Boil Boss

Brand strategy, narrative development & identity direction

Context

Boil Boss was already doing well as a business, but the brand felt confused and inconsistent. I initially connected with the founder online, and it became clear they weren’t looking for just design — they wanted clarity and direction on how to show up. They had all the ingredients of a strong brand, but it wasn’t coming through externally.

The Challenge

The brand was being positioned around the product — a patented boil device — rather than the world it sat within.

  • Strong internal identity, weak external expression

  • Brand felt disjointed and unclear

  • Over-reliance on selling the product

  • No clear positioning beyond function

It felt like they knew who they were, but the brand wasn’t reflecting it.

What I Saw Early

My instinct was that this wasn’t a product company in the way they were presenting it.

They had deep ties to seafood culture — access to fishermen, recipes, community, and a genuine connection to Southern boil traditions.

But they were marketing themselves as a piece of equipment.

I disagreed with that direction. It felt limiting, and it undersold what made them valuable.

Discovery

I focused on understanding the culture around the product, not just the product itself.

  • Ongoing conversations with the founders

  • Interviews with people local to Louisiana

  • Research into behaviours, traditions, and community dynamics

  • Competitor analysis

The more I looked into it, the clearer it became:
this wasn’t about cooking — it was about what cooking represented.

Insight

They weren’t lacking identity — they were misrepresenting it.

The product was part of the story, but not the centre of it.

What actually mattered was the role seafood boils play in bringing people together — something they were already close to, but not fully owning.

Strategy

The decision was to reposition Boil Boss away from being product-led and towards something rooted in culture and experience.

Not ignoring the product — but putting it in the right place.

This meant:

  • Framing the brand around seafood culture, not just the device

  • Leaning into their connection to people, place, and tradition

  • Moving away from constant product-selling as the primary message

The goal was to create a brand that felt less restrictive and more representative of who they actually were.

Execution

The strategy translated into a clearer, more flexible direction:

  • A narrative built around community, food, and shared experience

  • A more natural, human tone of voice

  • Content that balanced product with culture (recipes, people, moments)

  • A brand structure that allowed for growth beyond a single product

Outcome

The biggest shift was internal clarity.

  • They saw themselves differently

  • It changed how they showed up across social and in-person

  • It unlocked new ideas and directions

  • The brand felt more aligned and less forced

They were already doing a lot of this — but now it had structure and intent behind it.

My Role

Led the work from initial conversations through to insight, positioning, and overall brand direction.

Reflection

This project was a reminder that the issue isn’t always what a business is — it’s how narrowly it’s choosing to define itself.

Once that expands, everything else opens up with it.