Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
A New Era
After the #ChickenSandwich Twitter feud of 2020, Popeyes launched a new sandwich rivaling their competitor Chick-fil-a’s famous chicken sandwich. Their chicken sandwich exploded in popularity and shined a spotlight on the fast food chain. Using the momentum from this social media war and their new sandwich, Popeyes decided to launch a brand refresh that would rejuvenate their visual identity while paying respect to its Louisiana roots. The new look aims to elevate the brand to appeal to customers looking for clean and modern establishments to dine in. Popeyes’ rebrand does not come as a surprise, as many fast food chains such as Burger King and McDonald’s are following in the culture shift to focus on more natural ingredients.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen worked with a powerhouse agency to create a strategy of food first, drawing colors from Popeyes’ existing color palette, striking a balance between modern food and their Louisiana roots. JKR unveiled a new brand identity, including a fresh logo, iconography, and color palette for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
Looking To The Past
Popeyes’ global rebrand clearly exemplifies their Louisiana roots while offering a modern twist on fried chicken. The fast food industry is quickly adapting to the modern customer by focusing on natural, organic ingredients, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is no different. Their choice to rebrand following the launch of their new chicken sandwich shows their commitment to innovation while still remembering their history.
Since its founding in 1972, Popeyes has been capturing the spirit of New Orleans in every bite. They’ve gained notoriety for serving up delicious and traditional chicken. In 2020, Popeyes sought an agency that could mature their brand while maintaining their vibrant personality and staying true to their Louisiana heritage. With this in mind, JKR created four principles that would guide their design decisions: put food first, use color from the brand’s long-standing playbook, celebrate its Louisiana heritage, and balance human touch with bold graphics.
Popeyes wanted to mature its brand while maintaining a focus on its energetic spirit. The new logo gave the ‘Popeyes’ letterforms a shared baseline and cap height, which increased its legibility and eliminated the cartoon-ish aspect. Popeyes’ updated logo modernizes the wordmark and exemplifies how seriously they are taking their food.
The agency brightened Popeyes’ signature photo based on fried chicken orange, pulled from a photo of the food itself. A new color, along with the rest of Popeyes visual identity, shows off their friendly and playful personality to the world. The red from the Popeyes logo was eliminated, now featuring only the brand orange. The supporting colors reflect its varied menu offerings and tie back to the vibrant colors from the streets of New Orleans.
And Into The Future
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen aimed their rebrand to focus on modern elements while still incorporating their playful personality based in Louisiana. To create a visual embodiment of Popeyes’ personality, the agency created new typography, brand icons, a pattern, and packaging. The illustration style is a reflection of the handcrafted nature of Popeyes’ food combined with the energy and playful nature of New Orleans. The iconography and pattern to be used in advertisements and packaging is bursting with personality and comprises pieces embodying the rich culture and history of Popeyes.
While it was important to pay homage to Popeyes’ history, it was even more important to look forward. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, along with the entire fast food industry, is shifting to more natural ingredients, following the age of organic and non-GMO food. To celebrate this modern approach, a graphic photography style was decided on for advertisements, marketing, and digital experiences. This illustration style allows customers to connect with the brand and its evolving mission.
Branding Perfect for the Food Industry
Chicken Sans was chosen as the new, bold typeface to be used in Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen branding. Along with a fitting name, Chicken Sans also embodies the spirit of Popeyes, by speaking with clarity and directness and revealing a spirit nature. Personality is detailed in the letterforms by asymmetric endings and hooked characters. It was the perfect choice to connect the nostalgia of the past Popeyes logo with the new, modern branding.
For its new brand identity, Popeyes looked for vibrant packaging that would feature their signature brand orange and a playful pattern. Each icon featured in the pattern and packaging highlight the rich cultural and culinary history of Louisiana.
Lastly, Popeyes reimagined their digital media presence with a brand photoshoot. They aimed to continue standing out in the fast food industry, which required putting a modern twist on their previously playful imagery. Popeyes new photography and videography was shot in an editorial manner that spotlighted craveable closeups, tactile textures, and authentic imperfections. These images would be used on the updated mobile app and website as well as print and digital media advertisements for the brand rollout.
Tying it All Together
To finalize the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen rebrand, new restaurants were designed, along with food packing, uniforms, merchandise, advertisements, and digital media experiences. Since the launch of their rebrand in 2020, Popeyes has been redesigning their restaurants throughout the United States and around the world. The updated furniture and counter design present a sleek and modern look, while artwork and vibrant colors share the personality and celebrate the creole heritage passed down by generations.
The new cohesion seen in the rebrand will resonate with Popeyes customers as the business continues to evolve and expand. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen’s brand personality, attributes, and food quality is clearly reflected in their visual identity. JKR Global did an incredible job of highlighting the playful Louisiana heritage of Popeyes while adding in a sleek twist to resonate with the modern consumer. This puts Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen back in the fast food headlines in a rapidly changing industry.
Read more by checking out JKR Global’s full rebranding explanation here.
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