Wolff Olins creates new branding for Instacart, the Deliveroo of groceries in North America

Want to cook pasta, but short on mushrooms and garlic? If you're in the US or Canada, you can get them sent around using Instacart, which is kind of like Deliveroo but for groceries. And this Silicon Valley titan has just been given new branding thanks to British consultancy Wolff Olins, working in partnership with Instacart Creative Studio.

The new identity system for the brand was devised as part of Instacart's broader strategy to move into new retail categories beyond food.

Rooted in a new positioning and iconic logo, which was unveiled in April, this new identity system features a proprietary type family, a fresh colour palette, vibrant photography, and some delightful illustrations.

Background

Instacart was founded in 2012 as a consumer marketplace to bring the grocery industry online. Since then, the service has expanded to deliver a wide range of goods, such as Sephora beauty products and home improvement essentials from Lowe's. The brand now partners with more than 900 retail banners across more than 75,000 stores in North America, and more than 5,500 CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands.

The pandemic represented a critical inflexion point for Instacart, as consumers rapidly took their shopping habits online. This period of skyrocketing growth and expanding partnerships also ushered in a new wave of competition. Instacart needed to quickly evolve its brand and business, and further stake a claim as the leading grocery technology company in North America.

Branding

Daniel Renda, Wolff Olins' creative lead on the project, explains that the new branding is all about forging an emotional connection with the audience. "Instacart isn't just an efficient digital product," he explains. "It's a service that adds emotional value to people's lives by giving back vital time and helping you nourish your family – it also deals primarily with food, which comes with a great deal of passion and emotion."

As the foundation of the rebrand, he continues, Wolff Olins developed the ethos of 'Shop+Savor'. "This duality informs every aspect of our identity system, from the crave-worthy typography designed in partnership with Ryan Bugden to the transformation of the beloved carrot into a dynamic symbol meant to delight people in every part of the experience. We're very proud of our continued collaboration and believe this transformation will help Instacart become a beloved and iconic brand."

The new brand identity serves as a foundation for Instacart's evolved marketing and product experience, most recently brought to life in Instacart's 'The World is Your Cart' campaign starring Lizzo, and another campaign to support the arrival of its value-driven subscription service, Instacart+.

"Our vision in establishing a world-class Creative Studio began with evolving the core tenets of our brand with Wolff Olins," says Kevin Byrd, executive creative director at Instacart. "The consultancy fostered a deep working relationship with our team, which spurred incredible creativity," "The new identity for Instacart reflects our aspirations of modernity and familiarity and provides a solid platform upon which we continue to build. It's exactly what we needed at this moment in our journey as a company and as a brand."