An Auckland agency rebranded Saudi Arabia's Fakieh poultry giant for Vision 2030

Fakieh democratised fresh poultry in the Arab region after 1967, but had underinvested in brand, packaging and communications while international and local competitors arrived. It ran a global search — mandated to shortlist the world's top five branding agencies, partly for privacy — and chose Auckland's Onfire Design for its biggest-ever rebrand.

A dual-language wordmark whose Arabic script sits atop like a crown and a chicken's comb, backed by deep blue from Saudi door architecture and a rug-pattern brand device.

A year-long engagement spanning strategy, tone of voice, identity, packaging and food photography: the positioning 'We See Potential' tied nutrition to national pride and Vision 2030; a bespoke English-Arabic lockup was workshopped with typographers in both scripts, with beak-like shapes hidden in the device; the palette took deep door-blue plus gold, sandstone and light blue from local buildings and textiles, and a pattern of simple icons drew on traditional mats and rugs tied to family gatherings.

Fakieh's project leader Tuba Terekli's verdict: 'It was indeed a year well spent. We took a 65-year-old brand and brought it forward to the Saudi Arabia of now.' The source publishes no market results.

When a 'very traditional business' decided it needed to look as innovative as it had become, Fakieh Poultry Farms — the Saudi giant that made premium fresh poultry mainstream after 1967 — mandated a search for the world's top five branding agencies. In 2021 an email landed at Onfire Design, a branding agency from Auckland, New Zealand; a year-long project followed, the agency's biggest rebrand, covering brand strategy, tone of voice, identity, packaging and food photography.

The stakes were cultural as much as commercial. Chicken is the number-one protein source for millions of families across the Arab region, and Fakieh was a democratising brand and local hero — but it had barely invested in its brand since the 1960s while big international brands and ambitious local ones moved in. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 — the call to diversify the economy, strengthen national identity and support healthy lives — gave the company its impetus to refresh everything.

Onfire's answer was positioning as 'We See Potential': a lifelong connection with modern Saudis that honoured the brand's history while fuelling them toward their full potential. The wordmark was treated as a revolution, with nothing worth carrying over — a bespoke dual-language lockup workshopped with English and Arabic typographers, the traditional Arabic script crafted to sit above Fakieh like a crown and the comb of a chicken, and subtle beak shapes hidden in the device.

The system around it stayed rooted in place: a deep, rich blue inspired by the architectural painting on Saudi doors and window frames, secondary golds, sandstones and light blues from local buildings and fashion, and a brand pattern built from the simple-icon language of traditional mats and rugs associated with family gatherings and food sharing.

Fakieh selected on craft rather than proximity, and an Auckland studio repaid it by immersing in Saudi culture before drawing anything.

The Arabic-first lockup — crown, comb, beak — embedded the product and the culture into the logo instead of decorating a Latin wordmark.

Every colour and pattern was sourced from local architecture and textiles, so modernisation read as national pride under Vision 2030.

The positioning linked a protein brand to human potential, giving a 65-year-old company a role in the country's future rather than its pantry.

A heritage brand in a fast-modernising market needs permission from its own culture: pull every visual cue from local craft so the revolution reads as pride, not import.

The rebrand rolled out across Fakieh's touchpoints as 'a 65-year-old brand brought forward to the Saudi Arabia of now', in project leader Tuba Terekli's words. The article, published in 2024, reports no sales or tracking results, but positions Onfire's win as proof a New Zealand studio can take — and deliver — a national-scale rebrand in one of the world's most demanding markets.