Founders’ friendly faces stick around in new brand identity for Fritz-Kola

When life gives you a postgraduate crisis… Make cola? Well that’s the trade in which two good friends (and Fritz-Kola’s founders) Mirco Wiegert and Lorenz Hampl found their answers, when it came to questioning what to do with their lives. Fresh out of uni and faced with finding their next steps, the pair set out to make something that wasn’t “just another mass produced cola”, being of the opinion that the drink could actually taste better, and in their eyes have “lots and lots of caffeine to add fuel to those long nights”. With some very personal touches, and “some labels of their faces, slapped on old beer bottles” they kickstarted Fritz: the high quality German cola brand, all from their old dorm rooms.

Fast forward to today, Fritz has expanded as a name and as a product range and according to Ben Brears, creative director of its collaborator, brand agency Robot Food, it was time to “dial up the spirit, quality and craftsmanship that makes their drinks'', calling for a refresh on their classic identity. With the aim to “turn heads and open eyes to help more consumers become aware of Fritz-Kola” the team at Robot Food has pushed out from the brand’s distinct black-and-white classic cola bottles into a new range of flavours through vibrant, clashing colours.

Adding to its classic collection, which has always been “unified by a black imprint”, says Ben, was a way for the cola company to serve up some new fruity flavours that bring not only new colours but also some playful illustrations into the brand’s visual oeuvre. Amongst all of this however, the brand’s logo has stuck. Originally a black-and-white, photobooth-style snapshot of the founders’ faces “produced from a photocopy of a photo, to save on print costs in the early days”, says Ben, the brand’s iconic visual signature hasn’t changed since its creation 22 years ago.

Giving Fritz its distinct identity and connecting the brand to its inspiring startup story, the team at Robot Food had no intention of doing a “rip it up and start again job” when it came to revisiting the logo. From testing out all sorts of variations for a refresh on the design, the agency found that the founders’ faces “had always resonated best” and set out to refine, rather than rework, a bolder brand mark using the original image – working closely with illustrator Chris Mitchell on the new version.

In a similar vein, the the Fritz-Kola word mark itself was left untouched, instead the typographic word mark was rebalanced with the bolder logo to create a more striking combination – meaning the new, more colourful range stands out on shop shelves but also stays true to “Fritz-Kola’s unique world”.