Blog Post 2

The primary color that Burt’s Bees uses is yellow. Yellow is often a color that brands steer from because of its brightness, but Burt’s Bees uses a neutral yellow, in between light and dark. The color yellow will remind their customers of the warmer seasons and of sunflowers, which Burt’s Bees often incorporate onto their packaging. Bees are very attracted to sunflowers, so this ties in the most important element of their brand. Their logo itself is a red emblem, reading “Burt’s Bees” with a line above and below it. “Emblems are trademarks featuring a shape inextricable connected to the name of the organization. The elements are never isolated,” (Wheeler 64). Although their name is written in all caps, the rest of the fonts on their products are light and gentle, which balances these elements out. 

Burt’s Bees fits into the wholesomeness archetype: “... somebody who loves nature, who has an affinity for nature, who is in touch with nature and who wants things to be as nature intended.” This connects with the brand’s visual identity because all of their products have flower and nature designs on them, reflecting natural ingredients that are actually found in that products. 

The company’s slogan is “True to Nature.” Their use of the color yellow and their incorporation of different flowers, as previously mentioned, allude to their mission to use what nature has given them and to give back to nature. Their pictorial mark of a bee ties their visual identity in with their history, starting with a few products made from beeswax. “A pictorial mark uses a literal and recognizable image. The image itself may allude to the name of the company or its mission, or it may be symbolic of a brand attribute,” (Wheeler 60).

The visual identity of Burt’s Bees products connect to the brand story because of how soft and natural their imagery is. “If told as a genuine story, the founding story can create a great connection between a brand and its followers, even if the brand goes back 250 years,” (Simmons 48). The story behind Burt’s Bees is that both of the company’s founders left their city lives for the quiet space of Maine. It is there that the pair met, where one of them became a beekeeper and the other began to make products out of beeswax. While many other skincare and makeup products have a very industrial look to them (see below), Burt’s Bees products are pretty, but also more plain and simple because they care more about what is in the product than what their product looks like.

Because the color yellow is so incorporated into Burt’s Bees products, it gives off a happy emotion. The personality of the brand also gives off a happy feeling because it is clear just by looking at the products that Burt’s Bees clearly cares about what they sell and what they put into their products, especially when considering they have different designs depending on the ingredient.