thumbnail image credit: © Pure Fishing

Challenge

Our mandate was clear: systematize and modernize each brand’s visual identity, differentiate them within the portfolio and the broader marketplace, and ensure they could operate fluidly within new manufacturing and merchandising systems.

Some brands, like Fenwick and Shakespeare, were visually stagnant—rich in heritage, but poorly equipped for modern retail. Others, like Plano, had become structurally fragmented after years of leadership turnover, leading to a messy merchandising landscape that lacked cohesion. And across the portfolio, internal design teams struggled to maintain consistency as they jumped from brand to brand without strong, codified guardrails.

It wasn’t just about cleaning up logos or refreshing packaging. It was about creating a system where each brand could thrive individually while contributing to a stronger, more efficient portfolio overall.

BOLTGROUP’s approach was both surgical and systemic. We started by understanding what made each brand unique—its heritage, its audience, its internal champions—and where it had lost its way. For Plano, that meant rebuilding structure and hierarchy from the ground up. The brand had been spread too thin for too long, resulting in a fragmented packaging system and unclear product tiers. We created a modular merchandising system that brought order to the chaos—clarifying how products were organized, packaged, and presented, without losing the brand’s equity.

For others, like Ugly Stik and Shakespeare, the need was more expressive. Their identities had grown dull, no longer signaling what made them compelling to modern consumers. We revitalized these brands by sharpening their visual presence by giving Ugly Stik a rugged, but unmistakable personality edge, and Shakespeare a heritage-forward polish that connected past and future.

Just as importantly, we solved for the internal teams. Designers needed to know how to execute each brand quickly and confidently, especially as they worked across multiple identities. We delivered not only refreshed visual systems, but the toolkits, guidelines, and cross-brand architecture to make them usable and sustainable in the hands of Pure Fishing’s in-house teams and external partners.

The outcome was a portfolio transformed. Legacy brands emerged with new energy and relevance, each confidently occupying its own space on the shelf and in the minds of consumers. Internal teams reported faster design cycles and fewer execution errors, thanks to the clear systems we put in place. At retail, clarity translated into stronger brand blocking, improved customer navigation, and ultimately, greater shelf impact.

The work also didn’t go unnoticed. Multiple brand refreshes—Plano, Ugly Stik, and Shakespeare among them—were recognized by the 2025 North America Transform and GDUSA Awards for excellence in creative strategy and visual identity. More importantly, the new systems gave Pure Fishing what it needed most: the ability to move with speed, consistency, and confidence as it continues to grow and innovate across its brand ecosystem.