This famous redesign led to a $600 million sale — but here’s the part everyone overlooks: It wasn’t just about putting ingredients on the front. It was about SHOWING the thing the brand used to be TELLING. Let’s back up… When RXBAR debuted, nobody took it seriously. It was an ugly brand in a crowded space. It wanted to differentiate itself as simple and natural, so it used a slogan: “AS PRESCRIBED BY NATURE.” Problem is, lines like that are meaningless. Lots of brands say they’re natural, so consumers don’t know who to trust. That's why the ingredient list worked. It SHOWED consumers how natural the product was — so they felt like they could decide themselves, without being told. This led to a sales explosion, and then a $600 million sale to Kellogg. It’s worth asking: What are YOU telling people, that you should be showing instead? If this post was helpful, please share it and follow Jason Feifer for more. 🍏 🥤 Are you an early-stage food or bev CPG founder? DM or contact me — I'm working on a project that could help you grow! jasonfeifer.com/contact
Two additional reasons it worked: 1) It was very different from everything else at the time so it stood out. Many retailers said they’d never take it into their stores because it was so different from the typical packaging blueprint. 2) the bar catergory is very habitual and to break a consumers habit you have to get them to think. Our packaging made clif, kind, quest and thinkthin (the dominant players at the time) ask “what’s in my bar?” — we always won when we drove the consumer to compare ingredient decks.
In 2017, before the company was acquired by Kellogg, I interviewed here. At the time, I held the position of Senior Designer and had a substantial portfolio of packaging work. During the interview process, they insisted on evaluating my skills through an unpaid project: redesigning packaging for a new product they were considering launching and concepts for an ad campaign for (I think they called them) RX Bites. Despite the significant time investment required to complete this “test” — I was told that completion was a prerequisite for securing the position. I expressed my concerns, highlighting the imposition it placed on my already employed status, how they were taking advantage of free design ideas, how they were requiring unpaid labor for the chance at a fulltime role. Ultimately, without completing the "test," I would no longer be considered for the role. I declined out of principle. While their packaging might be thoughtful, it raises questions about how many designers they exploited to achieve this. RXBAR
brilliant.
I think a lot of people are getting caught up on the idea of the ingredients list, when really the reason this is so successful is the design itself. Unlike the original version, the redesign includes a monochromatic color palette: monochromatic = simple, easy for the viewer to understand. This conveys the idea that the bar is made with as few ingredients as possible. One huge piece that makes Rx Bars stand out is the vertical layout, I can't think of another bar out there that has packaging formatted vertically. The first version uses 3 different fonts and has no clear hierarchy - the viewer doesn't know what is important about this bar! For example, the green leaf from the blueberries contrasts the rest of the elements on the packaging, thus making it the first thing a customer's eye goes to when picking this up even though it's the least important part of the package. I can nerd out and get into more specifics on the success of the redesign, but my main point is, it's not just about the idea of putting ingredients on the front, it's about the many design choices made to make the Rx Bar message clear and intuitive to the customer.
I’ve just finished the first draft of my cookie packaging. The latest trend emphasizes using simplified recipes and only better-for-you ingredients. I'm on a mission to revolutionize American snacks, starting with cookies, by replacing refined sugar with a nutritious, low-glycemic natural sweetener derived from hand-harvested Palmyra palm flower sap 80 feet above the ground. We're using organic ancient grains, specifically Spelt, for flour and substituting eggs with Cyclea Barbata, a superfood that acts as both a binder and a source of green nutrients with numerous benefits. I aim to launch by the end of this year.
I always loved this design because of how it stood out on the shelf. Simple but bold. I’m not sure I ever remember seeing the first version
I've been a big fan of RX Bar for several years now. As a designer, it's almost impossible not to love the clean, simple and straightforward look/feel to the newer packaging. From an Art/Visual Direction standpoint, it speaks to the "No B.S" claim perfectly 👌 👍 To the point made in the comments about Blueberries not being listed in the ingredients on the front of the package, this is actually consistent with what they do for all other RX Bars – it's just Egg Whites, Almonds, Cashews and Dates that are listed on the front. All other ingredients that pertain the the actual flavour of the bar (with exception to Peanuts, I think) are listed on the back.
Nah. It's even more basic than that. The one on the left looks like every other bar on the market. The one on the right... wait for it... stands out from all the others. It says (visually) "Look here! I'm different." If you don't get their attention, the actual content / message is 100% irrelevant. The moral of the story: In a crowded market when speaking to distracted customers, being a knockoff of every other similar product is silly. It doesn't mitigate risk. It increases it. Don't let the LinkedIn (self-proclaimed) experts fool you, there is A LOT of risk in less risk. Yeah, ironic.
And how many blueberries?