Michigan Sugar Company this month begins rolling out a new line of red-colored Pioneer Sugar bags for retail customers.
The red bags have blue and white accents and feature the traditional ox-and-wagon logo used by Pioneer Sugar for decades. The red bags will be used to package the following Pioneer Sugar products:
- 2-, 4-, 5-, 10- and 25-pound white granulated sugar
- 2- and 7-pound confectioner’s powdered sugar
- 2- and 7-pound golden light brown sugar
- 2-pound dark brown sugar
“It’s the same sweet sugar in a new sweet bag,” says Michigan Sugar Company president and CEO Mark Flegenheimer, noting the Pioneer Sugar brand dates to 1906, the year Michigan Sugar Company was founded. “We have not changed the look of our Pioneer Sugar bags in many years, and we wanted to create a bag that would stand out on the grocery store shelves while incorporating many of the elements customers have become familiar with over time.”
The new bags will begin to hit store shelves in April and will cycle into the market over the next several months. Flegenheimer says the COVID-19 pandemic sped up the process of launching the new packaging.
“Retail demand for sugar has been robust over the past month, and our employees have been working around the clock to fill orders from our retail customers,” he says. “In doing so, we’ve moved a great deal of sugar out of our warehouses and were able to begin transitioning to the new red bags sooner than originally expected.”
The first bags customers are likely to see are the 4- and 10-pound white granulated and 7-pound golden light brown.
In designing the new bags, Michigan Sugar Company partnered with The Food Group, an advertising, marketing, content and brand engagement agency that specializes in food and beverages.
“Many hours were invested into brainstorming, creative thinking, data-analyzing and working with The Food Group’s branding professionals to bring this new look to our sugar,” says Pedro Figueroa, Michigan Sugar Company’s vice president of sales and marketing. “Today’s food shopper has much different tendencies and preferences compared to years past, so we are looking to enhance the shopping experience with a fresh, innovative look at the supermarket shelf. The new look is certainly catchy, but also focuses on our main storylines: ‘Michigan-Made,’ ‘Farm-to-Table,’ ‘All Natural,’ ‘Locally Grown. Locally Owned.’ and “Certified Vegan,’ which all are featured on our new bags.”
In conjunction with the new bags, Michigan Sugar Company is working to spruce up its Pioneer Sugar Facebook page, has launched a Pioneer Sugar Instagram page and is working to refresh its brand website at www.pioneersugar.com with updated content and engaging visuals.
