Citrus Branding at the Grocery Store

I love the smell of typography in random places :) As I was walking through my local grocery store, the Sumo Citrus box and seedless lemon labels caught my eye.

I looked up their brand guidelines, and they were designed in 2019, even though the fruit has been around since the 70s in Japan. I love the bright colors and Japanese inspired pattern that’s used to enhance the fruit.

From their website:

“Sumo Citrus is one of the world’s largest and sweetest mandarins, celebrated for its incredible taste and distinct looks. This rare seedless variety was originally cultivated in Japan in the 1970s by a grower who set out to develop the ultimate citrus experience. This variety was dubbed the “dekopon” in Japan and has been prized by those in the know ever since. Seedlings were first imported into the US in 1998, but because the Sumo Citrus is one of the most challenging varieties to grow, it wasn’t until 2011 that they became available to the public.”

Seedless Lemons

The Wonderful brand design of seedless lemons made me laugh at first. I thought the lemon illustration was cute and funny, and it honestly made me take a second look at the lemons. I always think a lemon is just a lemon, nothing fancy, but their branding got me to pick up a bag of them. Also my 6 year old loves lemonade and anything lemon flavored, so I put these lemons to good use.

So what’s the lesson here? Just because something has been around for a long time, it doesn’t mean that it can’t have a different perspective and look to grab people’s attention.