IGA - Independent Grocers for Australia
The situation
With ALDI thriving and Amazon just getting started, it’s a make-or-break time for Aussie supermarkets. And while Coles and Woolies continue to compete with each other, IGA is playing a different game.
In case you didn’t know, IGA stands for Independent Grocers of Australia. And that’s what makes it so different to Coles and co. When you shop IGA, you’re genuinely supporting a small business owner. And more often than not, a local one.
But that independence comes at a cost; consistency. While customers can walk into any Woolies in Australia and expect it to be just like all the others, every IGA has the freedom to choose its own products, prices and ways of doing things.
Put simply, no two IGA’s are the same. And in an industry that’s focusing more on convenience, price and consistency than ever, that disparity poses a problem.
The solution
The temptation was to scrap it all; the local promos, one-off oyster bars, and seemingly infinite variations of the IGA logo. But there was something undeniably charming in it. The locals loved the promos. Brett’s customers loved their oysters. And despite a combined century’s worth of branding experience, we started to love all those logos. IGA didn’t need less of what made it different. It needed more.
The thing is, convenience and consistency come with their own cost. Supermarkets become stockrooms, trading personality for procedure, and customer service for self-service. At IGA, we’d create the opposite – a store that’s in tune with the needs of its neighbourhood. A place where you can take your time, have a chat, and maybe even enjoy yourself. A supermarket that mixes the charm and knowledge of a local store, with the quality and support of a national one.
The result
Based on signwriting – the warm, personal, hand-crafted art form that’s been part of local store DNA from the very beginning – the identity represents IGA’s mission to bring the heart and soul back into grocery shopping. The typeface is supported by an illustration toolkit. Adaptable and accessible, it empowers every store owner to create their own designs, messages and yes, even logos, without making the IGA brand suffer.
Of course, logos can’t stock the shelves for you – no matter how many you have. The most rewarding part of the project was working with the store owners themselves, helping them find new and meaningful ways to improve the experience for their customers. Thankfully inspiration wasn’t hard to find – IGA’s best and brightest offered enough tips to fill a book. So… we did. Now, every IGA has the platform – and the playbook – to be the best store in town.
