It’s not every day that you get to midwife a brand foundation that leads to the development of a logo worth inking on your body, but that’s exactly what I’ve been able to do with the visionary team at Driftless Extracts. Starting from scratch, but with a crystal-clear concept, we worked to define the ‘completely true’ NonFiction Brand™ for a new line of hemp-based products. How’d we do it? Here’s an article I wrote in answer to that question, in the brand voice of Workman’s Relief. – DP Knudten
The birth of an approachable, and affordable, premium brand.
It all started with an idea. After years of prohibition, the obvious potential of hemp-based products has created a land-rush mentality as businesses of all types recognized the tremendous upside of a new market of people looking for all-natural solutions to the health and wellness challenges they faced.
The first breakthrough product category was CBD (Cannabidiol) hemp oil, and that three-letter nickname soon took over the marketplace, becoming a commoditized descriptor for everything from standalone, over-the-counter retail products to a popular ingredient in formulas for everything from lip balm to hand cream. And that’s where our big idea came in; an environment that both recognized the potential of CBD, but then turned it into a simple commodity ingredient that was still able to command a super-premium price.
High potency and hardworking shouldn’t mean outrageously priced.
As we looked around the marketplace, we noticed one thing that, quite frankly, bothered us. There was little to no rhyme or reason for the way CBD oils were priced, described, or marketed. Some were clearly designed to appeal to audiences where price was no object. And that’s where we saw a big opportunity; to create a high-quality product geared toward a hardworking market sector, but for an everyday affordable price. And for us, the opportunity didn’t stop there. It goes back all the way to the early days of Wisconsin’s hemp heyday.
In the early 1900s, Wisconsin was responsible for around 17% of hemp production in the United States. Now that the bans have been lifted, many of the state’s farmers are rediscovering the many benefits of hemp, especially as a part of their field rotation strategies. And when it comes to overall crop quality, the state’s unique combination of favorable climate, abundant water and unrivaled soil structure make hemp a no-brainer for many farmers. In many ways, the state’s hemp farmers are going ‘back to the future,’ rediscovering the plant’s positives and enabling the renaissance of an industry, all based around the demonstrable quality of the state’s crop.
Creating a gold-standard brand for blue-collar workers.
Based in Wisconsin’s hemp heartland, Driftless Extracts is dedicated to creating the very best, high-value products with one specific customer in mind: the American worker. Consequently, everything we do is designed to provide the very best benefit for every hard-earned dollar spent. As we went about developing our hemp oil product, we realized we needed to create a brand that could immediately communicate our ‘completely true’ brand story, so we spent the time to dive deep into what drives us every day, and makes us (and our products) different in the marketplace.
Rather than come up with a lowest common denominator name we could all agree on, we engaged a branding consultant to take us through a rigorous fact- and story-finding process so we could really understand the fundamentals of who we are, what we do, and how we do it. The process was fast and intense, but it gave us a clear story foundation, and the words to tell it. We then applied that process’s findings to what would become our flagship product, all the time knowing that this brand would also apply to an entire line of yet-to-be-developed products that will share the same brand lineage. The words captured our true brand nature. The next step? Give that brand nature a name.
As you might imagine, naming is a difficult and often entirely subjective exercise, and herding the stakeholder cats internally wasn’t always easy. Having a codified brand nature document certainly helped as it was the ‘same page’ we were all on, and in the end, agreement came surprisingly fast. Our naming project quickly focused in on one that stood out head and shoulders above the rest: Workman’s Relief™.
Part promise made, and commitment kept.
The things we liked about the name are all related to its no-BS directness. There’s no confusion as to what the product is or who it’s for; It’s all right there in the brand name. Now the challenge turned to the brand’s visual identity. How could we take the same concepts described in words, and turn it into an attractive logo and packaging set?
Knowing our product was going to be sold in a wide variety of retail settings as well as our own website, we knew we’d have to have a dynamic look and feel for the product. We wanted it to clearly communicate to its audience and instantly differentiate itself from other similar products found in crowded, visually busy C-store environments.
The colors and textures are bold: impactful jet black and bright yellow. The imagery is unapologetic, featuring the no-nonsense faces and hands of blue-collar workers in high contrast, grayscale images. Even the background images of our packaging are rough and tough—asphalt, cinder block, concrete, and textured steel. Compared to other CBD brands that lean toward rainbows and butterflies, it’s clear that Workman’s Relief came to play—and win.
Workman’s Relief is no ‘low cost means compromise’ brand.
Just compare Workman’s Relief hemp oil to any competitor and you’ll immediately see it’s a brand that does not skimp on quality—or potency. It’s a hardworking formulation created specifically for hardworking people, and priced to fit any blue-collar budget. Where other brands price their 3000mg potency product at well over $100 per bottle, we charge a fraction of the price for a same-sized bottle that contains the very best quality hemp oil, produced from harvests from Wisconsin’s hemp heartland. We proudly put our USDA-certified organic product up against any others out there, and stand behind it without reservation.
We believe there’s no better, or better priced, CBD hemp oil on the market—and are confident that once you try it, you’ll agree. Just look for Workman’s Relief hemp oil wherever you fuel up and outfit yourself for a hard day’s work. If they stock us, we won’t be hard to find.
