Rebranding of Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi 1871

Design: Emre Telli
Location: Germany
Project Type: Concept
Packaging Contents: Coffee, Turkish Coffee, Filter Coffee
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Tins
Printing Process: Embossing

The iconic story of Sir Mehmet Efendi (1857 – 1934), the Turkish coffee roaster, began in Istanbul when he took over the family’s spice-business by a young age in 1871. He founded the famous Turkish coffee company and created the legendary brand in the home of every Turkish family while perfecting a cultural heritage. Since then, Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi has been the strongest brand associated with Turkish coffee, which stands for the long tradition of coffee making and its distinctive taste.

The brief was to create a brand that was sensitive to the beloved status, but also radical enough to appeal to new consumer groups and rethinking process began in small but quick steps. No radical changes, but a contemporary and evolutionary step that seemed logical and self-evident. The case study sets a new direction for Turkey’s most legendary coffee brand and incorporates a new strategy, brand identity and launch campaign. A new design direction for Turkey’s most legendary coffee brand. The identity also needed to establish a cohesive structure that would allow for differentiation across various products. The case study sets a new direction for Turkey’s most legendary coffee brand and incorporates a new strategy, brand identity and launch campaign.

The new focus is placed on a more simplified balance between the icon, endorsed by the new bespoke word mark, which is a modernised rework of the original. As the most complete visual shorthand of the brand, the logo is created as a uniform brand system for the entire company and is isolated to its elements to the purest form.

The brand logo keeps its promise with the iconic illustration and can be used alone or in place of the logotype – it appears on all touchpoints from stationery items, website, sales and marketing materials to packaging. The visual story of the iconic objects in the unboxing experience is refined by the haptic surface properties, in that way the packaging itself becomes a great carrier of the new design. I also reviewed the sortiment in relation to price levels to find the right look and feel in each packaging.