LogoLounge

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U.K.-based Northern Foods PLC originally had four divisions:

Dairy, Convenience, Meat, and Grocery. In the Dairy division were

the six dairy-related companies in its holdings: One sold milk

products to supermarkets; one handled delivery and distribution;

one sold milk at small outlets; another sold dairy products exclu-

sively in Ireland; and yet another sold milk by-products such as

curds and whey to food manufacturers. The sixth company,

Express Dairies, offered doorstep delivery of dairy products

throughout the U.K.

But in 1998, when Northern Foods PLC demerged the Dairy di

vi-

sion into a separate PLC—the largest demerger the food indus-

try had seen to date—the newly independent group was faced

with an identity quandary. Each dairy-related company had had an

excellent reputation under Northern’s umbrella and wanted to pre-

serve it. But the group as a whole needed a new identity under

which to gather, an even stronger brand that unified all six pieces.

The international design strategy group Minale Tattersfield &

Partners was called in to help, first to formulate a brand identity

strategy for the launch of the new company, and two years later,

to modernize the brand for the future.

The first step was to create a unified brand that built on the

strengths historically connected with the Northern brand. For this,

of course, a new name was needed.

Express Dai

ries was established in 1864, so it had plenty of his-

tory. Its daily deliveries, whether done by train or other vehicles,

had been a common sight in the U.K. for over a hundred years.

After much consumer and marketing research, Minale Tattersfield

recommended that Express Dairies be retained as the umbrella

name for the group.

Minale Tattersfield & Partners

Express Dairies

Corporate Identity

“This coming-alive look of the

brand is synonymous with the

company’s future aspirations.”

(Top) Express Dairi es’ new

identity not only brought the

company into the twenty-first

century, i t will also allow the

company to expand its serv-

ice offerings to customers. In

the future, Express plans to

deliver not only dairy pr

oducts

to the home doorstep, but

also packages.

(Middle and Bottom) The

new logo has a double life:

It works as a strong identifier

for dairy-product packaging,

and has also come to repre-

sent the package-delivery

component of Express’s

business. The milk “floats,”

or delivery trucks, have been

repurposed to del

iver both

milk and packages.

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This 1950s-era delivery van and bottle of cream reveal the company’s first use of the brush-

stroke E that formed the centerpiece of the new brand graphi cs.

Expr

ess Dairies has been delivering quality products to its

customers for over a hundred years, as this photo from 1882

attests. The company has long held a meaningful position in

consumers’ minds.

“In the end, we changed the shape and the space and pace of the identity and just

called it Express.”

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“This is not the place for humor. Milk needs to offer total assurance.”

These diagrams show how

N

orthern Foods was struc-

tured before its Dairy division

was demerged (top), and how

the Express Dairies brand was

structured afterward (bottom).