Chimes Ginger Chews Introduces an Old Product with a New Name to U.S. Stores

The new Chimes brand introduced an established product line of natural ginger chews to the U.S. by creating a tin that looks antique and a bag that looks slightly unrefined.

Embossed and accented elements are used to produce subtle “cues” of the product’s Indonesian origin.

Roxy Trading Inc., makers of the original Indonesian ginger chew, were confident that one taste of their ginger chews would convince anyone that theirs is the real deal. Nevertheless, Roxy Trading asked Fitch: RPA (then Primo Angeli: Fitch) to articulate this taste experience in re-branding their product for the U.S. market with package design in several formats.

Roxy Trading wanted their new packaging to convey Asian authenticity, to imply great taste, and to stake its claim as the “original”—all directed toward new Western consumers. Toby Sudduth, senior design director at Fitch: RPA, directed the Chimes design launch.

“The heat and taste pulsate in your mouth, similar to the effect of a wind chime.” Sudduth says, explaining why the team at Primo liked the Chimes name. The product is offered in Original, Peppermint, and Peanut Butter flavors as an all-natural and healthy alternative to candy. The forwardthinking product development manager of Roxy Trading, Andrew Ma, expressed to Sudduth that he didn’t want Chimes to feel like an Indonesian candy, but he wouldn’t mind including subtle hints or cues.

The challenge was to convey the history of the product surreptitiously. Roxy Trading, and Ma, wanted to tell consumers in essence, “We’ve been making Chimes for three generations, with no artificial flavors. Using traditional stone-grinding techniques, we extract genuine ginger essence and blend our all natural ingredients perfectly into an exciting flavor experience.”

Sudduth is very pleased with the overall look of the branding and package design that he and the team developed. “It’s a little hard to pinpoint a time and place—[Roxy Trading] liked the idea of a mystique behind an unknown origin.” Roxy Trading was protective of their place in the category. They were, in fact, the original ginger company, who produced the real thing, a natural and flavorful ginger chew.

Everything had to be integrated, including several packaging substrates, the brand identity, and each package’s structural design. The Chimes name is intended to be descriptive of the product as well as its origins. The name Chimes was chosen because, like wind chimes, the chews resonate “sweet heat,” that is also soothing and refreshing. One tagline on the package suggests: “Let Chimes lift your spirits with a refreshing ginger breeze.”

Sudduth and his firm created all of the design elements with the intention of making the packages feel like they had been around for a while—a newly discovered artifact pulled out of an archeological dig—while at the same time having a unique contemporary personality.

There is a mystery behind the Chimes identity—not necessarily Asian, but definitely from somewhere exotic. With a roughhewn, yet detailed style, the package offers multiple layers of visuals allowing the consumer new discoveries at every glance.

Take the central Chimes logo, for instance. At first glance, the viewer might not notice the smiling face behind the Chimes typography. Once you see it, though, you can’t not see it. In case a consumer does not see that face right away, the design element is repeated in a three-face “Soothing, Energizing, Satisfying” tableau.

The tin, produced in Hong Kong, is unusual in that it promotes a vertical display on the retail shelf. The tin structure, also designed under Sudduth’s guidance, conveys a “gift” experience with a lid that slides off sideways with a gentle tug. Inside, there are 14 chews neatly stacked and packed, with one sitting lengthwise on top.

Roxy Trading’s Ma remarks how he feels the final Chimes design conveys that the packages contain a healthy product and communicate to the consumer at both traditional and post-modern levels, especially the tin. Ma reports that the tins, which he himself finds “very appealing and very handy,” are selling 2-to-1 over the bags, and it’s not uncommon for mailorder customers to request whole cases of the tins.