In a world where there is a specialized product for nearly every single function possible, it’s nice to know that some products can actually serve a multitude of purposes. In fact, olive oil is one of those products that can become an ultimate utility in the household. Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil has gone through a re-packaging cycle to conform to some new product forms, while still keeping the same brand essence that makes a Pompeian product noticeable. By keeping the same essence and certain assets of its original packaging design, it increases brand recognition since the product would be in a different aisle in the supermarket. Keeping the same essence also helps to differentiate it from similar products by looking completely foreign to those it shares shelf space with.
In these magazine ads, using olive oil as suitable substitutes for skin cream, shaving cream, and shampoo are displayed prominently, taking up most of the real estate on the page. In proper size contrast, the running copy is small and thin, educating the reader on just how to use olive oil in a different way. Pompeian Olive Oil: for way more than just your kitchen.
Pompeian Extra Virgin Skin Cream Ad. Note: Don’t actually go to your local grocery store or supermarket to get this product—you will not be able to find it in this form.
Pompeian Extra Virgin Shaving Cream Ad. Note: Don’t actually go to your local grocery store or supermarket to get this product—your grocer will not be able to tell you which aisle it’s in.
Pompeian Extra Virgin Shampoo Ad. Note: Don’t actually go to your local grocery store or supermarket to get this product—they will just think you’re crazy, like a lot of customers are. Coming from someone who has worked in supermarkets for eight years, a lot of customers are simply nuts.
Process, Sketches, and Previous Version
Two renders of the actual bottles for Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil. These were used as a base to build the background of my custom labels. I wanted the overall feel to be the same with small differences.
My previous version of the Pompeian magazine ad was about uniting retro with modern. Wearing clothes from the baby boom era, a mother and daughter are cooking a meal in the kitchen. The image is cast in grayscale with olive oil green accents to tie in with Pompeian’s branding. Targeted to mothers who remember cooking with their mother as a little girl, this consumer ad reflects on the fact you can still make those same meals and memories from when you were a kid, with your kids, but now the end result will be healthier. Health is always a hot-button issue in the culinary world, especially nowadays, so why not use that as a foundation for an ad?
Instead of taking the prior concept further, I decided to change gears completely, while still holding true to the Pompeian brand. A lot of people don’t know that olive oil is extremely advantageous for things other than cooking. While uncommon, the effects are excellent. The new direction helped ignite interest immediately, as I made a list of certain things olive oil can do outside the kitchen. Three were selected.
After choosing three, I thought of rendering a Pompeian label on those other products. To do this, though, I had to make a new label background, then be able to adapt it for various aspect ratios. Combining the two official labels as seen earlier, along with my own creative input, helped to create a label background that is unmistakably Pompeian in design, but also a little bit different. This would become a stepping stone to creating the renders needed to complete this ad series.
Finished labels for all three products. They are all very similar, besides the copy and dimensions. From here, I was able to render each product on the necessary bottle/container and use them for the ads.
