Lily O’Brien’s is Irelands best-loved chocolatier, and the first to put down roots in the United States. Their wonderful collections of hand-crafted chocolates have proven as popular here as they have in the worlds most prestigious hotels, department stores and airlines.

Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate’s manufactures over 80 tons of chocolate per week and can be found in retailers all over the globe. Last year it served over 18 million chocolates on airlines such as British Airways, Delta, Virgin and Continental combined. The New York café was opened by the Irish Prime Minister when he was on a visit to New York in 2009.

While being such a large company and so well-known in Ireland, it was not making the desired impact across New York City. The Bryant Park café was doing a steady, if unspectacular, business and so the owner came to okellydesign to work together on refining the Lily’s brand for a New York audience, and creating new in-store signage, POS and an advertising campaign to help drive business within the café.

The redesigned elements drew on the existing brand palettes of type, color and imagery, but used in a different manner alongside a more contemporary typeface, all combining to form a more contemporary and New York audience focussed aesthetic and appeal.

The new outdoor signs (the tall, thin ones) were 5ft x 2ft and were placed outside the store on a custom sandwich board. The campaign comprised complementary signs, one promoting the morning / breakfast items and the other aimed at the afternoon audience. They had an immediate impact, increasing revenue by 40–50% within days, an increase which has remained in place since rollout last May. Variations were then designed for other times of the year such as Halloween and Christmas.

The new indoor signage was for the walls behind the registers, serving and barista areas. There had been a mix of large-format product images and painted walls there. We decided on large-format menus for these walls instead, comprising a permanent menu with all products (the square one, 7ft x 7ft) and seasonal menus (3ft x7ft) for Summer and Winter with products for each to help whet customers appetites at the counter. A long Story panel was made for the wall space inside the window, showcasing the café and store products available from both inside and outside the store.

Finally, new uniforms were designed for staff featuring a more tongue-in-cheek approach underscoring the whimsical and fun side of the brand. Two shirts were designed for the female and male members of staff for them to choose from, in the related brand colors.