Kool-Aid is an American brand of flavored drink mix owned by Kraft Heinz, based in Chicago, Illinois. The powder form was created by Edwin Perkins in 1927 based upon a liquid concentrate named Fruit Smack.[1] The brand’s visual identity centers on two elements: the “KOOL-AID” wordmark and the Kool-Aid Man mascot, an anthropomorphic pitcher of flavored drink that has appeared in advertising since the mid-1950s.
Design and History
The first Kool-Aid logo was a black-and-white wordmark featuring the company name in a thick oblique font, introduced around the brand’s 1927 launch.[2] That emblem held for roughly 40 years. In 1971, the logo was revamped with a more friendly-looking font, using white letters with a blue shadow.[2] This version remained in use until 2001. In 2003, Kool-Aid introduced a new design with a more airy typeface and a brighter shade of blue.[2]
The Kool-Aid Man mascot has a separate lineage from the wordmark. The precursor character, “Pitcher Man,” was created on July 10, 1954, by Marvin Potts, an art director at the New York advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding, which was contracted by General Foods after it acquired the Kool-Aid brand in 1953.[3] Potts designed a large, bulbous container of Kool-Aid with an animated mouth and eyes.[3]
In 1975, Alan Kupchick and Harold Karp at Grey Advertising developed the idea for the Kool-Aid Man, an evolution of Pitcher Man. The addition of arms and legs gave the character a more bombastic personality and allowed him to perform dramatic entrances through walls.[3] The breaking-through-the-wall sequence was not necessarily planned; someone on set suggested the character make an entrance through a wall, and breakaway bricks were set up for the shot.[3]
In 2013, Kraft Foods unveiled a comprehensive brand campaign called “Smile. It’s Kool-Aid,” which introduced a new look and feel for the brand and a makeover for Kool-Aid Man, timed to the product launch of Kool-Aid Liquid Drink Mix.[4] Previously a costumed character, the new Kool-Aid Man was CGI-generated, with a distinctive voice, expanded vocabulary, and developed personality.[4] The campaign was produced by Saatchi & Saatchi New York and VSA Partners of Chicago.[4] Kraft said his last big makeover before that was in 2000.[5]
More recently, Glitschka Studios collaborated with Landor Associates to revitalize the Kool-Aid Man brand character for packaging design. The studio re-created and cleaned up the Kool-Aid face art, fixing broken bezier curves and improving the overall continuity of the shapes. The legacy artwork had been image traced at some point, causing the vector art to look sloppy.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Kool-Aid Man’s catchphrase “Oh Yeah!” became synonymous with the character and added to his charm.[7] The character’s dramatic wall-bursting entrances became a defining feature of the Kool-Aid Man and contributed to his lasting legacy.[7]
In the 2013 redesign, the new ads were intended to fill in the blanks in Kool-Aid Man’s character so people could relate to him, according to Erica Rendall, senior brand manager at Kraft Foods Group.[8] The campaign emphasized his fun personality while going back to his roots with an emphasis on his original pitcher-focused personification.[4]
Typography and Design
The Kool-Aid wordmark has undergone three documented typographic changes. The original logo used a thick oblique font in black and white.[2] The 1971 version introduced white letters with a blue shadow in a more friendly-looking font.[2] The 2003 redesign used a more airy typeface with a brighter shade of blue.[2]
Kool-Aid’s official color palette is recorded as Dark Blue (#0958A3), Light Blue (#29ACE4), and White (#FFFFFF).[9]
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