Dive Brief:
- Kraft Heinz has rebranded its liquid concentrate Mio to better market the offering to a Gen Z audience, according to details shared with Marketing Dive.
- The makeover shifts Mio’s positioning away from a mission to “fix water” toward one focused on wellness benefits, or the idea of “Wellness on your wavelength.” Softer visual features, brighter colors and a wave pattern emphasize the pivot on packaging and promotional materials.
- Mio, which debuted in 2011, partnered with branding agency BrandOpus on the refresh. This is the latest in a growing list of Kraft Heinz rebrands that seek to modernize the packaged foods giant’s portfolio for a pickier young audience.
Dive Insight:
Mio has long marketed itself as a way to jazz up water, with its portable squirt bottles of liquid concentrate adding flavor to a typically plain beverage. In 2020, the brand ran a “We Fix Water” campaign created with VaynerMedia that took the concept to extreme heights. One ad showed a castaway wandering in the desert who is reluctant to take a drink of life-saving H20 until a rescuer tosses down a Mio.
The Kraft Heinz product is now pivoting away from the tongue-in-cheek approach in favor of a more earnest embrace of wellness. The changes, which include a new visual identity, respond to demands from Gen Z consumers who were looking for more from the brand.
A wave pattern is prominent on packaging and Mio is introducing an interlocking “M Wave” as a leading asset to hammer home the idea of “Wellness on your wavelength.” Mio has added a softer sans-serif logo of its full name in lowercase letters, occupying key packaging real estate that used to display a bolder upper-case “M.” Packaging also now carries icons that call out wellness benefits, such as a lightning bolt for energy. In addition, the brand has swapped out a “sterile” color scheme of whites, blacks and silvers in favor of more vibrant hues, such as cobalt and cyan blues and cherry reds.
[embedded content]
More lively packaging could help Mio stand out on store shelves, social media and through merchandise, increasingly important channels for brands to communicate with Gen Z. A sizzle reel previewing the rebrand shows models decked out in Mio apparel and showing off items like a branded bucket hat, tote bag and phone case.
To complement the rebrand, Mio this week launched Tap, a faucet that features the new design elements. The kitchen accessory, which retails for $159 on Amazon, recognizes a surge in popularity for the energy drink category, which has seen sales jump 71% since 2017, according to Mintel.
“Establishing a design that can translate across their small but mighty packaging forms through to a vibrant new look & assets for use across all brand touchpoints, this design is not only flexible & fluid in its depiction of modern wellness, but also in its ability to create a compelling and cohesive brand world,” said Alice Waterman, U.S. managing director at BrandOpus, in a statement.
Mio’s shakeup builds on a series rebrands from Kraft Heinz that kicked off with a reassessment of its portfolio several years ago following steep write-downs. Brands that have received a refresh since then include Jell-O, Ore-Ida, Kraft Singles and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.
