The Scandinavian design agency behind Ahold’s new bfresh concept said its environment is guided by the principle that “food has become the new fashion and is part of urban culture.”
Blink, the agency based in Stockholm, provided brand strategy, architecture, merchandising, visual identity, packaging design and communication in physical and digital channels. According to Saskia de Jongh, head of Ahold’s Fresh Formats LLC, Blink was invited to pitch with four American designers and one British agency, and was selected because “their idea was the most commercially viable and in our opinion something brand new for the U.S. market.”
According to Richard Kylberg, founder and managing partner of Blink, the ambience at bfresh “adapts to urban rhythms and changes slightly according to the time of the day. Mornings is daylight and breakfast mood, while evenings has a more club-like atmosphere with pumping house music and dimmed down lights.”