Office of Overview's healthy oil brand takes inspiration from the world of coffee

Nowadays, most people think of fats as bad, things to be minimised and avoided. But two friends, Ben and Tom, didn't see it that way.

They were both on the Keto diet, a high-fat, low-carbohydrate regime that helped them lose weight. Struck by the apparent paradox of eating fat to lose fat, they started to realise that the problem wasn't fat itself but the dangers of poor-quality fats versus healthy fats.

More specifically, when searching for quality fats and oils, they found them difficult to find. That led them to launch Good Phats, a company producing fine artisan cooking oils. For the brand identity and packaging system, they turned to Office of Overview, an agency specialising in culturally led branding, which was founded three years ago by James Sedgwick Taylor.

The brief

"Traditional health has taught us that fats are bad," says James. "And the offerings in the market reflected this. Seed oils, olive oil, and not a lot else. But, Ben and John thought, if they could de-stigmatise the world of fats and broaden people's understanding, they could open up a category of different flavours, use cases and qualities."

The brand's aim was to be educational and accessible yet fun, punchy, and reflective of a new movement of health-conscious eating, with a tone of voice and an identity to match.

The brief centred around helping Good Phats navigate the challenges of launching a range of different fats with a vision of the future that people can believe in. As James puts it: "To articulate the vision for the brand and plan its delivery."

Brand concept

There was one thing that mattered above all else, he adds. "Education. Education. Education. No one will buy these products if they don't know what they taste like, what they're used for, and how they can transform both a recipe and your diet.

"Understanding the educational barriers, we wanted to ensure that Good Phats customers had all the information they needed to make a more informed choice. What to use the fat for, what kind of flavours to expect and where the fat was from."

They came up with an innovative approach to this problem. "We borrowed a lot from the world of coffee, where flavour, varietals, and origin play a larger role in people's understanding of product and brand," explains James. "We dissected this information and reformatted it against the business challenges in education."

Visual elements

The visual identity pares a weight logotype with more informative architecture to ensure on-shelf presence and understanding. For typefaces, they went with GT Presurra for the body copy and Megazoid for the logo.

As for the colour palette, Overview shied away from the greens, yellows and browns typical of the olive oil space. "Our aim with Good Phats was to disrupt this space," says James. "So we wanted to introduce vibrant colours that represent the freshness of the produce and the bold flavours of the fats."

"We also delved deeper into their mission, 'to make health a tasty pursuit'," says James, "and gave the brand confidence in their message that permeates all communications. Taste first, health second. But not one without the other. And definitely no compromise."

He adds that the reaction so far has been very positive. "Businesses of this scale rarely invest in brands. And it shows that a little good thinking and a lot of confidence behind your message go a long way."