New logo: Findus

The European food brand Findus originated in Sweden in the 1940s. Today it is available in many European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, the Nordic countries and some countries in Eastern Europe. It is mostly known for its wide range of frozen food products, but also produces some other products such as soups and marmalade. The multinational food conglomerate Nestlé bought Findus in 1962 and kept it until the year 2000. After that it has been in the hands of venture capital.

Since 1971, Findus has used a red and white "flag" as its logo. The "Findus flag" received major refresh in 1987 when it adopted the Crillee typeface it has used until now. It has since been given minor updates, for example a red rectangle behind the flag became a permanent part of the logo in 2001, manifesting itself as a red "strap" or "ribbon" which ran from top to bottom to the right on most packaging.

Early this year, the Findus introduced a refreshed logo. The red "ribbon" was dropped and replaced by a less intrusive "background plate". Research had shown that the flag and flagpole were important, and are kept with only minor changes.

"We wanted a more modern and softer image. Our new logo is also more flexible, something which was of importance for the packaging design. The logo colour has also become warmer and there is an element of yellow in the red logo." - Elisabeth Yllfors, market director Findus Sweden in a press release

According to Findus, two agencies were involved in the rebrand, and the final version was created by the Stockholm design agency Pond Innovation & Design, who had previously done some packaging design for Findus.

Findus logo from 2001.

A press release about the logo change was issued on January 26, but packaging with the new logo was already in stores by then. The first product with the new logo were Findus Wok vegetables. Other products will be changed over time and the rollout will progress slowly.

Two examples of the new packaging design for "Findus Wok Classic" can be seen below:

Before.

After.

With the announcement of this new logo, Findus were kind enough to provide high-quality renditions of their previous logos. They are presented below.

Findus logo from the 1960s.

Findus logo from 1971.

Findus logo from 1987.

It should be noted that the Findus name is in the hands of other owners in two countries. When Nestlé sold the Findus businesses, they decided to keep the Findus brand in Switzerland, their home market. In Italy, the Findus name was for a long time a part of Unilever's frozen food division, which also included Birds Eye on the British Isles and Iglo in Central Europe. In 2006, Unilever sold Birds Eye and Iglo to the private equity firm Permira who formed the Birds Eye Iglo Group (BEIG), but they kept the Italian Findus brand until 2010, when it was also sold to BEIG.

Press release (archive)