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Leland, Michigan – March 5, 2010 – "Discover The Power of Cherries™." For Michelle White, President of Michelle’s Miracle, those words and an updated brand identity represent the culmination of years of hard work that began in 2001 when she founded the Leland Cherry Company.
The current initiative includes a new logo, full line packaging redesign, and a website redesign that all reinforce the brand's “cherry-tage”, and acknowledges the company's commitment to Michigan’s tart cherry growers. “Our new brand identity is an articulation of the essence of Michelle’s Miracle–the power of tart Montmorency cherries,” said Ms. White. “We’ve changed the company fairly dramatically over the past six months to get this strong message and products at the core of everything we do.”
"This look firmly acknowledges our leadership position in the nutraceutical industry and we will continue to work to set the highest standard for innovation, natural health benefits and customer support," says White.
The firm chose bright colors, graphics and a bold, cherry Michelle’s Miracle brand character to convey a livelier personality that would better reach consumers at the shelf. The brand identity is also reflected in a new line of retailer support materials including print ads, point-of-sale, collateral and sales materials. The pieces, which highlight products such Michelle’s Miracle Tart Cherry Concentrate, Michelle’s Miracle Tart CherriMax Dietary Supplement, use the punch of cherry red with the subtle green cherry leaf border.
Brennan Higgins, Vice President of Client Services and Strategy of Havertown, PA-based ad agency DePersico Creative Group, supervised the redesign with the twin goals of communicating contemporary, premium positioning and competitively differentiating the Michelle’s Miracle brand. "Imagine the health food aisle 10 years ago," says DePersico’s Higgins, who described the landscape as dominated by an unsophisticated, ‘hippie-granola’ look. " But the category has changed tremendously, especially in the last five years, to where people are bringing in the same expectations of sophistication with branding that they do with traditional food categories."
The company initiated the redesign in September 2009 shortly after raising approximately $750,000 in equity investments. Madison, Wisconsin-based Phenomenelle Angels Fund lead the Series A round, and was joined by seed investors Fisher Properties of Muncie, Indiana, founders, prior investors and key suppliers. Michelle’s Miracle received another boost in January 2010, when the Central Michigan University-Research Corporation, a non-profit business incubator, awarded the firm a $250,000 funding investment from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund.
Michelle’s Miracle proves that instead of sourcing exotic berries from halfway around the world, Americans can find powerful, nutrient-rich, tart cherries grown in Michigan. A growing body of scientific research on the health benefits of tart cherries and their compounds suggests they may reduce inflammation and ease the pain of arthritis and gout. Michelle’s Miracle Tart Cherry Concentrate, the company’s key product, is a delicious, 100% natural nutraceutical loaded with antioxidants, potassium, anthocyanins—plant pigments that have been linked to a variety of health benefits—and melatonin.
“The country is in the middle of a lifestyle evolution. There are more than 100 million Americans over the age of 50, and these baby boomers are dedicated to living a healthier, more active lifestyle than their parents did,” says Ms. White. “We each have to take responsibility for our overall well-being, and tart cherries have among the highest levels of disease-fighting antioxidants, when compared to other fruits.”
Divorced and raising twin sons in 1998, Michelle was completing her bachelor’s degree and working full-time for a fruit-processing company in Leelanau County when she observed older people coming to the plant and asking for jugs of cherry concentrate, a by-product of pitted tart cherries. All of these people claimed that the Montmorency tart cherry concentrate significantly relieved the pain and swelling of arthritis. And although her employer made it clear he wasn’t interested in marketing the concentrate to a larger market, Michelle recognized the opportunity and quit her job at the fruit processing plant in 2001.
Using credit cards to finance
her start-up and a business plan her father helped her write, Michelle
went into business for herself. The response was tremendous, just as
she expected. “When you see consumer demand unfulfilled, you go get
it. That’s what entrepreneurship is all about,” White stated.
“Cherry farmland in northern Michigan is currently more valuable for
building superstores and subdivisions than growing cherries because
global markets pay little for the state’s farm products. Bringing Michigan
farmers closer to consumer markets may be one of the best courses of
action for global growth of Michigan’s second-largest industry,” White
indicated.
By 2008 Michelle realized that the business needed to change
in order to handle the tremendous growth. In September of 2008 Michelle’s
Miracle® was formed and Leland Cherry Company was merged into the new
company.
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Michelle’s Miracle Inc is a privately held Delaware corporation based
in Leland, Michigan, the tart cherry capital of North America. Michelle’s
Miracle manufactures and sells branded and private label tart cherry
nutraceutical products to wholesale, retail and ecommerce customers
around the world. Michelle’s Miracle unique product characteristics
include proprietary formulations, proprietary manufacturing processes,
and exclusive long shelf-life packaging. For more information, please
see the company website. www.michellesmiracle.com.