WINNER
Smirnoff X1 Spicy Tamarind
by Vault49, for Diageo
Vault49 designed Mexican tradition-inspired limited- edition packaging and campaign imagery for Smirnoff X1’s Spicy Tamarind Vodka, marking 2019’s Day of the Dead. The concept aimed to “capture the rich symbolism at the heart of the festivities with a contemporary twist”; hoping to maintain relevance in a climate where tequila was once again booming with young Mexican consumers.
“Smirnoff needed a new way to regain salience and bring vodka back into the heart of the party,” says Vault49. The bottle designs are inspired by the craftsmanship and symbolism of the ofrenda (offering) altars constructed by families for the deceased; and each bears a combination of graphic patterns, vibrant colours, and digital and hand-crafted illustration. The new designs use glow-in-the-dark ink to stand out in nightclubs and bars; and campaign imagery ran across touchpoints including experiential launch activations, packaging, social and digital. The offering sold out in just three months.
The judges said: “This was a really well-rounded entry, that showed real understanding of the audience and the aim of the brand to answer the brief perfectly. A sophisticated production of UV on the bottles, which brought the Day of the Dead imagery to a whole other level, and executed work that looks beautiful.”
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Haws Watering Cans Packaging Redesign
By Together Design, for Haws Watering Cans
Together Design worked with Haws Watering Cans to redesign its packaging and make the brand stand out in a booming houseplant market. It was vital to highlight Haws’ heritage as the world’s oldest watering can manufacturer with patents stretching back to 1886, according to Together, which adds that and every single metal can is still handcrafted from the brand’s West Midlands workshop.
Inspired by early patent drawings, the new illustrations are full scale so the outside of the pack exactly reflects the product within. The boxes themselves are now simple, utilitarian and 100% recyclable; with a tessellated design that echoes the shape of the can, reducing storage and postage costs. These shapes can also create interesting patterns for in-store displays.
The brand was repositioned to hit a “sweet spot” between traditional craftsmanship and the “style- conscious Instagram generation” using a redrawn logo and seal to reflect its early heritage. Together also art- directed and built an image library with photographer Catherine Falls. The consultancy’s designs for Haws’ stand at the Glee trade fair in Birmingham helped result in a sales uplift across the range.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
The Bletchley Park Gin
by Rose, for Bletchley Park
Rose was brought in by the team at Bletchley Park – once the top-secret home of the World War II codebreakers and the birthplace of modern information technology – to help launch The Bletchley Park Gin to sell in the museum gift shop, the on-site café, at special events and locally in Milton Keynes.
The consultancy was briefed to create packaging consistent with the master brand it created for the attraction in 2013, and which would stand out against commercial gins, appealing to “gin enthusiasts and Bletchley Park visitors alike”. Rose learned that gin was “the favourite tipple of many
of the Bletchley Park veterans during the war”, so wanted to evoke a 1940s “spirit of resourcefulness”. The designs also reference the code pattern Rose created for the identity by creating “a playful new puzzle for budding code-breakers” which hides all 10 of the botanical ingredients in the pattern. The bottles use white text on a clear label, evoking the etched vintage siphons of the 1940s.
PACKAGING 2D GRAPHICS
Senser Spirits - Lift your mind & mood
by Magpie Studio, for Senser Spirits
Senser is a range of non-alcoholi spirits launched in early 2020 with botanicals that claim to bring “mood- transforming properties”.
Magpie’s designs aim to capture these effects in a “playful story” set vertically that wraps around the bottle as “an invitation to interact with the pack, and pause as you pour”.
The uplifting narratives aim to mirror the positive effect the brand claims drinkers gain from the spirits: the key ingredients are seen first, before these metamorphosise into a symbolic spirit animal. These animals are represented in both copy and key illustrations, looking to create immediacy in the packaging, explain the product’s benefits and signpost the difference between spirits.
The typography aims to elevate the product using a wordmark featuring “subtle up-arrows, to continue the theme of mood elevation”, says Magpie. The S monogram looks to sum up the experience of drinking Senser, with a figure diving into a portal and re-emerging as a dolphin.
Our Type of Food
by The Click, for Jarrold Department Store
'Our Type of Food' is an own label range of food and drink by Jarrold, the largest independent department store in Norfolk with 250 years of history.
The Click was briefed to create the name, identity and packaging to launch the range, and the designs references the brand’s beginnings as a printer and publisher utilising its collection of woodblock and letterpress type. The Click worked with volunteers at the John Jarrold Print Museum to source the perfect styles and scales of typefaces to fit each product’s packaging, using Jarrold's historic printing presses to create the packaging artwork.
The designs for products – which span a selection of artisan-made items – can be used to spell out words, “offering a ready-made campaign,” says The Click. The back of packs show the product stories, such as the ingredients’ provenance, using a drop cap detail and typographic layout intended to echo that of the printed page.
Young's Beer Rebrand
by Kingdom & Sparrow, for Marstons (Young's)
As one of the UK’s most celebrated heritage beer brands, Young’s needed to refresh its identity to appeal to the newer generation of beer drinkers.
Kingdom & Sparrow set about developing a contemporary brand voice for Young's while maintaining its brewing history and credibility.
The consultancy used the core brand message “Take London Head On” and created new assets with a bright colour palette and bespoke typeface that aimed, in Kingdom & Sparrow’s words, to help “change younger consumer's perceptions of cask ale and stand up to competitors on the bar and shelf.”
It also created a new hand-drawn ram emblem that sees the character leaping over the London skyline to give the device more “attitude”.
Cadbury ‘Donate Your Words’
by Design Bridge London in collaboration with VCCP London, for Mondelez
Design Bridge worked with VCCP London on the Cadbury ‘Donate Your Words’ campaign, which looked to help Age UK fight loneliness by using chocolate bars that were almost wordless in their design. The bars aimed to highlight the fact 225,000 older people often going a week without speaking to anyone, showing a message in a milk splash speech bubble on the back of the pack explaining 30p per bar sold is donated to Age UK.
People were encouraged to “donate their words” by volunteering their time to talk to vulnerable older people. “We kept things simple, leaving the milk pour exactly where it normally appears on the standard bar,” says Design Bridge. “The Cadbury purple and the milk pour are so distinctive that the bar is immediately recognisable. The milk becomes a symbol of goodness and generosity.” The packaging campaign was accompanied with an online film that encouraged viewers to get involved; and the project led to 990,000 people donating their words.
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