Iwate-Kanzume

Designing an emergency food supply brand for stockpiling and gifting to loved ones

As pandemics and natural disasters become more and more common, emergency preparedness is essential now more than ever. Takram partnered with a food manufacturer to develop and launch Gift&Stock: a new emergency food brand that encourages giving your loved ones the gift of preparedness, in the form of canned foods that are truly delicious and beautiful to look at for stocking pantries.

Increasing emergency food supplies at home

In Japan, where natural disasters such as earthquakes and heavy rain are quite common, it is recommended that households stockpile a week's worth of food in case of a major disaster. However, reports claim that only 25% of the population follow this recommendation. How might we reach and encourage consumers to increase their household food reserves? We set this as our project brief.

Emergency food meets gift giving: A new expression of care and incentive for stockpiling

In order to encourage stockpiling as a behavior, we developed a new product around the concept of “emergency food for gifting”. These cans of food that can be purchased not only for oneself, but also as a gift to give to loved ones as a sign of care and goodwill, to ensure that they are well stocked for the future.

We were involved in every stage of development, from developing a business model to product concept and design, including brand development and packaging design.

The brand and packaging were crucial for motivating consumers to keep these cans in their homes. Most emergency food brands tend to be an eyesore, put out of sight or entirely forgotten until they are passed their expiry dates. That’s why Gift&Stock relies on eye-catching colors and packaging worthy of a “shelfie”, so that it remains easily accessible in case of an emergency.

Brand licensing for uniting national emergency food products

We teamed up with Iwate-Kanzume Inc. (Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture) – a maker of premium canned foods who wholeheartedly believes in the mission and concept of Gift&Stock – to develop the brand's first products: three varieties of canned seafood risotto. With our crowdfunding campaign successfully reaching its target, the product was launched in 2022.

Additionally, Gift&Stock was established for brand licensing rather than as a specific manufacturer’s brand. This is meant to allow local food manufacturers all over Japan to develop their own original emergency food varieties under the same name. Companies in disaster-affected areas can produce Gift&Stock products using local ingredients and distribute them throughout the country in order to help with disaster recovery efforts. We believe that a system that supports these kinds of local and sustainable economic activities will lead to the creation of a society that is more resilient to disasters.