Get to know - Freddie Coltart from DDB.

Have you ever wondered who designed the Goodie Box?

After DDB’s recent Bronze Lion win for the Everybody Eats ‘Goodie Box’, we thought it would be great to share more about the aesthetic and branding for the project.

So we spoke with Freddie Coltart of DDB to learn about how they got into design, what they needed to consider when creating the Goodie box, and more... 

Hey Freddie, can you please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into creative? 

I came from a graphic design background then studied creative advertising at Media Design School. I’ve since worked in multiple different ad agencies, making work for some of NZ’s biggest (and smallest) brands.

What is your position at DDB and how did you get into working for DDB? 

I’m a Creative Director at DDB. I had always wanted to work for DDB since the start of my career but the time was never right, then about 3 years ago, the job was there, the time was right. Done.

You’ve worked on so many amazing projects, what have been some of your highlights so far? 

We work on it all, from film to radio and everything in-between. For L&P we got someone to jump from space to do a manu in a local pool, for Testicular Cancer we created the world’s first “automatic” testicle checker, for 42 Below we created a line of soap made of the second hand citrus from cocktail dregs… The job is weird and wacky but always interesting.

Who are your favourite designers you are inspired by and why? 

I follow a lot of illustrators/designers on Instagram. Ideally they are Kiwi and just starting out so through our work we can help give them some extra exposure. Here’s a random selection @marcuswatson_ @jason.fantonial @alanberryrhys @jean_jullien

Can you please tell us how you got involved with creating the Goodie Box?

My good friend Nick Loosely founded Everybody Eats and I have always loved the charity, so DDB decided they wanted to make some pro-bono work to help. Being a charity, we couldn’t come up with a concept that required a big media spend. So instead with Goodie Box, we created our own media channel (when partnered with decent packaging), and let earned PR do the heavy lifting. 

When designing the Goodie Box, what did you need to consider to make sure the box was doing all it needed to do?

Working with my creative partner Matt Williams and our lead designer Musonda Katongo we needed to hit multiple points.
- Food, for obvious reasons
- Organic, honest and imperfect design. Our hand-cut food illustrations fit the bill.
- Colourwise, we needed something earthy and natural but enough pops of colour to catch the eye and create a “Ooo, what’s that?” moment in restaurant.
- Classy. Since the Goodie Box was going into nice restaurants all over NZ, we needed these sophisticated spots to proudly hand their customers, our Goodie Boxes.

Finally, but most importantly, it needed to be hardworking. We needed the copy and call to action to be brutally short, simple but crystal clear to what the concept was and what we needed the diners to do. We needed to make things easy for them, especially after they’ve had a few drinks!

What has been the best part of seeing the Goodie Box come to life so far? 

Seeing the NZ hospitably band together (over the toughest time for them in history) and support this fantastic cause.

As one of the elements of the goodie box is around sustainability, what sustainable practices have you incorporated into your day-to-day life? 

I love the fact you can now take soft plastic recycling to supermarkets now. Just drop it off when you do your weekly shop, a no-brainer. Also, I’d recommend researching online on what are the most energy efficient settings to run your heatpump. I was surprised!

Being based in Auckland, where are your favourite local cafes to visit?

Hard to beat a skirt steak with habanero mustard from Depot... Al Brown, the legend!
Also the kahawai rillette paired with a cold beer, best eaten in the sun at Hotel Ponsonby…