“Discovery details” on Bombay Sapphire Sunset bottle illustrates new gin’s complex flavor profile

05 Jul 2021 --- Bombay Sapphire has turned again to UK creative agency Knockout to design its new special edition gin called Bombay Sapphire Sunset. 

Building on the architecture of Bombay Sapphire’s iconic design, the bottle design reflects the product’s contents: a blend of the gin brand’s signature natural botanicals with Indian cardamom, turmeric and Spanish mandarin oranges. 

The color scheme moves from golden orange to twilight blue, emotionally transporting consumers to the moment when the sun is just about to set.

PackagingInsights speaks with Knockout’s founder Dominic Burke about bringing life to renowned brands without compromising brand identity and recognition.

“As we continue to work with Bacardi Global Brands in expanding the Bombay Sapphire portfolio with new expressions, the creative opportunity is all about how we use elements. Frame, details and color can reinvent the brand while striking a balance in respecting the brand’s iconic equities,” Burke highlights.

The design uses orange and blue color schemes to capture the “day-to-night” transition.No compromise on blue glass
In a visual metaphoric move, Knockout captures the “day-to-night occasion” of the Bombay Sapphire Sunset variant that “cues appetite appeal and inspires cocktail inspiration.”

The label frame illustrates cardamom seeds and mandarin slices in gold foil, continuing onto the label body in a tactile varnish and around the burnt amber cap in a tinted ink.

The final design was not the original one, however. “We initially explored using reversed printed labels to support the product proposition. The front label was to be clear with a gold frame while the reverse label had the color and the pattern in the back,” says Burke. 

However, the blue glass proved challenging. “It didn’t allow enough light and we didn’t feel like we were getting the colors to come through properly,” Burke flags.

“The blue glass is such an imperative brand asset for the Bombay Sapphire portfolio. It simply wasn’t something that could be compromised.” 

Discovery details
Instead, the final design uses tactility to emphasize the drink occasion and flavors, elevating the special edition experience through what Burke calls “discovery details.”

“We’ve run it across all the printable areas of the bottle in different ways. The tactile varnish on the body of the label transitions into the frame’s gold foil, and then it is screen-printed in ink onto the cap.”

An embossed varnish makes the consumer’s experience with the gin visual and tactile, not just sensory.By engaging the senses, the different executions expand the consumer’s product experience beyond the sensory, telling the proposition story both visually and tactilely. 

“It’s subtle, but these lovely, intricate details ignite intrigue, creating depth that adds more layers of delight to the overall brand and product experience,” Burke explains.

Consumers come to own conclusions
A bottle called “Sunset” might invite more literal graphic decorations of suns and rays. “We wanted to be evocative rather than literal with a design that was slightly more abstract, but still triggered the emotion of the occasion,” continues Burke.

“There’s a greater sense of sophistication if there’s a bit of decoding that consumers need to do. Needing to work it out themselves as opposed to being spoon-fed design allows them to have that ‘smile-in-the-mind’ moment as they discover and take delight in every detail.”

Knockout employed a similar tactic to the Bombay Bramble launch in May, which featured a delicate rose-gold bramble frame.

To make the raspberry and blackberry gin’s quality and flavor even more clear to consumers, Knockout swapped Bombay Sapphire’s traditional paper label with a translucent PET label on the bottle. 

The Sunset variant is Bombay Sapphire’s second special edition offering. Maintaining brand recognition
Besides the blue glass, other quintessential bottle features went untouched to bring familiarity and a sense of architecture. 

“We’ve maintained the blue bottle and the brandmark along with the Queen Victoria cameo. While the frame is also a Bombay Sapphire equity, we’ve used it as a tool to communicate a different message with the ingredients-inspired pattern.”

The neck label is also an equity, but here it conveys that Bombay Sapphire Sunset is the second offering in the brand’s special edition series. 

“It’s important to note that as Bombay Bramble is essentially a new sub-brand in the portfolio, we were able to use clear glass instead of Bombay Sapphire’s signature blue,” Burke adds. 

In other Bombay limited edition artistic redesigns, the gin manufacturer partnered with the UK Design Museum in April, putting its Ruff Mercy-designed gin and tonic bottles on display and also for sale.

By Anni Schleicher