Description:

In a remote location of New Zealand’s North Island – away from the pesticides and modern agriculture – beekeepers work in harmony with their bees. As a collaboration of close-knit friends and brothers, Hidden is about family and sustainability. In a few precious hot summer weeks, the purest raw Mānuka honey in the world is harvested in small batches. This is the premise of Hidden Honey. A family run business who eschew the mass-commoditisation of New Zealand Honey by only taking what is harvested, never blending Manuka Honey from various regions to make bigger yields. At times this means very small harvests, but for them, they are staying true to what the bees do.

Our naming for the brand was inspired by the teams insistence on doing things right and going the extra-mile to find and forage what was previously Hidden. Typographically traditional yet edgy with oversized serifs, the wordmark reflects the young family doing the work and the age-old methods they use to care for the bees and extract the honey.

Created for export, the range is split into two distinct MGO rated ranges. Intended for super premium boutiques and stores, 'Brothers' super premium range exudes warmth with a warm yellow colour palette. The wordmark is playfully cropped on packaging, hidden when on its own and awaiting to be discovered when boxes are stacked. Messaging on pack is utilitarian in nature, laid out in a grid format as a nod the the agrarian nature of the business. Boxes are generic, to limit print run and ink usage, MGO Factor stickers are applied for range navigation purposes which are inspired by premium liquors. Various size jars can be put into the same box using inner sleeves. Soft pencil illustrations depict key aspects of the brand story - bee husbandry, remote location and the bees themselves. These act as contrast to the strict typographic layout of the boxes.

Aimed at premium retail stores, the premium mainstream 'Discovery' range uses the same brand toolkit. A change in colour, with lighter colour MGO factor labels denotes the point of difference along with an uncropped brand wordmark suitable for this retail environment.