It Just Meals Good™
Panera’s new brand creative platform, It Just Meals Good™ harnesses the emotional power of a real meal. I collaborated with our agency partner, 72andSunny, and led our in-house creative team in bringing the platform to life across paid, owned, earned and in-cafe channels. The work celebrates meals through flavor, feeling, and real-life moments with bold imagery, dynamic typography, and distinctive cafe cues.
Client
Panera Bread
Year
2025–present
Range of work
Creative direction
Brand evolution
Content strategy
Photo direction
Collaborators
72andSunny / concept, TV & paid social
Playground / art direction & POP design
Mairead McGonagle / copy direction
Rici Hoffarth / packaging design
Hannah Becker / copywriting
Steve Sangapore / digital design
Gabriela Bernardo / digital design
Casey Jones / gift card design
Monotype / typeface design
Gentl & Hyers / photography
Re-framing "meal" as a personal experience. The TV spot established the brand platform through real meal occasions at Panera, anchored by the bread‑break mnemonic consistently across video, and introduces the new confident, relatable tone of voice.
Omnichannel experience. Email executions reflect an expressive, occasion‑led voice, and blend macro food photography, playful iconography, and cutout imagery to create vibrant, crave-worthy communications that highlight mix‑and‑match menu choice. A bespoke script typeface, Panera Bravo, developed with Monotype, also became a core part of the new design system, blending indulgent texture with Panera’s hand-lettered bakery heritage. In‑café merchandising evolved to elevate product communication through clearer hierarchy, integrating Bravo and proud declarations like “This is a Meal.”
Packaging was fully redesigned to scale the new system in guests’ hands, using bold icons, Panera Green, and meal‑inspired copy. Gift cards were also refreshed to incorporate Bravo, icons, and meal language— completing the rebrand across everyday moments.
Cafe as character. Lifestyle photography—previously depicted in home, outdoor or non-descript environments—now became grounded in authentic cafe environments and meal occasions. Post-launch TV spots always featured meal occasions taking place at a Panera booth.
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