Bettr coffee brand was founded in 2011 and became Singapore’s first B Corp in 2015. Today, according to its website, it provides “professional beverage education, specialty coffee products for retail and wholesale, and large-scale events services for companies. We also operate retail coffee bars islandwide, using our presence to amplify positive social impact in the community.”

To help with this mission, Anak (which is part of the Mother family of advertising and design agencies) has created an appealing new look for the organisation, which intends to offer a fresh approach to talking about sustainable brands.

“The world of social impact and sustainability are typically fronted by happy mascots, saccharine do-gooders and utopian futures,” says Lee Hanyi, creative partner, Anak. “This results in a huge gap between brand and the truth of real life. Helping the planet is a dirty, messy and complicated job. The new Bettr brand celebrates the world of social enterprises in all its imperfect glory, encouraging everyone to ‘Scr*w perfect, make impact’.”

The rebrand features a couple of current design trends in its use of retro type and charming illustration. However, here the latter extends beyond a singular mascot to a fictional brand world, featuring three characters who are intended to be flawed yet relatable as they go about striving for change.

The characters, which are illustrated by Freda Lai, senior designer at Anak, extend across all brand touchpoints, and are featured on packaging, the website and social, on stickers and rolls of tape. They are accompanied by witty copy, which articulates the benefits of both coffee and sustainability. It all adds up to an entertaining way of tackling a serious subject, and forms part of an ongoing evolution in the way that brands are talking about sustainability.

withanak.com