Luxury and Food: The New Ingredient of Branding
- Itziar Villar Helguera
- Sep 30
- 2 min read
Why luxury brands are using food
Food evokes primal emotions (nostalgia, comfort, pleasure) and enables multisensory content in platforms dominated by the visual. For brands, associating with food — or turning food into a design object — multiplies the chances of virality and engagement with younger audiences, especially Gen Z, who value everyday experiences as markers of status.
The merge of luxury and food: The new ingredient of branding
Luxury has found an unexpected ally in food: from campaigns featuring tomatoes, butter or patisserie to edible products and pop-ups signed by fashion houses. This phenomenon is not merely an aesthetic wink: food acts as a sensory shortcut that helps audiences imagine texture, scent and the product experience — and, by extension, to perceive exclusivity and desire.
Recent examples
Brands like Loewe and Jacquemus have deployed food (tomatoes, butter, cakes) as recurring concepts in campaigns, products and activations: from tomato-shaped clutches to pop-ups and fragrances inspired by tomato leaves. These examples show how a meme → product or a sensory idea can be transformed into a brand strategy.
El packaging como experiencia sensorial
Packaging remains a decisive touchpoint: studies by Ipsos and industry reports indicate that a large share of consumers recognize packaging design as influential in purchase decisions. Academic research also reinforces the visual influence of packaging on perceived quality and buying behavior. This makes packaging a central asset for brands that integrate food as part of their identity.
Packaging is part of identity: it protects, communicates, seduces and converts.
72% of consumers say packaging design directly influences their purchase decisions.
According to widely cited Ipsos data
Implications for branding, web design and creative direction
Branding / Visual identity: Integrating food into a brand narrative requires coherence: colour palettes that evoke flavours, graphic textures that suggest tactility, iconography and storytelling that position the food item as a metaphor for values (craftsmanship, freshness, tradition).
Packaging: Design for the unboxing and for social capture — packaging that invites sharing multiplies organic reach. Consider materials, tactile finishes and microcopy that tell a story (origin, recipe, process).
Web design / UX: The digital experience must extend the sensory impression: micro-interactions, detailed imagery, product videos in context and modules explaining provenance or the “why” behind the edible element.
Creative direction: Coordinate food styling, photography and typography so the edible element complements — rather than distracts from — the brand. Creative direction must orchestrate emotion and usability.
Food has become a strategic — and often profitable — resource within the luxury sphere. It is not merely ornamentation: it is a sensory language that, when handled well, strengthens identity, sparks conversation and converts. In design, packaging and web UX we find the levers to make that experience coherent and memorable.
We design experiences that are remembered from the very first contact.
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