Wessanen was a Dutch food company, founded in 1765 in the Zaan region of the Netherlands, that became a leading European producer of organic and plant-based foods under brands such as Bjorg, Bonneterre, Alter Eco and Clipper [1][2]. In November 2020, the company rebranded as Ecotone and relocated its headquarters from Amsterdam to Saint-Genis-Laval near Lyon, France [3][4]. The Wessanen name and corporate identity were therefore retired in favor of the new Ecotone brand, which the company describes as being “named after the richest most biodiverse places on earth” [5].
Design and History
The Wessanen corporate logo was a typographic wordmark. A trademark filed by Wessanen Benelux B.V. in 2011 claimed colors including red, orange, white, grey, various shades of yellow and green, indicating a multicolor identity rather than a simple two-color lockup [6]. The logo files circulating online are credited simply to “Wessanen” as the designer, with no external agency attribution documented [7].
The rebrand to Ecotone in November 2020 was driven by the company’s new mission, “Food for Biodiversity,” and followed its 2019 acquisition by investor Charles Jobson and the French fund PAI Partners, which took the company private [3][8]. The name change was announced alongside the relocation of the corporate headquarters to France, where 60 percent of the group’s revenue was generated [3][1]. In the UK, the new Ecotone name and branding were introduced gradually over the months following the parent company’s rebrand [9].
Meaning and Symbolism
The Ecotone name was chosen deliberately for its ecological meaning. In French, “écotone” is a common noun referring to a transition zone between two ecosystems, such as the boundary between savanna and forest [1][10]. The company stated the new name was meant to “incarner sa nouvelle mission : nourrir la biodiversité” (embody its new mission: nourishing biodiversity) [3]. Ecotone’s own manifesto echoes this, describing the company as “named after the richest most biodiverse places on earth” [5].
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