HERSHEY'S KISSES SODA CANS
Line Extension
In this interesting project, each designer was tasked with seamlessly combining the brand identity of one company with the product base of another company. Essentially, my task was to create package design combining the Hershey’s chocolate brand with Coca-Cola’s primary product: soda. To most, the idea of chocolate soda is...less than desirable. But as for the task itself, I found it to be an amusing challenge.
I initially was going to design under the broader umbrella of “Hershey’s Soda.” However, I would later change this angle to Hershey Kisses Soda. I did this on the basis that Kisses were highly popular, and created a charming romantic energy, which I could play off of in order to market the soda as something you could enjoy or share with a friend or lover. With that in mind, I designed the focal graphics of the brand: a trail of chocolate bubbles with little bubble Kisses thrown in. This created a vibe of the lightness and airiness of soda, while also integrating the popular Kisses in the same breath.
I also played off the classic Hershey Kisses ribbon to create a heart shape in a silver foil-like gradient, again alluding to the romantic energy of feeling ‘bubbly’ from Kisses. I then applied an even more realistic version of the Kisses ribbon running around the can, just below the lip.
Beyond just the standard milk chocolate flavor, I also wanted to expand the scope of the product line into a couple other flavors, too. For these, I researched and chose two real flavors of Hershey Kisses, mint truffle and strawberry. In terms of color palette, I opted for bright colors on the mint truffle and strawberry designs, so that the soda cans would stand out and hold their own on a shelf amidst many other brightly-colored soda can designs. The bright green and vibrant pink also give the designs a lively energy that plays off the chocolate bubble trail nicely. I topped off the designs with large images of the flavors being used (Kisses, mint leaf, strawberry) and placed them inside the frame created by the foil ribbon heart.