By Cheryl V. Jackson, Special to Blue Sky
May 19, 2014, 3:55 p.m.
The Lemonhead candy brand is getting a refresh, with its “Lemonhead” character shedding his "little boy" look and heading for promotional activities, including as the voice of the brand’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts starting this week.
The rebrand also includes new packaging and a new logo.
The 52-year-old brand of the Chicago-based Ferrara Candy Co. aims to get the attention of teens and young adults for the original candy and an older group for the Chewy Lemonhead that was introduced in 2007. Lemonhead has a fan base among 20- and 30-somethings, while Chewy Lemonhead customers are more likely to be 8- to 12-year-olds, the company says.
The packaging was last updated in the 1990s.
Dawn Sykora, director of marketing for iconic brands at Ferrara, shared with Blue Sky the changes that will be unveiled during the three-day Sweets and Snacks Expo that kicks off Tuesday at McCormick Place.
Q: What do you consider when making changes to an iconic brand?
A: Typically on products that are nostalgic, you don’t see them refreshed frequently. We try to be cognizant of what consumers are asking for, and think that through really diligently about how that brand appeals to consumers.
Q: What’s changing about the Lemonhead character?
A: We’re constantly doing research, and one of the things they have said is our character seemed a little dated. We have updates with a little bit of a hairdo. We lost the ‘50s bowtie on the current version. We made the logo a little bigger to make it easier to find on the shelves. He’ll be at the Sweets and Snacks show, and also around the city this weekend, doing normal fun things that any 22-year-old would do. He’s kind of grown up, but he’s lost that little boy look off the package.
Q: How do you make candy popular with kids appeal to an older demographic?
A: When the Leomonhead & Friends were on the package, it was maybe a more juvenile look. We’re calling out the fruit flavors and maybe upscaling it a bit.
It is the same candy in new and updated packaging. We’re updating the fruits in the package to make them more visually appealing, calling out the real lemon juice in the product and adding the calorie count now being required on all packaging. The lemon juice has always been called out on the Lemonhead package, but maybe not as easy to see for the consumer as we’ve made it today.
Q-and-As are edited for length and clarity.
