some interesting bottle and glass designs....

Bottle neck promotion

I have been looking into all the existing possibilities and ideas with regards to bottle neck promotion. Matt and myself are considering this as a means of promoting the cocktail making competition at the point of sale within shops. Most of these are pretty vile in terms of aesthetic in my opinion, but they offer a range of solutions to effectively hanging a piece of card around a bottle....

design aesthetic

I have been looking into some contemporary illustration work to help me determine with Matt what kind of design aesthetic he wants to go for before I start working with some image. I have selected these particular images because I think that they reflect what we are trying to create visually based on either colour palette, line quality or any other elements.

In this first example I like the fairly muted colour palette and how the areas of textured colour contrast with the thin linear drawings.

In this one I quite simply like the use of shapes and flat colours. The colour palette is mature which is the kind of thing we need to be thinking about.

I love the line quality of these designs. I have been picturing some linear vector art for this brief, and I want the lines to be sinuous in the way that they are in these three images...

I like the contemporary style of illustration in these images, although I want our Glayva artwork to be contemporary and modern I think that this style is a little too child-like. Although, I love the colour palette, the muted red and blue with the brown and antique coloured stock work really well together.

I dont like the top two images of this page bellow, but I like the line quality of the bottom one and the contrast between areas filled with lines and flat black areas.

With these images bellow I like the pattern element (particularly the two on the right hand side of the page).

I think these illustrations are beautiful in terms of design and pattern and the restricted colour palette works really well. I think this style of image is really appropriate and would appeal to a more mature but still contemporary audience.

Again, here it is the sinuous line quality that I like, but I also like the dotted line along her leg. I think that it suggests a sense of travel and adventure which could suit the concept and aesthetic that we are trying to go for.

I absolutely love the colour selection in these images. I want to incorporate the colours associated with fruits that could be used in the cocktails but in  muted sophisticated and mature way.

A good example of some more vector based work. I think that the product would suit something more digital. I will design by hand and then vectorize the lines...

Here I like the contrast between vast flat black areas and line...

Here I like this colour palette...

Research into specialised branded glasses

One idea that Matt and myself discussed was the possibility of designing and branding a special glass for Glayva to be served in in bars and clubs and potentially sold as limited edition sets in certain retailers. I think that this would be an interesting, simple and possibly cost effective strategy to promote the drink. I think that if the design was strong and appealing people would see other people drinking out of the glass and feel intrigued as to what it is... 

The most interesting of these glasses sourced from : http://www.markenglas.de/

ABSOLUT VODKA ADS AND CAMPAIGNS

Absolut vodka is famous for its intriguing design, advertising and marketing campaigns which is why i think it would be beneficial to look into a few of them to help generate ideas for how to appropriately target our audience for this brief.

"Absolut Watkins"

• limited edition flavour from Absolut, created exclusively for global travellers, reflecting all of the excitement, glamour and star quality of the globetrotting fashion world. 
• Launched throughout the global duty free/travel retail market in January 2011.
• Flavour information : rich, smooth and sensual in taste and aroma with the distinct, mysteriously luxurious qualities of freshly ground coffee with notes of almond, caramel and warm chilli.

• The extravagant and glamorous decor of the unique limited edition Absolut Watkins bottle was created by celebrated Swedish fashion illustrator and artist,Liselotte Watkins, famous for her designs for fashion brands such as Miu Miu, Anna Sui and Barney’s as well as for magazines such as Vogue and The New Yorker.
• What Liselotte Watkins said about her design : “With my bottle decor and the campaign imagery, I wanted to convey something of my own vision regarding the archetype of cosmopolitan glamour,” said Stockholm and Milan based Watkins. “The flavour is a traveller’s exclusive and travelling is one of my great passions. Everything I do is all about people and places, travelling and new experiences.”
• premièred at a release party at Villa L’Abri in Cannes.
• The “sneak première” of Absolut Watkins was staged during the TFWA World Exhibition at an extravagant party for trade press and VIPs, complete with set designs and extras employed to add an out-of-the-ordinary sense of the timeless glamour of classic luxury travel, naturally all in the presence of the artist. 

(Source:PopSop)

How this relates to Glayva

• Could link to something 'fashionable', for example a fashion label, fashion show, shop, club, clubnight, book, magazine, other publication,  exhibition, artist, musisian, theatre, play, event etc etc.
• Target more specific market market : travellers, designers, artists etc etc.
• Launch the sprit at an event?
• Design music, artwork, visuals, vjs, set design for event to create appropriate atmosphere for the product.

INVESTIGATING OTHER SIMILAR BRANDS

I am looking into some alcoholic brands that I feel fall under the same catergory and attract the same target audience that Glayva want.

HENDRICK'S :

Hendricks, "It's not for everyone" - plays on the concept that it's not mainstream but is in fact for people of distinguished taste. Visually the brand uses imagery related to mixing the drink (cucumber) and both male and female characters pushing the idea that it's unisex. The bottle itself and packaging are pretty traditional and old fashioned in appearance, as is the illustrative style. I think that these are are all really relevant assets to take into account as in many ways it mirrors what we are trying to achieve with Glayva. However, Hendricks gin is already established in this country and to a wide audience of adults. I think to successfully introduce Glayva, it might not work to portray it in quite this way.

BACARDI :

Bacardi take a less traditional approach to their marketing, using an emphasis on music to target their customers. This is a more contextually appropriate for Glayva, but again Bacardi is already a well know, well established brand.

DRAMBUIE :

"The spirit lives on" is one of the main taglines used for Drambuie. I think that this works really well in terms of promoting this drink to a unisex, young adult audience.