Case Studies
Amir Nahid, the founder of Amir Chocolate, opened his first café in 2004. Like any new venture, the journey was filled with challenges and hardships. However, through patience, perseverance, and a professional approach, he managed to cultivate a loyal and consistent customer base out of that small café. Customers were drawn not only by the high quality of the products but also by Amir Nahid’s warm demeanor, exemplary customer service, and the cozy, welcoming atmosphere of the café. These factors made the café a favorite spot for regular meetups.
The core competitive advantage of the Amir Chocolate brand lies in its exceptional ability to foster genuine, heartfelt connections with its customers. A sense of friendship, warmth, and tranquility was established from the very beginning, gradually turning Amir Chocolate into a beloved neighborhood hub and eventually a destination for people from farther areas. The inviting ambiance, combined with high-quality offerings and professional service, created a delightful experience that lingered in customers’ memories and encouraged them to return time and again.
After two decades of successful presence in the market, one of the brand’s main challenges was updating its visual identity. Amir Chocolate’s identity, anchored in a long-standing logo, had been solidified in customers’ minds through familiar signage across 30 branches in Tehran and 35 more across the country.
However, over time—and especially with the evolving tastes of Generation Z—the existing visual identity began to lose its effectiveness. The old, non-standard and traditional logo design limited meaningful engagement with younger audiences and hindered the brand’s ability to connect with modern-day consumers on multiple levels.
On the other hand, any abrupt change to the identity could have risked alienating loyal customers and causing confusion across its extensive customer base—as seen in some unsuccessful rebranding efforts by other large-chain brands in recent years. Thus, the primary challenge was to preserve the essence and heritage of the brand while introducing a fresh platform for dialogue with new generations—a brand identity that felt both familiar and renewed.
To address this need, Platin Marketing & Communications Agency proposed a strategic redesign of the brand’s visual identity, logo, and slogan as a thoughtful approach to ensuring Amir Chocolate’s continued resonance across generations. The following outlines the process behind this transformation.
The redesign strategy was centered on a balanced approach: preserving elements that were nostalgic and familiar while enabling effective communication with younger audiences. The core focus was on “modernization with continuity”—maintaining emotional ties from the past while updating the identity to meet today’s aesthetic and functional standards.
The most critical strategic decision was to retain the typographic resemblance to the previous logo and standardize its color palette. As such, the red hue—long associated with the Amir Chocolate brand in the audience’s visual memory—was preserved, albeit refined into a more vibrant and contemporary version. This allowed the design to stay true to its roots while aligning with present and future sensibilities.
To enhance this redesign, two key elements were added to the visual identity:
1. Modern visual patterns and elements were introduced to ensure the brand could maintain a coherent and relatable presence across contemporary environments. These additions refreshed the brand’s visual language and facilitated deeper engagement with Generation Z and digital platforms.
2. Trend-conscious accent colors were incorporated alongside the core red tone, enriching the visual palette to align better with the aesthetics of younger audiences.
One of the most valuable aspects of the previous logo—its handwritten form, which conveyed a human and friendly feeling—was intentionally preserved. However, the hand-drawn style was carefully redesigned to ensure graphic standardization and compatibility with large-format displays such as storefront signs.
Uncontrolled protrusions and irregularities from the previous version were removed, allowing the new identity to remain cohesive and adaptable across various applications. Overall, this visual strategy aimed not only to maintain long-standing emotional bonds but to rejuvenate them in a form that resonated with today’s expectations.
In the next phase, the creative team focused on developing a dynamic and meaningful slogan. Drawing from the concept of “Always,” which was elaborated in the rebranding strategy case study, the team aimed for a slogan that would be both memorable and culturally relevant to Amir Chocolate’s customer base.
Field research revealed that the phrase “Hamoon Hamishegi” (translated as “Same as Always”) was widely used and loved by café-goers to refer to their favorite items. This phrase was chosen as the brand’s official slogan, with the English equivalent “Same as Always” incorporated into the identity.
The slogan “Same as Always” is more than just a phrase—it offers an emotional and functional narrative for the brand.
• Emotionally, it evokes nostalgia and familiarity through expressions like “the same old feeling,” “the same cozy gatherings,” or “the same old friends”—reinforcing a sense of warmth, continuity, and connection.
• Functionally, it reflects product consistency with lines such as “the same old coffee” or “the same mojito,” pointing to beloved items that customers repeatedly choose.
This dual structure enabled branding and marketing campaigns to highlight both emotional resonance and product loyalty.
Since the primary logo was retained for strategic reasons, a secondary visual element was needed to give the brand flexibility in modern, digital, and minimalist contexts.
In exploring the “Always” concept, the creative team found a symbolic connection to time—specifically the second, commonly represented by two vertical parallel lines (//). This symbol was selected as the brand’s complementary visual mark.
Interestingly, these lines also resembled the two dots found in the typography of the Persian word “Amir,” allowing for a cohesive and versatile secondary symbol that could even stand alone in certain visual contexts.
Recognizing its emotional impact and cultural resonance, the team decided to leverage the slogan “Same as Always” as a visual motif. Variations of this phrase—such as “the same good vibe” or “the same warm feeling”—based on actual customer feedback, were incorporated into packaging, cups, and featured items. Today, these phrases are prominently visible on many of Amir Chocolate’s products.
The rebranding project went far beyond a simple graphic update. It redefined Amir Chocolate’s brand position on multiple levels:
By retaining key brand elements such as the red color, handwritten typography, and the warm, inviting tone of the logo, the emotional bond with loyal customers remained intact, avoiding any confusion within its large network of patrons.
At the same time, the visual elements were modernized, and new, trend-aligned colors were introduced—creating a fresh, digital-friendly visual language that resonated with younger generations, particularly Gen Z.
The dual-layer slogan “Same as Always” enabled the brand to deliver a memorable and multidimensional message—combining nostalgia and emotional continuity with product consistency and quality.
The creation of a flexible secondary mark inspired by the concept of time, and its graphic harmony with the logo’s typography, gave the brand a versatile design asset for use across minimalist and digital environments.
Finally, the creative integration of the slogan as a recurring pattern across packaging and promotional items brought the new identity to life—not just visually but experientially. This approach preserved the brand’s legacy while paving the way for a vibrant and future-ready Amir Chocolate.
