Willow Tree, New England’s premier provider of freshly prepared, hand-crafted poultry pies, deli chicken salads and dips since 1954, today reveals a fresh new brand identity, including redesigned packaging and a refreshed logo. The new branding elements visually reinforce Willow Tree’s fresh, delicious, easy-to-prepare family meal solutions, and the simple, honest and premium ingredients used to make them. The goal of the overall redesign, a year in the making, is to update and contemporize the visual elements that instantly represent the Willow Tree brand to customers, while also honoring the brand’s heritage as a favorite and trusted New England brand for over sixty years.

"Willow Tree’s wholesome, delicious foods have been a family favorite for generations,” says Walter Cekala, President of Willow Tree. “The Willow Tree name symbolizes family, quality and value, just as my father, Chet Cekala, intended when he started the company over 60 years ago. It’s important that our brand continues to attract new customers while still communicating our ongoing commitment to providing simple meal options that are thoughtfully created and made with fresh, natural ingredients."

The updates will extend across Willow Tree’s full line of more than a dozen varieties of products including chicken dips; hand-crafted frozen all white meat and vegetable chicken and turkey pies; and fresh deli chicken salads ranging from Classic to no-mayo Avocado and Sriracha. Key elements of the redesign include:

• Celebrating the transition from small farm brand to regional food company: The refreshed logo features upgraded typography and a new brand icon marks the company’s name transition from “Willow Tree Poultry Farm” to “Willow Tree.” The name Willow Tree better reflects the company’s evolution from a single location small poultry and egg farm started in 1954 to New England’s premier provider of premium chicken and turkey pies, deli chicken salads and chicken dips that have graced family dinner tables for generations.
• The famous and familiar yellow and red packaging, updated – The packaging redesign creates a brand system that allows for easy identification of individual product varieties while maintaining an overall cohesive look and feel across all product lines. Elements like home-style-looking labels, clear and bold typography and textural background elements and illustrations visually communicate the brand’s promise to deliver quality, wholesome, family favorite meal solutions. The packaging is modernized for a fresher, more organized aesthetic, yet still retains the traditional, easily recognizable brand asset of the red and yellow Willow Tree brand colors. The chicken and turkey pie packaging also reflects the brand’s family history with a message from the Cekala family on the back of each box. View sample images of the new packaging here.
• Expanded and engaging Willow Tree website – The new www.WillowTreeFarm.com offers enticing new product and food photography and an innovative recipe section to find fan favorite ways to enjoy Willow Tree products. The homepage will a feature a rotating Willow Tree Recipe of the Month submitted by customers via social media as well as a dedicated retail section for local customers to find specials at the brand’s flagship retail store in Attleboro, MA. View sample images of the new website here.

To raise awareness for Willow Tree’s new look and to reach a new customers, targeted digital ads in key markets and social media platforms will drive consumers to the new WillowTreeFarm.com where they can discover “Where to Buy” products and peruse recipes. Willow Tree has also recruited digital influencers to create and release high quality digital product and food photography which the brand will use across various online channels to increase sales and visibility. 

"As part of our redesign, Willow Tree is also taking a fresh approach to how we reach and expand our target audience,” says Alex Cekala, General Manager of Willow Tree. “Social media is a vital tool for reaching our customers in engaging, convenient and innovative ways and as a brand we plan to continue to invest and grow our online platforms through original, attention-grabbing online campaigns.”

The new packaging will begin rolling out in stores in May 2017 with full distribution by the end of the year. In store, eye-catching POS and retail displays, local advertisements throughout the New England region and a celebration at the brand’s Attleboro, MA, retail store will all be part of the campaign to introduce consumers to Willow Tree’s new look.

Willow Tree chicken and turkey pies (MSRP $2.49-$10.99), chicken salads (MSRP $3.99-$7.99) and chicken dips (MSRP $7.99) are available at major retailers through New England and Florida including Shaw’s, Market Basket, Stop & Shop, Whole Foods, Walmart, Roche Bros, Hannaford, Big Y and Trucchi's, as well as at the company's own retail store in Attleboro, MA.