Ace Bakery has a new brand platform and visual identity meant to make bread the star of the show once again.

The positioning to “love every bite” was developed with Mosaic, which was tasked with moving away from recipes and putting bread back in the centre of the frame, says Jef Moore, group creative director at the agency.

The creative is based around the idea to make “bread its muse,” Moore says. Ace packaging is not being altered because of its longstanding brand equity, but the creative features a new colour scheme meant to convey romance and a summer-like feeling, with copy that conveys the joy of eating fresh baked goods.

Within the competitive set, there is often bread on black or dark charcoal with flowers sprinkled. For Ace, Mosaic wanted to take a “hard left” with a new photography to capture buyers’ attention and stand out amidst a sea of sameness as it competes with private label brands and others.

“Ace is known in Canada as being top-tier in baked goods,” Moore says, adding it wanted a visual language that is reflective of that. Moore says that once it understood the insight that Canadians were willing to spend a bit more for premium, it wanted to articulate that notion, but not make it out of reach.

The “Love Every Bite” positioning opened up the aperture for other products, besides the baguettes the brand is known for. Moore tells strategy that it’s reminding consumers, for example, that it also has frozen offerings.

“Love Every Bite” executions will be tied to the retail calendar season, first around Easter. The work is being rolled out over the course of the year, with a combination of social, digital, OOH and prominent in-store assets coming later this summer.

Mosaic is also creating 15-second OLVs and it has a large retail media plan, working directly with Loblaw Media.