Carambola
Carambola | Brand and marketing for Ireland’s leading school-meal specialist
Carambola, a leading provider of healthy school meals wanted to stand out as the provider of choice for schools across Ireland. Piquant successfully rebranded Carambola, launched a new website and activated the brand across marketing materials, signage and events, improving engagement and awareness.
Through a cohesive rebrand, Piquant revitalised Carambola’s image. Focusing on engaging, youth-friendly design and consistent brand activation through website, events, and vehicle signage, we helped Carambola strengthen their connection with schools, children, and parents.
As Ireland’s leading school-meal specialist, Carambola is dedicated to delivering nutritious, engaging, and appealing food to students. Their challenge was to create a brand that communicates effectively with a diverse audience—young students, older students, parents, and school administrators—while maintaining a fun, accessible, and professional tone.
Tailored communications for every audience
With a target audience of primary and secondary school students, as well as admin staff and parents, we outlined the communications style for each. For younger students, we wanted to have some fun while talking about food, using silly illustrations and quippy remarks, while for older students, we let the food do the talking, pulling back on illustrations and leaning into food-focused photography. We also outlined clear and professional communication strategies for parents and school staff, ensuring that every message resonates with its intended audience.
A fresh visual identity and new website
For the new logo, we coupled an impactful typeface with the stars of the carambola fruit, finished with rough edges for a friendly, informal tone. We developed the value proposition ‘Good food, happy faces’ to demonstrate the two key aspects of Carambola’s promise; that the food we serve is of excellent quality, and that we strive to serve food that people will love to eat.
We developed a range of custom illustrations to represent the fresh ingredients Carambola uses, incorporating a handcrafted, textured aesthetic, utilising rough-cut blocks of colour, black line work, and colourful grain textures.
We applied the brand to a new website, which included full menu displays and a login portal for schools and parents. The website needed to feature testimonials, allergen information, and a clean, accessible interface. Parents and schools use the website every week to change their orders, so the navigation needed to be extremely user-friendly on all devices.
Full brand activation
Following the rebrand, we supported Carambola in activating their communications across social media, events, signage, marketing materials, and engagement initiatives. The cohesive visual identity and messaging across all platforms strengthened their connection with school communities and helped boost their brand recognition.
