Cheap, mass-produced products had long dominated the instant coffee business in Korea. However, due to the recent trend in healthy food consumption, the demand for high-quality coffee had risen among consumers. In response to this market change, Korea’s largest instant coffee maker, DongSuh Foods set its sights on carving out a niche for value-driven shoppers by expanding its instant coffee market. Consequently, DongSuh Foods asked us to develop a brand that would help it successfully launch a new category for instant coffee and create top-of-mind awareness in the marketplace.

Based on the concept of ‘the smallest café in the world’, we focused on communicating KANU’s brand idea through careful treatment of visual elements on packaging. To convey its core value to the target audience intuitively, we eliminated the design elements that might harm KANU’s impact. Accordingly, any clichés that the current instant coffee brands possessed - red and yellow background, busy and explanatory visual elements - were disregarded to make an impression on the shelf. In this way, the final design with clean lines and minimal and modular black box, reinforced the values that KANU delivers- simplicity in life, convenience, and high-quality.

KANU quickly gained the attention of distributors and media. Its launch and consumer reception in Korea was extremely positive. The visual identity and packaging instantly positioned the brand and created consumer interest. With KANU’s successful debut, Dongsuh Foods sold 1.5m units in just half a month after its launch. Such robust sales prompted the company to raise its sales goal from KRW6bn to KRW12bn in 2011, which was a 200% increase in the initial sales expectation. KANU won Granprix in Package & Container Design category at 2011’s It-Award.