First Watch Restaurants had successfully grown to 55 locations without ever creating a recognizable brand identity. Its product was solid, but it knew its image was vanilla. With competition in the category heating up, and the company primed to super power its franchising efforts, First Watch asked us to whip up a tasty brand personality from scratch.
First Watch serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, but it was breakfast that set the company apart. Our research showed that breakfast was more than just a meal to loyal First Watch customers. It was a way of life. They had no other connection to a meal or daypart like they had with breakfast. They were so passionate about breakfast that we dubbed them "Breakfast People." So we turned breakfast the meal into breakfast the idea and used it to build a lighthouse brand, proudly shining its position and reason for being for all to see in order to attract like-minded folks.
"Where Breakfast People Breakfast" engaged consumers at every meaningful touch point, from store signage to napkin rings to the menu and website. The brand's new essence was brought to life through original illustrations creating our version of "the breakfast fantasy." First Watch ate it up and so did customers. The company reported 15 consecutive quarters of comp store sales and added twenty-seven new locations. Average check size increased systemwide, and in 2009 Consumer Reports gave First Watch the highest rating among all restaurants in its category.
