ABOUT

Launched into the market a decade ago, HECK! has since grown to become one of the UK’s best-loved sausage makers, achieving a 60% share of the premium branded sausage market. Bringing a strong field-to-fork family heritage, the Yorkshire-based brand wanted to grow into an established category player whilst introducing wider excitement and impact with their product innovations. We partnered with the team to refresh HECK!’s existing core visual identity and packaging design and develop a new playful brand platform that reinvigorated the sausage aisle and sparked excitement in a Gen Z world.

The sausage aisle has welcomed wider category buzz in recent years, with new players launching bold innovations via graphic language and product experimentation. Looking to stand out from the crowd, HECK! needed a brand overhaul that refreshed its existing identity to set the stage for a platform-led approach, evolving the product potential of the brand whilst staying true to its community and family-led core values. We recognised an opportunity to bring HECK!'s sizzle to the forefront and celebrate its unapologetically bold and wonderfully quirky personality.

Replacing outgrown butcher tropes and classic premium codes with something punchier, we wanted HECK! to own hot pink, so we dialled it up as a key brand colour across on and off-pack touchpoints. HECK!'s exclamation mark is raised to become a central asset of the new visual brand language, with a daring character and newfound emphasis. Requiring a statement-worthy and digital-first refresh, we called on lettering legend Dan Forster to reinvent HECK!'s word mark, which coupled with more stylised typography, reflects HECK!'s shift to own the sausage category and elevate its position to become an established category player. Bigger and bolder illustrations ensure sizzle and pop on shelf to create simple navigation and bring the brand's expanding product portfolio together. Complete with product-focused photography that heroes HECK!'s vast range of flavour offerings, the updated identity set the scene for What the HECK!, an adventurous brand innovation platform that taps into fun and creative trends to appeal to a younger group of consumers. What the HECK! brings newfound soul to product innovation, creating a space for the brand to be visually creative by exploring never-before-seen category textures and wild ideas. What the HECK! signals a new chapter for HECK!, one brimming with playful flair to attract next-gen consumers whilst strengthening the foundation of its core identity to lead in the busy category with sizzle.