Interesting Commentary on the UK Gordon's Gin Campaign

From Where's the Sausage:

"A great column by Professor Mark Ritson in Marketing last week, taking about the importance of authenticity. Had me nodding my head vigorously from start to end. Here's why:

Consumers have always wanted authenticity: Mark says:

"Consumers want brands burned with the mark of their founders, not artificially engineered by their agencies. They want to know who made the brand, where and why".

Great quote. It sums up pretty well the whole idea behind this blog and my belief about brands based on substance, not spin. Most of the brands blogged about here are "burned with the mark of their founders" (e.g. innocent, Apple, Gu, Method, Harley Davidson. Aston Martin).

Consumers are smart: you can't invent authenticity. You either have it or you don't. And trying to invent it may work at first, but you're likely to get found out. As Mark says, "Most consumers are a lot smarter and more genuine than the marketers who target them."

"Beware the tenuous celebrity link up: Another campaign I've struggled with is Gordon's Gin using chef Gordon Ramsay in its ads. The main reason seems to be that he shares the name Gordon with the brand (and he's demanding of quality, loves Gordon's gin etc.). The problem is that this bloke also endorses loads of other products. And Mark suggests they should have done more with the story of the real Gordon, Alexander Gordon, who created the brand over 200 years ago."

Revelation from Bombay Sapphire

From BornRich:

Bombay Sapphire has created Revelation - a handmade crystal bottle adorned with extravagant gems and diamonds. The limited edition bottle was designed by Garrard, Baccarat and Karim Rashid. Representing the 10 botanical ingredients of Bombay Sapphire, the bottle features a huge gemstone with 10 principal facets. The handmade crystal bottle is the first in a set of five to be launched at five major international airports (London Heathrow, New York, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney). All the bottles will be finished with sapphires and diamonds and would set you back $200,000 each.

Gin and Tonic Fog

This is a few years old now, but really interesting.

The pictures are from the art exhibition of Marti Guixe for CASCO, in Utrech, 2004.

GAT FOG PARTY was essentially a room filled with Gin & Tonic fog.

According to CASCO's site:

"An artificial cloud of gin and tonic will pervade the Casco space, literally transgressing the distinction between looking and consuming. Martí Guixé, originally a product designer, dislikes objects and specialises in the unconventional design of the non-material. His point of departure is that everything is a form of consumerism: food, the city, landscapes, money, entertainment, communication. In his opinion, consuming has become first nature, so why not take this artificiality as an original source for new design?"

Presumably it would be possible to recreate the work with other spirits.

Right Gin

From the ever excellent NotCot:

"Right Gin ~ seems to have done branding the right way… with a old style classic crest composed of everything from Stags “symbols of strength and fortitude that challenge the status quo”, Socrates “the omnipresent all-knowing fly-on-the-wall”, Black “Sophistication & Authority”, Crown “symbol of our high hope to conquer the world”, a motto - Est Unus Modus Verus - “There is a right way”… and those are only some of my favorite elements of their crest, see below for screenshots breaking down every aspect of their crest.

As for the gin itself, i have no idea how it tastes, but reading its intriguing history on their site had made me curious to find some… after all anything made by such precise image controlling perfectionists that hated the taste of gins that came before must be worth a try… also on fun details… they have a “What’s your pleasure” section of their site that helps you make your ideal drink… but doesn’t offer your usual options, under Pixie Dust, you can choose from options like Pinch of Lust, Bucket of Revenge, Thimble of Envy, etc! [sidenote: does it drive anyone else nuts that instead of pretending to paperclip the picture up there, they put a paperclip sitting above it?]"



Looks really cool... and I love the fact that another booze brand thinks the idea of a crest is a good idea...

Great article on Hendrick's gin

Brief extract from the excellent adliterate blog:

"Stop brushing the 'mother's ruin' heritage under the shag pile but embrace it with the ferocity of a dog on heat. Wallow in the debauched world of 18th century London whose 17,000 gin houses were rapidly sending the capital to the dogs. In particular design your bottle to look like something straight out of Hogarth's Gin Lane. This will give you stand out on the back bar, curiosity value and a way in to a wonderfully rich visual language.

Wrap this counter category approach up in a personality that revels in the unusualness of the product - maybe publishing your own newspaper, holding an annual Chap Olympiad, encouraging bartenders to play croquet or providing rushed commuters with momentary relief."

For the rest of the post click here and explore the links.



It's a great case study of how to launch a brand into a stagnant market and highlights that using the internet in the spirit of the brand is a very powerful tool. What I like most is their use of well thought out merchandise that people actually want in their lives. This brand has Ooze written all over it.