Newman’s Own Personalizes Pizza Boxes

Newman’s Own food company, founded by beloved actor and racecar driver Paul Newman, is renowned for its philanthropy; 100% of its after-tax profits are donated to the Newman’s Own Foundation, a private non-profit created to nourish and transform the lives of children facing adversity. Since 1982, when the company was launched, more than $570 million has been donated to children’s causes.

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With its new packaging design, the first examples of which debuted in September, Newman’s Own is bringing the impact of the brand to life by featuring profiles of some of the children who have benefitted from the company’s mission. Now included on the back of the packaging for four of its Thin & Crispy pizza varieties are photos and stories of six of the children who have attended Paul Newman’s SeriousFun Children’s Network (SeriousFun) camps, a community of adaptive summer camps for kids with serious illnesses.

Packaging Newman’s Own’s Margherita Pizza features siblings Gabe and Angelica from Florida.“Newman’s Own does radically good work in its commitment to give away 100% of profits to help children who face adversity,” shares Nicole Malcolm-Manyara, chief marketing officer of Newman’s Own. “The purpose of the new packaging, notably featuring the stories of kids it supports through its grantee partners, is to communicate the brand’s focus on helping kids and to help consumers better connect with the radically good impact they have when they purchase Newman’s Own products.”

The children highlighted include siblings Sarah and Akeem from New York, who appear on the box for Italian Sausage & Uncured Pepperoni Pizza; Clayton from North Carolina on the Uncured Pepperoni Pizza box; siblings Gabe and Angelica from Florida, on the Margherita Pizza box; and Sophie from Ohio on the packaging for Four Cheese Pizza. Accompanying each story is a QR code consumers can scan to access video interviews with the children featured on-pack. Through next summer, Newman’s Own will roll out the rest of its pizza packaging as well as packaging for other product categories, primarily lemonade, cookies, coffee, and dog treats, with more profiles, as space allows.

Siblings Sarah and Akeem from New York are featured on the box for Italian Sausage & Uncured Pepperoni Pizza.The personalized packaging is part of a larger initiative by Newman’s Own that involved redesigning the packaging for its entire portfolio. According to Malcolm-Manyara, the company’s primary objective in changing the packaging was to modernize the brand and make it more relevant to shoppers in today’s retail environment. Working with Newman’s Own on the project was creative consulting agency Turner Duckworth and illustrators Helen Green, who refreshed the image of Newman in the brand logo, and Fanny Gentile, responsible for the ingredient imagery and back-of-pack illustrations.

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The new design has been updated with a primary color palette that is said by Malcolm-Manyara to be a bright, optimistic take on the original brand colors. “The teal on-pack is distinctive, unexpected, and fresh, complemented by a sunshine yellow to bring contrasting color into the primary palette,” she explains. “The secondary palette is fresh, vibrant, and expressive. It is inspired by natural ingredients and food to celebrate Newman’s Own delicious products. Its feel-good illustrations, inspired by ingredients in its food products and the passions of kids featured on the back of pack, provide additional interest, playfulness, and connection to both Newman’s Own delicious food and the children featured on pack.”

Sophie from Ohio is featured on the packaging for Four Cheese Pizza.The typography has also been refreshed, with modern fonts that were selected to better resonate with younger consumers and stand out on shelves. “The two main fonts on packaging are Reckless and Fellix,” Malcolm-Manyara explains. “Reckless is a gregarious serif that brings friendliness and human-like warmth to type, while Fellix is a geometric sans font that complements Reckless and allows for harmony in applications.”

Since the pizza boxes were unveiled in September, Malcolm-Manyara says that consumer feedback to the new design has been very positive. “As a few examples, one consumer said ‘Your new branding is so fun! We (hear emoji) all your products!’ One even quipped, ‘Did Mr. Newman recently get super-hot, or do I need to get out more beyond the grocery store?,’” she shares. “Of course, we think everyone would agree Paul Newman was always very good looking, but we appreciate the sentiment in regards to the new logo.”