When Extra launched in 1984, it was the Wrigley Company’s first sugar-free product. That good-for-you ethos was something that stuck to the bottom of the brand’s shoes for some time, even working in dental hygiene codes into their brand identity.
Now, they’re pulling some of that dentist’s choice spotlight away, opting to put more focus on refreshment, flavor, and moments of confidence. Led by global design consultancy Elmwood, the new brand identity puts increased emphasis on that illuminating starburst-shaped “ding,” placing it front and center in many of the chewing gum’s assets. While that ding seemingly gets relegated to support duty on the actual packaging itself, it’s clearly the star in adverts featuring the new identity.
Scraping away the extra shine lines, Elmwood opted for a more flat wordmark while softening many of the curves in the letters. The shield behind the now lowercase “e” also gets flattened to offer the brand much more flexibility and variability for social media. Additionally, the right side of the packaging features more visual clues dressed up in pop art fashion indicating the flavor, i.e., spearmint leaves, strawberries, straight-up bubbles for bubble mint, and pineapples for a tropical variant.
Also, no more white, sparkling tooth.
“In place of its traditional look built around dental hygiene and refreshment, we created a distinctive, forward-thinking identity for Extra that radiates confidence well beyond the packaging,” said Craig Barnes, Elmwood studio creative director, in a press release. “With a choiceful amount of new assets taking center stage in storytelling, there is now a strong system in play that can still be flexed creatively to meet any markets’ needs.”
This new look will also get adopted across the master brand globally, as Extra is known as Orbit, Yida, or Freedent in other parts of the world. Consumers in the UK, of course, have already likely seen the new packaging rollout since it was unveiled in stores last January.
