Brandon’s packaging design for PizzaExpress marked a pivotal shift in the chilled pizza aisle, where an influx of new brands and private labels had made it feel cluttered. The design aimed to demonstrate the brand’s leadership by drawing on its origins and artistic style, creating an emotional connection. By adopting an unapologetically brand-centric approach, the packaging sidestepped generic conventions, using the logo to convey the essence of restaurant quality, passion, and artistry. The resulting packaging transformation removed visual clutter, introduced a clear hierarchy, and employed a vibrant illustration style to infuse energy and flair into the product imagery.
The PizzaExpress restaurant-to-retail transition brought huge category growth and a fresh injection of brand expertise to the chilled pizza aisle. The trouble was, over time many new brands and own-label players wanted a slice of the action, and the fixture became visually noisy, populated with the same old category codes.
