Janeva’s Kitchen – Building A Highly Personal Lifestyle Brand


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In 2017 we received a call from Minnesota from a woman by the name of Janeva Eickhoff – a home cook, recipe developer, and author of the cookbook “Janeva’s Ideal Recipes – A Personal Recipe Collection for the Ideal Protein Diet”. With enormous (and continuous) success with this first publication, she contacted us looking to execute an entirely new cook book concept focusing on homestyle, approachable, low-carb recipes – driven solely by her, and free from any strict diet program or protocol, such as the Ideal Protein Diet. During a series of substantial conversations, together, we established that it was imperative to first inform a personal brand identity – separate from the Ideal Protein world. We would develop a new website to house new and original recipes (and the eventual cookbook), activate new social platforms to expand beyond, but also include her exponentially growing (over 50,000 on Facebook) community of Ideal Protein followers, and lastly, create newsletters that would resonate with her audience.

 

Photos by Pauline Boldt.

Brand Voice – Communicating to an Existing and New Audience

Since releasing her first cookbook, Janeva has built a significant and loyal following on a single social platform – Facebook (private profile – Janeva’s Ideal Recipes) within a niche collective of people who participate in the Ideal Protein Diet (IP). Wanting to expand beyond the limitations of the Ideal Protein protocol and lifestyle, our challenge was to reframe Janeva as Janeva’s Kitchen – a low-carb lifestyle brand – for her existing and new audience.

The importance of clear and honest messaging is imperative for Janeva’s Kitchen. Challenges relating to sensitive communication around people’s relationship to food, weight loss, and weight maintenance, as well as clear, compelling new brand photography, took the forefront on all of her digital marketing platforms. We helped communicate this new venture to her existing audience of over 50,000 followers, who were seeking content about the Ideal Protein Diet. We had to pique their interest in the low carb diet for weight maintenance – a routine that is very typical after completing the phases of the Ideal Protein Diet. Transitioning her existing audience while growing a new one was at the forefront of communication on all digital and social platforms.

Branding and Website Development

Janeva’s brand identity remains simple and straight-forward through the addition of “kitchen” to her unique first name. The word mark is expressed through a singular playful sans serif font in lower case, accompanied by a juicy colour palette inspired by the hues of fresh fruits and vegetables. The burnt orange word mark and softened curves of the typeface exudes her warmth, while the addition of hand illustrated kitchen utensil icons bring context to her brand.

Launching the Cookbook

During the process leading up to the creation of her cookbook, Janeva’s passion to communicate, and to give back to the community were the primary messages that needed to be clearly illustrated to the public. She holds an important informative role and a story to share that others can gain insight and inspiration from through their own, personal food and dietary journeys. With this clear vision and base established, we were able to communicate her work and personality on a newly constructed website.

Recipe photography was styled and captured strictly for her digital environments over the course of a few days of prepping, cooking and shooting in our studio and in one of De Luca’s markets (which happens to be her favourite place to stop when visiting Winnipeg) to activate the new website.