Products are presented in a rectangular gift box in brown color, with an image of rice grains falling one after another over the white-colored cover. The writings resemble the most genuine style of dotted calligraphy. Some of the rice grains are decorated with lines that can be found in old window grilles, but are also infused with modern streamlines. These images complement the simple and sincere fonts lending to the brand name “Chiang Hao Kang”; and the tag is labeled with the words “100% Bran Layer‧Rice Germ.”

Exclusive Rice Bran Paste Rediscovers the Nutritional Values of Rice Bran

This is one of the byproducts of the collaboration between Yushan Rice Milling Plant and ATSAI Brand Design, prompted by the counseling of the Council of Agriculture.  Yushan Rice Milling Plant was founded by the grandfather of Liao Wei-chih, the third-generation boss, who vows to follow the ancestral preaching – “Love Taiwan, Treasure Farmers, Insist on Great Quality.” More than six decades have passed, and Yushan still preserves to this day its sophisticated and solid rice selection and milling techniques. Safe Taiwanese rice of high retail price is used all along with only one rice species and absolutely no mixing of other rice species.

However, in an effort to follow trends, Liao Wei-chih and his wife, Chuang Ya-chin, also began to develop healthy food products made with rice. They found at the very beginning the nutritional values of rice bran. After rice grains are harvested and sun-dried, they are brought to the milling plant for the removal of their hulls. At this stage, they are now brown rice; then their bran layers and germs are milled out, turning into polished rice, or commonly available white rice.

Historically, rice bran was not a popular ingredient due to how easily it would rot.  Nevertheless, much scientific research has shown that rice bran is rich in dietary fiber, and its protein contains essential amino acids. Moreover, rice bran is low-risk in allergies and is therefore appropriate to be used in baby food. Fatty acid in rice bran oil is composed of approximately 40% oleic acid and 34% linoleic acid. All kinds of physiologically active substances make rice bran a great dietary supplementary product.

However, rice bran is relatively coarse and is not easy to chew even after being soaked in water. In light of this, Liao and Chuang went through continuous trials and errors, trying to find out a way to lengthen rice bran’s shelf life. Then they began grinding the bran layers and the germs of organic rice and made them into rice bran.  Mixing the rice bran simply with a certain ratio of oil, salt, and sugar, they then created “rice bran paste,” which can be spread over toast or bread or mixed with noodles. Recently, they have even developed peanut and sesame flavors for rice bran paste.

Connecting with Everyday People to Establish Brand-New Positioning of Taiwan’s Beneficial Rice Bran Products

Yushan Rice Milling Plant is also promoting Black Rice Tea. Using exclusive facilities imported from Japan, the skins of black rice are easily dissolved in water; the low-temperature treatment would also help to retain anthocyanidin. All of these innovative breakthroughs carry local agricultural products and traditional food culture in a close knit and bring forth the most nutritious and flavorful products.  After listening to and understanding the client’s needs, and following its observations in regards to market transformation, consumption trends, and sales channels, ATSAI Brand Design decided to focus the campaign solely on the products themselves.

ATSAI Brand Design has long been devoted to the fields of tea, rice, and baking, following the belief that “design has the power to create feelings.” Design is to make life satisfactory and also to create life. With the multiple appeals that design is responsible for – brand inheritance, delivery of brand personality, expanding or differentiating consumer groups, market recognition, value establishment, and more, the design end stands alongside the sales end to face the market and serves an important role in communicating with the market.

Therefore, ATSAI decided to begin from rice bran itself and designed a clear and powerful brand “Chiang Hao Kang” (which literally means “paste (paste also sounds similar to ‘like this’ in Chinese) of nice and beneficial rice bran” in Chinese). As a communication medium, the benefits of rice bran echo everyday people’s language: “how nice!” In terms of product image, all the visuals center around “rice”; images of rice grains in light yellow symbolize completeness, a kind ecological cycle, and quality assurance. The message of “comprehensive retention of brown rice’s nutritional elements” is emphasized to accentuate the rice bran paste’s brand positioning: “Taiwan’s exclusive beneficial rice bran fiber diet.”

Liao Wei-chih is overjoyed at the birth of this new brand. He is hoping that “Chiang Hao Kang” can connect different generations and open up all consumer groups’ imagination about rice products, so that a wave of fresh energy will help push the development of Taiwan’s rice industry. And through brand sculpting, Chiang Hao Kang is now ready to further step towards the market of luxury gift-giving.