The Problem: With the pandemic affecting the restaurant industry, it was decided P.F. Chang's would lean into its share of the prepared food market and focus less on its restaurants. Making this shift and keeping up with profit goals also meant raising the price of its take-home meals. The only problem was that its brand was not seen as high quality as its restaurant's experience.
The Strategy: The plan was the bring its higher quality restaurant experience home and elevate it from a commodity food brand to a luxury one. By refreshing its brand positioning, redesigning the packaging, and releasing new digital marketing, P.F. Changs hopes to reintroduce itself as a higher quality gourmet food experience to its customers.
Deliverables: Logo redesign, brand guides, package design, video ad, and direct mail campaign.
My Role: Creative strategy, graphic design, art direction, motion graphics, video/audio editing, and package design.
Concept: When a customer enters the P.F. Changs restaurant, they see two giant horse statues, and the concept of the logo was to take that core experience with the brand and bring it into the redesign. The other goal of
the logo was to appear more luxurious and act as more of a seal of quality.
the logo was to appear more luxurious and act as more of a seal of quality.
Package Design
The food packaging is meant to look like a take-home box from a restaurant. It's supposed to make the customers feel like they are picking up an order from the restaurant. This helps with the brand's repositioning as high quality because it's bringing the restaurant experience into the food retail space.
Direct Mail Ad
The design of the mailer is meant to stand out from regular junk mail. This isn't an ad, it's an invitation to a free gourmet meal for P.F. Chang's dining guests.
Video Ad
The commercial's mission was to reposition the brand, and associate its new look and feel with high quality. The voice actor was chosen because he sounded refined and powerful. The choice of using the brand's mascot and showing its power and energy was also intentional in reinforcing the new positioning. The brand wants to communicate they upscaled their product by going more authentic with their food quality and traditional techniques.
This P.F. Chang's wants its customers to know they went back to their roots, and are not cutting corners in this new food line.
Outsourced: Voice acting (neilweightman), footage (Getty Images), and music/sound effects (source1. source2, source3)
