The Design Masters 2014 results

Communicating brand story, heritage and authenticity is vital in ensuring a product’s shelf standout and longevity, as Becky Paskin finds in this year’s Design Masters

The Design Masters 2014 is the only Spirits Masters competition to judge a product on its first impression

Regardless of category, product packaging tells a bigger story than simply describing what’s contained inside, but the challenge to communicate the brand’s broader narrative in a compelling yet effective manner can be deceptively tricky.

The ability to convey heritage, authenticity, provenance and personality in a unique and aesthetically pleasing manner that’s eye-catching yet avoids tackiness or cringeworthy extravagance is more elusive than commonly thought.

“Sometimes companies seem to be obsessed with creating a nice design but it’s very important for them to build a brand that becomes stronger and stronger over time, not something that just sells for one season or two,” remarked Christian Huynen of Cartils and chair of judges for The Design Masters 2014. However, the medal winners in this year’s competition, held at London’s

TwoRuba bar at Hilton Tower Bridge, achieved the complicated task of combining branding with smart design.

In a departure from the rest of the Spirits Masters series, our panel were tasked with critiquing what lay on the outside, rather than blindly judging the liquid that lay within. For such a task we required a team whose expertise lay in design and branding – joining Huynen on the panel were Mark Axford, partner of Brand Foundry, and myself. Although I profess to lack a keen knowledge of spirits packaging design elements, I provided the market insight from an industry perspective. All entries in this year’s competition were marked on four key qualities: shelf visibility; branding and character; finish; and overall impression.

First to be judged on the day was Rum, which turned out to be pleasantly surprising. “We gave a lot of awards, which says something of the quality of products in this category,” said Huynen. Four medals were awarded here – two Silvers and two Golds – for products spanning a wide range of price brackets.

While Axford remarked that the category has become “an exciting marketplace”, Huynen warned that brands need to be careful not to lose their heritage from their packaging in a bid to keep up with Cognac and whisky. “All of a sudden rum producers are taking some radical steps in their design, which maybe isn’t necessary because the answer is staring them in the face. Instead of making everything modern and sleek, concentrate on your brand story.”

A lone Belgian malt from Distillery de Molenberg was the only World Whisky to win a medal in the following category, which despite its small size and unusual shape for a whisky bottle, gained praise from the judges. “It’s nice to see new developments in world whisky,” said Huynen. “Gouden Carolus has positioned itself as something different, which might not be a bad thing, although they have to give specific taste expectations to the consumer as well.”

The judges, from left to right: Mike Axford, The Brand Foundry, Becky Paskin, The Spirits Business, Christiaan Huynen, Cartils.

The largest category of the day was Scotch Whisky, which presented a range of different styles, brand and price positioning. A decent nine medals were handed out here, with two Masters going to John Dewar & Sons’ Dewar’s 18 Year Old and newlyredesigned Aberfeldy 21 Year Old. Both products were deemed to have “neatly communicated their respective brands” in a “clear and charming” manner.

High praise was also sung for the entire Dewar’s range, which secured four medals overall. “The Scottish lot are having to fight their corner with competition across the world and the Scotches here are doing just that, particularly the Dewar’s range which is just great,” added Axford. However, every Scotch in the line-up was commended for their communication of heritage and craftsmanship through their packaging.

The entrants in the Gin category fared just as well, with many attracting a medal and high praise, although standard bottle shapes were starting to become the norm here, particularly from smaller brands. While an understandable cost-saving choice, Huynen warned against settling for a standard bottle mould and advised producers to create their own unique style for ultimate shelf standout.

That said, four medals were awarded to gins hailing from a number of different countries; Spain’s Santamania and Northern Ireland’s Shortcross both scored Silvers, Australia’s Botanic Australis took a Gold, and Scotland’s Hendrick’s took home a Master. “Hendrick’s is the clear winner here,” Huynen said. “Its unique typeface, clear branding, bold design, bespoke bottle and diamond-shaped label make it stand out a mile. The danger is a lot of gins are trying to play catch up with Hendrick’s now.”

While Hendrick’s clearly led the gin pack, it was Moët Hennessy’s Belvedere that clearly stood out in the Vodka round. Its tall, frosted bottle with a clear image of the Belvedere house shining through from the back has become iconic within the vodka category. “You have to hand it to Belvedere that has survived the test of time,” said Axford. Both Belvedere’s original vodka and Unfiltered expression in its shiny black and metallic gold packaging were awarded Masters medals.

The only other medal winner in this category was Denmark’s Black from Arcus, which was described as “quirky and cool” but could have dialled up the brand story a touch more. “Only three medals were awarded today but that’s not a representation of the quality that’s available within vodka,” reflected Huynen. “Packaging design is becoming more and more important, and building a strong brand is absolutely key to withstand the extreme pressures of the category.”

Next up was the Cognac category which presented a range of products between super-premium and ultra-premium, but the only medal winner here was Courvoisier’s £1,600 L’Essence, which shone in its glossy black presentation box and suspended teardrop Baccarat crystal decanter. The bottle secured a Master for attention to detail, quality of the finish and communication of the Courvoisier story.

Ending the day were two “delightful” Vermouths from Australia’s Regal Rogue, which in their paper wrapping gave “an authentic, handcrafted feel” and secured both Bianco and Rosso a Silver medal each. “For a vermouth the paper works nicely. You imagine it to be a handcrafted product, with people wrapping it up in newspaper to protect it from sunlight.”

Reflecting on the competition, our judges felt that those products that had truly considered their brand identity and story and communicated it effectively through unique packaging were the stars of the competition, regardless of budget.

“A brand isn’t just a logo, it’s a holistic experience,” Axford reflected, while Huunyen added: “In certain cases, brands try to leverage authenticity but they fail to become a brand; they go into a typographical cliché in some cases without achieving the one thing that matters – a unique brand identity for itself.”

Click through the following pages to see the results of The Design Masters 2014.

Rum
Company	Product Name	Award
Flor de Caña	Flor de Caña 25 Year Old	Gold
Botran	Botran Reserva Añejo	Gold
Maverick Drinks	Professor Cornelius Ampleforth’s Rumbullion Navy Strength	Silver
Flor de Caña	Flor de Caña 12 Year Old	Silver

 

World Whisky
Company	Product Name	Award
Het Anker	Distillery de Molenberg Gouden Carolus Single Malt	Silver

 

Scotch
Company	Product Name	Award
John Dewar & Sons	Aberfeldy 21 Year Old	Master
John Dewar & Sons	Dewar’s 18 Year Old	Master
William Grant & Sons	Glenfiddich Cask Collection Vintage Cask	Gold
Edrington	Cutty Sark Prohibition Edition	Gold
John Dewar & Sons	Dewar’s 15 Year Old	Gold
Gordon and MacPhail	G&M Private Collection The Glenlivet 1952	Gold
John Dewar & Sons	Dewar’s White Label	Silver
John Dewar & Sons	Dewar’s 12 Year Old	Silver
Maverick Drinks	The Reference Series	Silver

 

Gin
Company	Product Name	Award
William Grant & Sons	Hendrick’s	Master
Mt Uncle Distillery	Botanic Australis	Gold
Rademon Estate Distillery	Shortcross	Silver
Unique Spirits SL	Santamania	Silver

 

Vodka
Company	Product Name	Award
Moët Hennessy	Belvedere	Master
Moët Hennessy	Belvedere Unfiltered	Master
Arcus	Black	Silver

 

Cognac
Company	Product Name	Award
Beam Suntory	Courvoisier L’Essence	Master

 

Vermouth
Company	Product Name	Award
The Regal Rogue Group	Regal Rogue Blanco	Silver
The Regal Rogue Group	Regal Rogue Rosso	Silver