Launched in May of 2016, NOTHING BUT REAL is a company that was founded with the mission of creating healthy snack products without artificial ingredients.

Their first product is a beverage, Oat, Chocolate, & Protein. The ingredient list is clean, especially in comparison to mainstream protein drinks: it includes whole grain oats, pea protein, maple syrup, agave, cocoa, vanilla, monk fruit and sea salt. From a taste perspective, it’s well executed, with a rich and creamy chocolate flavor, a touch of salt, and just the right amount of sweetness. And at 130 calories, 8g of protein, 3g of fat, and 10g of sugars, it seems like they’ve done a nice job balancing the nutrition as well.

While what’s inside the bottle seems like a good foundation for additional products, the outside feels as though it needs some work. For starters, the design and branding aren’t overly appealing or intuitive. We don’t mean to be harsh, but “Nothing But Real” doesn’t sound like a real brand name, which makes your eye go searching to figure out what the name of the product is. Furthermore, the treatment of “Oat, Chocolate, & Protein” feels a bit disjointed and backwards in terms of the true merit of each item (protein being first, oats probably being last, and chocolate simply being the flavor).

As with many products, figuring out how to really nail the design and brand of the initial product, rather than perhaps worrying about the greater branding system of a broader set of products, is something that’s really important. At this point, the product has no brand equity and what they’ve created isn’t the most approachable way to achieve this.

All in all, we definitely feel like the concept behind the product is one that has some potential. Now they just need to refine the way that they present and communicate it to consumers through the packaging.