager, I had the pleasure of being involved in all aspects of bringing a private label product to market. We already had Sea Clam Juice in Flying Flag brand, but the packaging was, well, very foodservice. I worked with Judy Frackenpohl in Marketing to get the project started. We agreed the seafood packaging could use some sprucing up. We contacted Brad Parker, the SVP of Communications, to get some time from his creative team. Brad assigned Casey Lieb (now Dahnert) to help design the new feel for Flying Flag. Casey came up with the brilliant idea of using an old nautical map for the background.

The clam juice was from Sea Watch and a well-managed fishery, so we used Sea Watch’s “Sustainable Fishery” logo.

In foodservice, canned products sit on a shelf in the pantry of the restaurant. You want items to be quickly and easily identified. The graphics on this package helped it stand out.

So, where did my joy come from? It started when my wife pulled the can of Flying Flag Clam Juice from our pantry. I saw clam juice and knew we had a great dinner ahead of us and with the label, I reminisced on packaging development! When the chowder was ready, I almost thought I was at Duke’s again! If only I had some of Duke’s warm sourdough bread!

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