Nielsen-Massey Website Design
Client: Nielsen-Massey Vanillas — Waukegan, Illinois
Platform: Custom WordPress website with advanced functionality
Nielsen-Massey Vanillas is a heritage brand known worldwide for its pure vanilla and flavorings. From shelves in leading grocery stores to the kitchens of home bakers and Michelin-starred chefs, their products have defined quality for more than a century. The website had become outdated and difficult to navigate, falling short of representing Nielsen-Massey’s global presence and reputation for quality.
Graticle Design partnered with Nielsen-Massey to bring their digital presence up to the level of their product reputation. The result is a large-scale, custom WordPress site that not only showcases their products beautifully but also functions as a modern hub for recipes, retailers, and multiple customer segments.
The Challenge
The previous website was ancient—hard to use, slow to load, and impossible to maintain effectively. It didn’t help customers discover recipes, find products, or understand Nielsen-Massey’s story. For a global leader in vanilla, the online experience wasn’t doing justice to the brand.
The new website needed to:
- Showcase dozens of products with clear, interconnected detail pages.
- Provide a recipe library that could be easily searched and filtered by ingredients, prep time, and usage.
- Include “Find a Retailer” functionality to help customers locate products in stores worldwide.
- Support multiple audiences, including separate websites for customers and the Nielsen-Massey Academy.
- Be mobile-friendly, SEO-ready, and easy for the client’s team to update long term.
Our Approach
We designed a custom WordPress solution that balances brand storytelling with advanced functionality. Every aspect of the site—from recipes to retailer tools—was built to make customer journeys simpler and more engaging.
- Custom Recipe Filtering: Users can filter recipes by time, type, or product, and see exactly which Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract or flavoring is used.
- Product Interconnections: Products are linked to recipes and usage ideas, making cross-discovery seamless.
- Find a Retailer Tool: Customers can quickly locate Nielsen-Massey products in stores, bridging the gap between online discovery and in-store purchase.
- Separate Websites: We built distinct sites for customer-facing content and the Nielsen-Massey Academy, ensuring each audience gets a tailored experience.
- Enterprise-Scale Management: Despite its size, the site remains easy for Nielsen-Massey’s team to update with new products, recipes, and content.
Designing for Brand Heritage
Because Nielsen-Massey’s reputation is built on history and quality, the site design had to feel timeless yet modern. We used clean layouts, bold product photography, and consistent visual systems to highlight both their iconic vanilla extracts and their expanding flavor portfolio.
Key design elements included:
- Clean Product Pages: Detailed photography, bullet-point highlights, and technical specs help customers quickly evaluate products.
- Recipe Hub: A visually rich, magazine-style layout that encourages exploration.
- Trust Elements: Reinforced brand credibility through storytelling, history, and quality callouts.
- Global Audience Readiness: Structured for SEO and expansion into international markets.
Ongoing Partnership
Our work with Nielsen-Massey didn’t end at launch. We continue to manage their website on an ongoing basis—adding new features, refreshing content, and ensuring the site evolves with the brand’s needs. From performance monitoring and security to day-to-day updates, we serve as their website partner, keeping the site fast, secure, and aligned with their goals.
Results
The transformation has been dramatic. Nielsen-Massey’s new site is no longer just a placeholder—it’s a growth engine for the brand.
- Traffic Growth: Website visits have increased tremendously compared to the old site.
- SEO Visibility: Recipes and products are now easily discovered on Google, driving both consumer and professional engagement.
- Customer Experience: Visitors can find the right product, the right recipe, or the nearest retailer quickly and confidently.
- Brand Representation: The site finally reflects Nielsen-Massey’s standing as a global leader in vanilla and flavorings.
Why This Matters
For mid-to-large businesses, this project highlights the value of a custom-built platform over cookie-cutter solutions. When you’re managing large catalogs, multiple customer types, and complex brand storytelling, an off-the-shelf template won’t cut it. Nielsen-Massey’s site shows how a tailored approach can:
- Connect products, content, and customer tools in a cohesive experience.
- Scale to serve different audiences without diluting the brand.
- Turn a heritage story into a modern digital presence that supports growth.
For marketing companies and established brands, this case study is proof that Graticle Design can deliver large, technically complex websites that still feel clean, approachable, and true to your story.
Services Used
Click on a service below to learn more:
