Our involvement was full creative leadership — brand identity, market positioning, pitch development, and creative strategy through launch of a new brand. Project Umami was built to be the direct-to-consumer sister to a larger B2B parent company focused on sushi-grade seafood, and our job was to develop and refine the brand image, packaging, and overall style from the ground up. The challenge: an identity that communicates the highest premium sushi-grade seafood, clearly differentiated from anything at a grocer, while staying approachable and unintimidating rather than exclusive.

There was a real educational job baked into the brand strategy — busting the myths around what "sushi-grade" actually means and how sushi can be enjoyed at home, tying tradition to modern technique and technology that makes old assumptions obsolete. Working closely with the seafood and foodie communities kept the message fun and educational, approachable and premium, at the same time — a market-first offering for Canada, and one we stayed intimately involved in from concept through product, brand, design, and marketing strategy.