Imperial Tobacco is leading the Roll Your Own segment worldwide. Drum is one of their key brands, sold in over 45 markets of which the Netherlands are most important.
In this market, similar to the trend in Factory Made Cigarettes, consumers are switching to value propositions. Imperial Tobacco decided to introduce a value offer ‘Drum Economy’ to prevent these consumers from switching to other brands. Claessens|Cartils from Amsterdam developed a brand presentation for Drum Economy with a modern look appealing to the young adult smoker.
Drum Economy is available in ‘Half Zwaar’ and ‘Zwaar’ varieties and is sold in all retail channels in The Netherlands.
A new brand of high-quality olive oil has been introduced on the Dutch market. On the 7th of November 2008, Prorieta Di Doorten launched the brands San Mauro and Colline di San Mauro. These olive oils are based on an old roman recipe; a cold pressing within 24 hours after harvest, produced from the olive trees of the well-know Sabina region north of Rome.
Inspired by the origin and authenticity of these new product developments, Claessens|Cartils created the corporate name, names of the brands, logos and brand presentation, as well as secondary packaging. The brand name originates from the small street at which the domain is located, whereas the icon depicts a castle on the Sabina hills.
The presentation emphasizes the absolute class, contemporary nature and high-quality of the products and underlines the authentic brand character of San Mauro.
More information: www.oliosanmauro.com
Claessens Product Consultants expands and continues as Claessens|Cartils. Claessens Product Consultants, one of the world’s first branding & packaging design consultancies, has expanded by teaming up with Cartils in London. Working together in two creative capitals, Amsterdam and London, the two companies cover a larger market and sustain a faster growth, gaining direct access to the London market of specialised professionals, services and designers.
Managing Director and owner Chris Huynen comments; “It was a logical step, we have been growing for the past years and now we can extend our international presence in order to continue a sustainable and qualitative growth. This allows us to serve our clients even better”. Claessens|Cartils is the continuation of Claessens Product Consultants, established 1960 in Hilversum (near Amsterdam), a renowned branding and packaging design consultancy, advising international companies in the area of branding strategy, brand portfolio management and packaging design in the premium FMCG market. Cartils, located in Notting Hill, is an independent, young, design agency, focussing on highly qualitative work for international companies.
Experienced staff has found their way to this London office. Claessens|Cartils can refer to a list of renowned clients within the beverages, tobacco and cosmetics industries such as Heineken, Carlsberg, SAB Miller, Imperial Tobacco, Swedish Match, Pernod Ricard, Nestlé waters, Schweppes, Rivella, House of Prince, Pago, Chateau Giscours and Unilever. Today 52 projects are actively handled in 25 different countries. The Claessens|Cartils group, with a staff of over 50, has offices in Amsterdam and London, as well as representatives in Moscow and Bombay. By combining the two agencies, the leading position of the international branding and packaging design consultancy is strengthened.
On October 30th 2008, Groningen staged the festive introduction of the new Hooghoudt jenever presentation developed by Claessens|Cartils, Amsterdam.
This design is the first visual expression of a newly formulated company positioning. It underlines Hooghoudt being a contemporary and Dutch company producing quality liquours. Main objective of the redesign project was to create a clear design structure which could be used to build a consistent outlook of the Hooghoudt liquour assortment. In order to do this, the corporate logo was adapted so that it gained authority and clearly expressed the contemporary character of the company.
As can be seen in the new jenever presentation, this logo is the core of the design structure and will be the main element in all Hooghoudt brand presentations. Following, focus was on reinforcing the Hooghoudt Jonge Dubbele Graanjenever. By adapting different graphical elements and the bottle shape, the brand design gained the necessary authority and authenticity. The new presentation is recognisable for consumers and at the same time has become more surprising and innovative.
From October 24 to 26, Moscow hosted the HiBrand 2008 conference – one of the most prestigious annual events in marketing and branding in Russia. Around 400 delegates from 20 different countries attended presentations from well-known specialists and pioneers in the branding industry including Wally Olins and Michael Peters. They all expressed their unique view on Corporate Branding.
During his lecture, Mr Gaston van de Laar, strategy director at Claessens|Cartils (Amsterdam), covered different aspects of Brand Iconisation and its significance in the development of brand architecture for corporate brands. Starting from the obvious development of the increasing meaning of corporate brands, Van de Laar offered the audience clear handles for the creation of strong corporate branding. Key in his message was that consumers are more and more visually oriented.
Brands, and thus also corporate brands, would be wise to respond to this by developing strong icons: visual symbols that communicate the essence of the corporate brand. Again HiBrand was a successful event for organization, speakers, as well as delegates.
Claessens Product Consultants will be lecturing at International Branding Conference Hibrand 2008 (24-26 Oktober, Moscow). This year the international Hibrand conference is all about corporate branding. On the 24st of October Claessens Amsterdam Strategy Director Gaston van de Laar will lecture about brand icons as the visual essence of a brand’s architecture. The following points will be covered: International developments in branding and packaging design; Iconisation; Examples of corporate icons and their usage; Examples of brand icons and the value of icons for brand architecture.
Participants of the Hibrand 2008 conference are world leaders of branding, leading Russian agencies, as well as owners and top managers of the biggest and most interesting brands. HiBrand 2007 was named the best conference of the year in Russia, but the sky is the limit. See you at HiBrand 2008!
A bottle of water is slowly becoming an icon which you always carry with you just like your mobile phone. This huge increase of popularity not only caused a raise of profits in the consumer water category but had also large positive effects on the table water segment.
Sourcy impresses with a design bottle of table water: Sourcy Pure Blue and Pure Red, both designed by Claessens Product Consultants. A transparent bottle without a label, sophisticated and tough combined in one. This Dutch article describes the successful Sourcy Pure case.
Following the global trend of premiumisation in beer, the South African Breweries Ltd announces the introduction of Blakes & Doyle, a new premium apple ale in the flavoured alcoholic beverages sector. The brand presentation was developed by Claessens Product Consultants from Amsterdam. The premium brand positioning of Blakes & Doyle has been translated into a design which communicates masculine, beerish brand values but can not be confused with the beer category.
The new brand is an exciting new entry for SAB, rounding out the brewer’s apple ale portfolio. “We have listened to what our consumers want – deliciously dry apple ale which appeals to both male and female consumers at the premium end of this market. We believe we’ve achieved a simply perfect brand for this category through Blakes & Doyle,” Ian Penhale, SAB’s Marketing Director concludes.
In June 2008, Efes Moscow introduced its brand Full Knockout with a new label design. Taking into account consumer preferences, branding and packaging consultancy Claessens Product Consultants from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, created the new appearance of Full Knockout. Aiming at men who prefer strong beer, the presentation had to show the masculine, modern and dynamic brand character.
With the new design that directly goes against the traditional coding of the beer category, the positioning of Full Knockout as beer for the strong and active man who loves sport and highly values good-fellowship is clearly underlined. Download the PDF to read the Russian article as published on the website sostav.ru.
The Water Innovation Awards 2008 turned out to be successful for the Dutch mineral water brand Sourcy, owned by Heineken subsidiary Vrumona. The brand presentation of Sourcy, created by Claessens Product Consultants, was awarded Bronze in the category Best Bottle in PET. The Sourcy Plus proposition, a range of mineral waters with a minimal addition of natural fruit aromas, was developed to bring Sourcy from a strong position in the off-trade to the on-trade.
Claessens Amsterdam developed a brand presentation for this new flavoured range. The transparency and tight lineation of the PET bottles emphasise the purity of the product. The main bottle shape, resembling a traditional jenever bottle, refers to Sourcy’s Dutch origin. And a small visual fruit element in combination with a line ‘with a hint of …’ subtly reflects the minimal flavour addition.
