Climate change and doom-and-gloom go hand-in-hand. Everywhere, we’re confronted with warnings around an imminent threat to our planet — making us feel helpless against catastrophe. Hippo Harvest brings together plant science, machine learning and robotics to build cutting-edge greenhouses to pioneer the farm of the future. But they needed a memorable brand identity to introduce Hippo Harvest to the world for the first time. They challenged us to create an impactful brand that brings their mission to life on shelves full of traditionally grown greens. And build a strategy to back up this unique identity, helping Hippo subvert convention by bringing the climate crisis back down to earth.

We’re making it easy to join Hippo Harvest’s movement — an approachable action consumers can take instead of feeling overwhelmed by climate change. This inspired our big idea: change is scary, but it doesn’t have to be. We took the brand from innovation to identity, giving an upstart new agriculture company the credibility imperative to mobilize shoppers toward a more sustainable future.

Lettuce packs are either rustic or techie. Though Hippo combines tech with human innovation, we knew we had to avoid the folksy feel and minimalism. Instead, we designed an approachable brand identity that’s tech-forward while spotlighting humanity. We hand-drew a playful wordmark, supporting font and suite of graphic assets, integrating humanity at the heart of our brand. Then, we built a palette full of 9 colors never-before-seen in the green-and-white lettuce world. We integrated it all into a connected pack design calculated to stand out: with vibrant colors, a mission-driven statement as the largest visual element to draw in shoppers, and a QR code directing shoppers to a personalized website to dive deeper. Hippo’s brand identity not only makes the truth about climate change approachable, but Hippo’s tech approachable too — distancing it from the “genetically engineered” impression consumers take away from tech-enabled food.

Our work has the potential for long-term, wide-scale growth, changing the way generations after us source their food. And this potential is already being realized. The brand earned 229,748 media impressions, including coverage from Bloomberg, Yahoo!, and The Climate Pledge.

One of Hippo's key partners is now Amazon and just last month the brand launched to the eyes of millions of shoppers. Following this, Hippo saw a 500% increase in total orders placed and 200% increase in overall production capacity growth. The brand currently has a 100% 5-star customer rating on Amazon Fresh.

The shopping decisions we make today determine how our planet will adapt tomorrow. We’re helping the brand start a global sustainability movement — tackling the future of climate change one leaf at a time.

In the United States, nearly half of all produce is grown in California but last year the state lost an estimated 800,000 acres (approximately the size of Rhode Island) of cropland to climate induced droughts. In this new world, our food systems are becoming increasingly unreliable — and traditional farming is no longer sustainable. Hippo is pioneering the farm of the future. They’re bringing together plant science, machine learning, and robotics to build cutting-edge greenhouses that scale everywhere shoppers get their greens — making sustainable, affordable produce accessible to conscious shoppers across America.