New Decade, New Hustle: Jones Knowles Ritchie Rebrands First-Ever No-Sugar Added Matcha Energy Drink

MatchaBar celebrates the expansion of the Hustle product family with a rebrand and a called 'New Decade, New Hustle' with celebrities Diplo and Billie Eilish. The Hustle brand world was developed by design-led creative company Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR) and comes to life across visual identity, packaging, digital, in-store and out of home touchpoints designed to help consumers experience Hustle as the world’s most positive energy drink.

“As we continue on our journey to build best in class brands within the start-up community, our partnership with the world’s most exciting entrepreneurs continues, with brothers Graham and Max at Matchabar being a perfect example of this,” said James Nixon, CEO Europe and global head of ventures at JKR. “We’re thrilled to partner with them on bringing the Hustle to MatchaBar.”

MatchaBar co-founder and CEO Graham Fortgang said: “To reach the stage in our business where we can bring in an agency like JKR is an exciting moment. We’ve seen what they’ve done in the market - from dropping the 'Donuts' in 'Dunkin' to their iconic branding for Hippeas - we wanted to enter the new decade with a new look and a clear message - positive energy. As make the move to bring matcha to the masses, we wanted to create a new identity that speaks to the future of energy for all.”

“Hustle is all about positive energy, so we created a brand that looks how the product makes you feel,” said Stephen McDavid, creative director at JKR. “Whilst digging for an ownable look and feel we were inspired by the vibrant visual language of funk music, an inclusive culture that encourages self-expression and positivity. Music has always been in the brand’s DNA, we just turned it up to 11.”

JKR says the Hustlers, a cast of illustrated characters, are the soul of the brand: “Beyond the free-flowing wordmark, funk inspired typography, witty tone of voice and punchy colour palette, we have also introduced the Hustlers, an androgynous funk-fuelled crew of spokes-creatures. With a different character for each product in the range, the Hustlers embody the spirit of the brand--a community powered by positivity, giving you the energy to fuel your passion.”

The rebrand comes one year after MatchaBar created a buzz in the natural energy industry with the launch of the first-ever plant-based matcha energy beverage. The shift to no-sugar added and fruit juice sweetened flavors proves MatchaBar as an ever-evolving player in what experts claim will be a $32 billion global natural energy market by 2025.

JKR was strategic about portfolio architecture, establishing how Hustle sits with cult-favourite Matchabar and leaves room for future innovations. The cohesive kit of parts for Hustle provides consistency in brand expression whilst allowing for flexibility to tell different brand stories.

The first of those brand stories, a new campaign called 'New Decade, New Hustle,' calls upon some of the original MatchaFam – including Artist of the Year Billie Eilish and Grammy-winning DJ and songwriter and producer Diplo – to ask what Hustle means to them in the new decade.

The full Hustle Energy line will be available DTC on MatchaBar’s website on January 15th, 2020, and can be found nationwide Sprouts, Wegmans, Whole Foods, and 1,500 CVS stories, with additional retailers to be announced in early 2020.