Plant-based milk has gained popularity in recent years, and it’s not difficult to see why—they’re easier to digest than dairy for many people and can be lower in calories and free of unhealthy fats. It’s also vegetarian or vegan, so it’s less impactful on the environment than dairy, with many varieties, from soy and hemp to oat, almond, and even pistachio. Of course, with any crowded and competitive market, standing out with branding and packaging is critical to alt-milks.
Pistachio milk Táche stands out with exceptional packaging and a visual identity that ties to the brand’s story and its owners’ lifelong love of the nut. The talented folks at agency Futura took the founders’ passion and reverence for the beloved nut and expressed it in a way unique to the plant-based milk market. The branding is slightly surreal, friendly, and warm.
“The visual concept for Táche was born as a response to our client’s story; a subtle wink to the motive they had to create a unique brand,” the agency said. “Surrounded by pistachios since their childhood and having them becoming part of their life, we created a story in which these characters glorify the pistachio in a light-hearted way. If you look closely at the illustrations, the pistachio is located on top of a pillow, almost as if it was a treasure, and these ‘person-like characters’ worshiping the pistachio kernel. It was our way of paying tribute to the client’s story and their love for pistachios using fun, minimal illustrations with a surreal and quirky touch.”
Táche’s color palette gets dominated by green hues inspired by pistachios. White, yellows, and reds play supportive, complementary roles and work well on cartons and 3D graphics. Illustrations playfully communicate uses cases, like coffee and tea, while the logo features a kernel at the center with exploding half-spheres moving away along its side. Typography is a blend of fanciful serifs as the primary type and more humanist secondary fonts. Little sprites dance around pistachio kernels and mugs and cups of milk and nuts, something unique among popular plant-based brands like Oatly and Silk.
“The motivation to introduce a person-like character came from the initial stages when we first started brainstorming with our client,” the agency explained. “For Futura, as part of our process, it is important to know what’s happening in the industry and start thinking ‘what if we do something different?’
“We saw a common pattern repeated throughout these brands, and it was our job to come up with a new narrative for this first-of-its-kind beverage, something that wasn’t seen as much for this kind of product,” they added.
That pistachio-loving little character can be seen all over the branding and lends humanity and fun in a way not seen very often in the alt-milk space. That distinction, along with the rest of Táche’s beautiful and warm visual identity, goes above and beyond in making the unique pistachio-based milk stand out and connect with consumers looking for tasty alt-milk that’s different, but in a good way.
