Sterling Silver Meats

The Process

Sterling Silver Meats are only available in the finer restaurants and select gourmet restaurants. The emphasis needed to be always on the product and to provide an artisanal feel. The color palette was leveraged to reflect the look and feel of a premium steakhouse found in the Midwest... thick red velvet banquet seating, nice silver flatware, white linen and an art deco look/feel that indicates exclusivity. The color palette also reflect the "done-ness" of a piece of meat — Rare (deep red), medium rare (more pink) or well done (gray). When budgets allow, a fifth color (metallic silver) is used. The background of the photography is blurred and has a reduced color saturation to keep the focus on the product

Black and silver keep the focus on the product. The imagery reflects full-color on the meat and a gradient of black to keep the focus on the product. The plating of the product needed to be minimal in look and when the product is being in a cooked environment, only the product is in color. The end-client (Cargill) wanted very specific branding guidelines to ensure all branding products could be done either in-house or out-of-house with the same identical look and feel

The End Result

The end result is very elegant and sophisticated. The target market of the product is professional chefs and connoisseurs of fine food. The meat reflects the price. Where the product is available in stores, the tag "the artisan's beef" is prominently displayed under the logo. It has a lovely website that reinforces the brand with recipes provided by many celebrity chefs as well endorsements. The identity feels exclusive as the product IS exclusive

Since this identity has been finished, it has been tweaked to reflect a new marketing manager. Much of the identity is the same but with the addition of a stronger and bolder typeface for easier readability at a distance on store shelves