We repositioned a much-loved challenger treat as a champion of slow indulgence, embracing the chocolatey side of the brand and owning their iconic pink.  

Mallow & Marsh's Bold Space

Pauseworthy Pleasure

Background

Mallow&Marsh is a much-loved brand with widespread distribution and a loyal fanbase, having recently been acquired by Serious Sweet Company. Therefore,  2023 was a key time to evolve the brand’s positioning beyond their start-up roots and embrace their full foodie credentials as the indulgent treat consumers already talk about.

 

How We Got There

We wanted to create a personality that the brand could own beyond simply being a ‘marshmallow brand’. The previous positioning of ‘marshmallow but not as you know it’ only re-enforced to consumers an association with the classic (and cheap) toasting marshmallow, something Mallow&Marsh was vastly superior to. Mallow&Marsh is a craft treat with strong flavours and a hefty substance to every bite; altogether very unexpected in the chocolate aisle.

The new Mallow&Marsh is a brand that creates chocolatey mallows, unique in texture, a real slow indulgence. This re-framing led to the bold space of Pauseworthy Pleasure; a product-led positioning with a highly templatable lifestyle platform. This positioning meant elevating the brand with luxury cues, a less playful but vastly more foodie tone of voice which speaks to a broader audience and justifies the price point.

Repositioning | Brand Guidelines | Packaging | Creative Campaign | Organic Social

Defining our Pleasure

At the heart of our brand guidelines was a guide to what we meant by Pauseworthy Pleasure; we wanted to avoid the obvious categories cues of cliché breaks (feet up on the sofa, turning your phone off). Instead, we were identifying a new type of me-time; a philosophy partly inspired by modern definitions of self-care and partly a desire to live a more meaningful experience where your free time is spent doing what you love.

Visual Identity

To align the visual identity with the new positioning the brand needed to be further focused, removing the elements that cluttered the brand’s identity. Previously the brand had relied on a use of cartoons on the packaging and cutesy language, re-enforced the idea that this brand was a small, fun start-up rather than sitting alongside the iconic classic treats in the chocolate aisle. The new visual identity was defined by a confident, less is more approach, a condensed colour palette leading with the iconic pink, food imagery which was less literally but far more enticing and short evocative lines of copy.

Packaging

We refreshed all packaging in line with the new positioning. For the first time ever, the whole brand was united with the singular pink colour, irresistible dripping-chocolate photography and a unique textured background, created from the photography of Mallow&Marsh’s own mallow texture.

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Above the line launch

In Spring 2024 the new brand launched, turning London pink with bold awareness advertising in OOH and paid social. The advertising led with the product – a luxurious image of indulgence in a world of ‘chatty’ FMCG brands trying to tell bad jokes.

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Social Media

We are running organic and paid social for Mallow&Marsh across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok; refocusing the brand on the product and sharing confident, characterful moments of Pauseworthy Pleasure.

From the outset, we were impressed with Boldspace’s credentials in this sector and their ideas for Mallow & Marsh certainly did not disappoint. We are looking forward to working with the team to bring these to life, making Mallow & Marsh the category leader it deserves to be.

Rob Whitehead,
Managing Director