CASE STUDY

The Brief

Cooee came to us in September 2023 as a young Indigenous owned baking business with a great product and a look that did not yet match it. Founded by Terri-Ann "Tezzi" Daniel, a proud Wiradjuri woman whose brand name honours her great grandmother's hometown of Gilgandra in central NSW, Cooee bakes allergy friendly cookies built around native Australian ingredients. The brief was a premium brand and packaging system: an identity with shelf credibility, a pack architecture that could carry the range across very different formats, and new product concepts polished enough to put in front of investors and national buyers.

C H A L L E N G E S

• Evolving an illustrated, highly detailed logo into a simpler wordmark with premium presence, while keeping it recognisably the same brand and keeping the playfulness intact

• Making the allergy friendly story a reason to buy rather than a wall of restriction claims, with a single claim working front of pack and the rest carried on the side

• Building one system flexible enough to run from a 30g airline single serve to a 160g retail flow bag, a gift tin and a multipack carton

• Placing Wiradjuri artwork at the centre of the design so it can be credited clearly and swapped for future artist collaborations without rebuilding the pack

• Meeting the standard set by premium cookie packaging already in market, in tins, cartons and windowed boxes, on a startup's budget and print substrates

• Designing for in-flight service as well as shelf, where the pack is handled fast, seen once and read in seconds

• Extending the same brand thinking into seasonal editions, a popcorn range and a pet care brand without diluting any of them

S O L U T I O N S

• Redrew the logo as a clean, confident wordmark, playful in form but premium in execution, described in the original concept as an evolution of the existing logo, and introduced the tagline "everyone can enjoy" so inclusion became the promise rather than a list of exclusions

• Built the pack around commissioned artwork by Wiradjuri artist Kate Webster, treated as a swappable hero so seasonal editions and future collaborations refresh the range without rebuilding the design.

• Established a navy master asset with a circular brand lockup, an arced "Native Superfoods" descriptor and bold colour coding for each variant, giving instant recognition and easy navigation across the range.

• Held front of pack to a single claim with dietary icons alongside it, and moved the full claim set, nutrition panel and ingredients to the back and side.

• Designed the side panel around the brand's own words: "Cooee Cookies is a proud Wiradjuri business", "Kindness is our kinda thing", Australian made and owned, proudly Indigenous owned, a credited artwork line, and a tribute to the traditional custodians of Country.

• Developed a full NPD suite for investor and buyer conversations, from airline single and double packs through to luxury windowed cartons, resealable pouches, cake mix, cookie dough and protein bars.

• Delivered production ready artwork and print layouts across the range: Qantas single serve and two pack, the festive gingerbread and wattleseed edition, the 160g flow bags in Choc Chip and Wattleseed and White Choc and Strawberry Gum, and the NAIDOC Week gift tin and gift carton.

• Created the retail display carton under "Seriously Good. For Everyone." and a trade show system of banners, panels and floor display units under "Allergy Friendly. Ridiculously Good."

• Built the architecture as a parent system, so Cooee Popcorn and the Bunji pet care brand could both launch under Cooee Native Superfoods without either losing its own character

R E S U L T S

The brand we designed in 2023 is now on national shelves and in the air. Cooee's Nan's Jam Drop with Davidson Plum flies with Qantas, and a festive gingerbread and wattleseed edition in dedicated Christmas packaging was served across the network from mid December. Forbes Australia reports around one million Qantas passengers will receive a Cooee biscuit this year. Retail followed: Foodland and Drakes in South Australia, IGA and Woolworths Metro, more than 600 Ampol Foodary sites, and Coles Local during NAIDOC Week.

The system has held as the business has grown. One architecture now runs from a 30g airline single serve to a 160g family pack, a NAIDOC gift tin and a full seasonal edition, and it has since carried two further brands to market. By putting Wiradjuri ownership, native ingredients and commissioned artwork at the heart of the design rather than at the edges, Cooee tells its story without explaining itself, and a business that started at a kitchen bench now looks every bit the national brand it has become.

Related case studies: Cooee Popcorn · Bunji Native Superfood PetCare