Right from the start, it became clear that Fazer’s new gourmet product would require a very special design. Design-wise Karl Fazer Nordic Gourmet also had to have good visibility on store shelves, and of course it had to reflect one of the most distinguished brands in Finland – Fazer Blue milk chocolate.
Nordic Gourmet required a lot of development and improvement, since almost all aspects of the product were new: the package, the design, the wrapping and even the chocolate moulds.
“We were, after all, introducing a new gourmet product to the market, one that is more expensive in comparison to other chocolates,” says Mervi Hernberg, Marketing Director at Fazer.
Packaging was developed as carefully as the product itself and the choice was finally quite clear: Nordic Gourmet would be packed to M-real’s Carta Solida folding boxboard carton. Primary fibre based Carta Solida is suitable for very demanding packages as chocolate, candies and medicines.
Carta Solida is produced in M-real Äänekoski mill.
Expertise in every field of production
In terms of the role played by the packaging, the chocolates had to be properly protected during transport, and the wrapping and the cartonboard had to be able to be printed with the required designs and details. The main colour used in the final design was white, which is not a common colour, at least in Nordic chocolate. Another leading idea was simplicity.
Nordic Gourmet has three package models: one of them is reminiscent of a gabled roof, the second a bar and the third a box with a band around it. All the wrappings are printed vertically to catch the consumer’s eye in the shops. And with three different package models, Nordic Gourmet uses three different Carta Solida grammages: 235 g/m2 for the wrapped bar, 270 g/m2 for the gabled roof box and 320 g/m2 for the traditional chocolate box. All these elements were developed in co-operation with Fazer’s own packaging department.
“It took thee years to develop this new product and the success of it has felt that little bit sweeter because not everything was so easy from the beginning,” Mervi Hernberg says.