Meridian Smokehouse
CPG Packaging System + Brand Identity
Meridian Foods wanted a strong retail identity within a new beef jerky category. The goal was to create a brand that could stand confidently on shelf while communicating quality, craft, and trust to consumers. From the outset, the work needed to balance visual impact with the strategic foundations required for a scalable CPG brand capable of expanding across product categories.
The project translated Meridian’s vision into a clear retail identity designed to support long term growth. The packaging and visual system were built to communicate the brand’s core values of natural ingredients, quality sourcing, and convenience for active lifestyles.
As the work evolved, the smoked meat range revealed an opportunity to expand the brand architecture further. This led to the creation of Meridian Smokehouse, a sub brand developed specifically for the jerky range and future smoked meat products. The result was a layered brand system designed to support both immediate product launches and future expansion across the dried meat category.
The Challenge
Launching a new jerky brand requires competing in a category that is both visually crowded and highly commoditized. Consumers are presented with dozens of options, many of which rely on similar rustic graphics and aggressive branding to communicate flavour and toughness.
At the same time, the brand needed to resonate with multiple audiences. Busy parents seeking healthier snack options, active consumers looking for portable protein, and young professionals with social and outdoor lifestyles all formed part of the core market. The packaging therefore had to balance clarity, energy, and authenticity without feeling overly technical or overly rugged.
The challenge for Meridian was to establish a premium product that felt trustworthy, natural, and modern while still performing strongly on shelf. The brand needed to communicate the benefits of grass fed beef and clean ingredients while appealing to consumers who value both nutrition and lifestyle.
Strategic Insight
The Meridian name provided a strong conceptual foundation for the brand. In navigation, a meridian represents a line used to determine position and direction across the globe, acting as a guide that helps people understand where they are and where they are going.
From this foundation, Meridian Smokehouse emerged as a natural extension of the brand story. While Meridian represents the broader food brand, Meridian Smokehouse focuses specifically on smoked meat products and the craft behind them.
This idea of direction and clarity became central to the brand narrative. Meridian was positioned as a brand that helps consumers make better food choices while fitting naturally into active lifestyles.
Creative Direction
The creative direction focused on creating packaging that felt confident, modern, and visually clear within a crowded jerky category. Rather than relying on the rugged clichés often associated with dried meat products, the design aimed to present a cleaner and more deliberate brand presence that communicated quality and authenticity.
The Meridian Smokehouse identity introduced a deeper sense of craft and character to the system. By pairing the strong typographic structure with warm colours and subtle visual storytelling, the packaging connects the idea of smoked meats with moments of exploration, travel, and shared experiences.
Typography became the primary visual anchor of the packaging, allowing the product category and flavour to be immediately recognizable on shelf. Bold colour fields were introduced to differentiate flavours while maintaining a consistent structural layout across the range, creating both individuality and cohesion within the product family.
The Packaging System
A structured packaging architecture was developed to support a growing product range. The design system needed to remain consistent across flavours while still allowing each product to stand out individually on shelf.
This system allows the brand to expand easily as new products are introduced. Each new SKU can follow the same structure, ensuring consistency while maintaining flexibility across the product range.
The packaging uses bold typographic hierarchy to communicate the product category immediately. Colour blocks differentiate flavours across the lineup, creating visual variety while maintaining a cohesive brand presence.
Execution
The project translated Meridian’s strategy into a fully operational identity and packaging system designed for real retail environments. Production ready packaging files were created to ensure the design could function within manufacturing and regulatory requirements.
Through the Meridian Smokehouse extension, the brand gained an additional storytelling layer focused on smoked meat craft and flavour, positioning the jerky range as a central part of the Meridian product family.
Each SKU was developed within the established design framework, maintaining consistency while adapting colour and product information across flavours. This approach allowed the brand to build a strong visual presence without sacrificing clarity.
Impact
The Meridian identity establishes a strong foundation for a premium dried meat brand within the consumer packaged goods market. By combining clear positioning with a structured packaging system, the brand is able to compete effectively within a crowded category.
Together, the system creates a flexible platform capable of supporting future product development and expansion across the snack and dried meat categories.
The introduction of Meridian Smokehouse strengthens the brand architecture by providing a focused identity for smoked meat products while remaining connected to the Meridian master brand.
Creative Leadership
Serif+Gold was responsible for translating the Meridian strategy into a cohesive brand identity and packaging system. My role included shaping the creative direction, designing the packaging architecture, and ensuring the brand narrative remained consistent across the work.
The Meridian project demonstrates how a well defined brand strategy and disciplined packaging system can transform a single product concept into a scalable consumer brand.
The project required balancing strong shelf presence with long term brand scalability. Every design decision needed to support both the immediate retail launch and the potential for future product expansion.