Insight

Nowadays, people are always ‘on’ with many feeling stressed, overwhelmed or unable to cope. Sometimes, we just need to know it’s okay to press pause.

Our research showed positive nostalgia associations with the brand, and its caffeine-free, malted taste was the perfect remedy to the always-on world in which we live. 

Idea

‘Take a moment’ encourages people to slow down regardless of the time of day, or time of life, but also addresses the brand’s challenges.

We contemporised the brand mark, adding a reassuring smile in the ‘H’, removing the bevelling and softening the type to add warmth and iconicity.

Going against category norms, we moved away from how the product’s made to how it makes you feel. Gone are the clouds and barley that did nothing to create desire from a younger audience, replaced instead with a warming mug of Horlicks. Across all variants, a meandering, steamy vapour road slowly leads its characters to an inviting home, which encourages consumers to ‘take a moment’, and also gives each pack a warm, human element.

Finally, our unique, consistent and seamless illustration architecture creates a suite of distinctive assets to bring strong product blocking and shelf-standout.

The impact

Horlicks’ revitalised look brings it to the forefront of people’s minds and sets it up as an anytime drink for both existing and new consumers. Its increased shelf standout encourages desire at the point of purchase and, as a result, Horlicks’ value sales increased by +16.7% in the year following relaunch.

But the last word goes to The Mirror, which in January 2020 ran the following article: ‘Stressed-out millennials hooked on Horlicks as antidote to busy lives; Young people have helped boost sales of the traditional bedtime drink, which first hit shelves almost 150 years ago’.

We couldn’t have written the headline better ourselves!