In providing a healthy alternative to ice cream, frozen yoghurt sells itself. While the US has been indulging in froyo for decades, the UK is currently experiencing a market explosion with new shops popping up on high streets across the country. But health and taste factors alone haven't caused such accelerated growth. The category aesthetic is elementally cheerful, bubbly and sweet and froyo purveyors have infused this energy into their environments with such vigour that brand expression has become a true driving force behind the boom.
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Bold flashes of the brightest colours in the spectrum catch the eye atop a healthy, refreshing clean white base. Bliss Berry’s effervescent environment is a reflection of the froyo category as a whole.
Flavaboom's environment also plays with the balance of white space and colour, but has added a futuristic edge. Designed by Dune, the concept for the shop was an ultramodern laboratory. Elements such as the floating pink faux-leather seats backed by plum-hued mirrors make it look like a cafeteria on a spaceship. Flavaboom definitely reflects froyo's status as the dessert of the future.
The brilliance of these froyo brand environments is way they model themselves on the aesthetic of treats. Colourfully fun and quirky circles playfully bounce across the walls at the Yogo Factory in São Paulo. Reminiscent of sweets, it's instantly attractive to consumers. We know it's healthy but we feel like we're treating ourselves every time we walk into one of these stores.
Froyo brands are so with the times that their names could be those of the latest smart phone apps. Brand names like Hielo, Snog, Flavaboom could feasibly be replaced by the likes of Vimeo, Hulu and Shazam. These brands know that consumers are attracted to slick, dynamic, memorable identities. It's all about making things simple and fun and naming is part of that.
These store interiors create futuristic worlds that fall on the right side of tacky. They bring light and joy to the purchase and consumption journey as well as a futuristic window to tomorrow.
Froyo brands have clearly found a winning formula in combining fresh fun with modern quirk. However, the category desperately lacks differentiation. If a brand wants to rise above the rest, it will need to find a new direction; one that still communicates the category cues of cool happiness, but in a novel way that offers consumers a different experience.
So the question is, what is next for the category?
