When the Taffel snacks brand launched its Kartanon (‘Farmhouse’) potato chips in 1995, they were Finland’s first premium chip. However, in the 30 years since, the competition has multiplied exponentially: there is now a huge number of potato chip brands vying for consumers’ limited attention. Kartanon’s market share is threatened both by global competitors and local supermarket chains’ private label variants.

A market survey conducted by Taffel concluded that in order for Kartanon to become its category’s most interesting product once again, it needed to find ways to be more memorable, more fun, and more Finnish than its competitors. But how?

Our creative insight was that while every Finn is familiar with the Farmhouse potato chip, no-one’s familiar with the farmhouse itself. Over the years, the brand’s essence had drifted from its core.

What on earth is this Farmhouse? Where is it? Who lives there? And what are they doing?

We realised that the Farmhouse brand would become exciting if we brought the farmhouse to life – through a story-driven approach.

We created a marketing concept that anchored the Farmhouse as the home of the original country-style potato chip. Everything stems from this positioning – and everything returns to it.

We wrote a lively backstory for the Farmhouse universe. The magically larger-than-life mansion in the unique Finnish archipelago. And its colorful inhabitants: the no-nonsense matriarch Krispiina, the wild spice scientist Tilly, the supremely confident farmer Taimi and the endearingly pompous sustainability officer Ossi.

Storyfying is a logical way to turn product attributes into humane and approachable elements. With a story-driven approach, a potato chip brand can do much more interesting stuff than just lists its flavours or ingredients.

For example, instead of just stating that the Farmhouse chip only uses Finnish potato, it can show all kinds of stories about farmer Taimi on her daily adventures.

The story about the home of the original country-style chip appears in multiple formats on multiple channels. We created a host of practical applications to facilitate the storytelling:

Packaging – A total packaging refresh: more colorful, more distinctive, more fun

Brand film – A “travel documentary” about the Farmhouse, with versions for TV, social, and on-demand

Still photography – The farmhouse milieu and characters photographed for Out of Home advertising, socials, and website

Point of Sale advertising materials – Shelf talkers and special stands for hypermarkets

Illustrations

3D modeling

Distributor marketing materials

Brand Book (visual guideline) and Story Book (story, characters, tone of voice, etc.)