THE ROLLS ROYCE. It’s a design icon and a euphemism for luxury quality – “It’s the Rolls Royce of (insert just about any word here).” Many believe it’s more than just a car, although when you look at it, with its four wheels, steering wheel, engine, seats… it appears it is, well, a car. The BMW-owned Rolls Royce company says it sold 3,538 cars last year, 31% up on 2010 and a new annual sales record for the 107-year-old brand.

And you thought there was a recession? Granted there are some markets that aren’t in recession and the company goes on to say that sales in the Asia Pacific region were crucial to its success – rising by 47% on the year before. A familiar tale. Let’s face it, a Roller isn’t just for popping to the shops in – it sends a message to observers about the driver, in much the same way that a luxury bottle of spirits on a table in a club or given as a gift says something about the drinker. 

So luxury isn’t just driving sales for Rolls Royce. If you flick back to page seven of this magazine, you’ll see that Diageo is investing in a luxury bottling line. 

David Rogers, owner and creative partner of UK-based brand and packaging design consultancy We Are Pure, says: “Even through the recession, people have still invested in the odd bit of luxury as a treat and, with home entertaining taking priority over nights out, there’s still been a constant need for luxury spirits. 

“Obviously there are cheaper alternatives, but the luxury brands have never let their appearance drop for the sake of saving a few pence on packaging and labelling. Packaging plays an important part in the status of a product, and no brand will want to look like it has become a victim of the recession by changing its packaging dramatically. Brands want to feel consistent and dependable.”

Claessens International creative director James Boulton takes this idea a step further and suggests the recession has actually been good for some. 

He says: “The global downturn was quite a good time for established brands. People turned to them because they wanted to buy the best quality products and make the most of their limited resources. They found the familiarity of established brands reassuring, equating them with reliability, value and quality.”

Do any of those words really sound too promising in innovation terms? “Reassuring, reliability, value…”

But Boulton goes on to say that brand innovation is still important. “You cannot simply recreate old bottle and label designs, as it’s vital for brands to be seen to be moving forward and reflecting the times. The difficulty degree is in allowing the consumer to understand the roots of authentic values, while being relevant to today’s lifestyle.” 

“During a recession, quality remains key in terms of the product itself and the perception of the brand.” 

False economy

So what does that all mean when you get to the drawing board? 

Packaging design agency Stranger & Stranger’s founder and creative director, Kevin Shaw, says producers should avoid making cuts when consumers rein in their spending. “When consumers started spending less, some producers reacted by demanding cheaper packaging, for example, two-colour labels. This is a false economy. At a time when it is harder than ever to get yourself noticed on the shelf, cheap-looking packaging isn’t a winning formula. Thankfully, the good ones know that.”

Design Bridge design director Asa Cook suggests the recession could be one reason for the surge in interest in Irish whiskey brand Jameson. In fact, according to Impact Databank’s latest figures, sales of the Irish whiskey in the US grew 29% during the first half of 2011. Cook says: “The recession has caused consumers to gravitate towards brands with a slightly more down-to-earth feel and a genuine reason to believe. One example of this trend is the success of Irish whiskey brands such as Jameson. Irish whiskey is typically more down to earth and relatable than scotch whisky, which can be perceived as elitist. 

“Brand owners are certainly investing in design as the most effective return on investment, but they need strong thinking so their products really make sense to their consumers. People know when they are having the wool pulled over their eyes and I can’t see that changing in the near future.”

But it doesn’t pay to play it safe all the time. Cook’s colleague, Design Bridge creative director Graham Shearsby says that in difficult times, brands should “actively encourage a culture of risk to keep pace with developments in emerging markets”. 

Shearsby talks about a Diageo project the company worked on – Mahiki Coconut, a liqueur which is the brainchild of its namesake bar in London. He says the project “re-drew the boundaries in its approach and speed, breaking all of Diageo’s launch protocols”.  When I ask how so, Shearsby says: “It was groundbreaking for a brand to use three different designs for one liquid.  When we presented to the founders of Mahiki, we saw their faces light up and we knew we had hit the nail on the head. It was right first time, the concept was right and the big idea was right.”

He adds: “Brands need to recognise opportunity in risk and to deliver bold, forward-thinking, category-leading results.” 

Green flag

Many new words and phrases have crept into our vocabulary over the past few years. Had you heard of a carbon footprint in 2005? What about lightweight glass? And wine in Tetra Pak? Are green issues still an issue or have we got bigger, financial fish to fry? 

To use the car analogy again, even high-flying BMW has sat up and taken notice of the green curve. The company announced in January that, as the official automotive partner of the London 2012 Olympics, it would roll out low-emission petrol-electric hybrids or electric vehicles. According to the BBC, some 4,000 BMW cars, motorcycles and bicycles are to be on the streets of London this summer.

Christiaan Huynen, group director of business development & marketing at international branding and design consultant Cartils says: “Sustainability is a trend that has gained more ground over the past couple of years and we expect to continue to see such growth over the coming years. Key examples in the drinks industry have been the introduction of plant-based PET as well as lightweight glass. However, the trend is of less influence in the super-premium and luxury category.”

Claessens’ Boulton says all manufacturers are under pressure to show their sustainability credentials and, while he believes lightweight glass is a plus for the environment and for the pocket, in terms of shipping costs there are still some snags when it comes to perceived value. He uses champagne to make the point. 

No room to devalue

“The problem for many brands – and this is particularly true with champagne – is much of the value for drinks brands comes from their bottling, so there is still a competitive advantage to be had from not moving to lightweight glass,” he says. “The last thing any brand wants to be seen to be doing is devaluing its product and, certainly from a consumer perspective, moving to lightweight glass can have this affect.

“What’s interesting about the champagne market is the commitment of the [champagne co-ordinating body] CIVC to work towards reducing the weight of bottles across the industry. Levelling the playing field in this way makes it more likely that this strategy will be adopted across the board. However, there is a technical issue here, too. Champagne is bottled under immense pressure, so you need glass that can withstand this pressure when the bottle is being stored in a riddling rack, where it hangs upside down and is turned regularly. Lightweight glass could present breakage problems.”

Design Bridge’s Shearsby says his company has been working for the past 10 years to embed sustainability into the design process. His colleague Cook adds: “Sustainability is more of a given these days rather than a specific starting point for a brief. This is because, whether we like it or not, consumers don’t buy brands based solely on their environmental credentials.”

But Stranger & Stranger’s Shaw thinks the responsibility also lies at the retail end of the market. When I ask him if he thinks sustainability and lightweighting are considerations, he says: “No and they should be. The supermarkets have the power to push this a lot more.”

Shall the twain ever meet? Can luxury packaging and sustainability ever be comfortable bedfellows? Or, more importantly, should they be? If there’s one area where packaging takes up as much of the press release as the liquid, it’s at the luxury end of scotch whisky. 

One typical example from DI news stories is from a Glenmorangie launch: “The package is a collaboration between French designer Laurence Brabant, who designed the barrique-style Baccarat crystal decanter, and Dutch furniture designer Wouter Scheublin, who designed the box.”

But family-owned company Glenfarclas made headlines in 2010 for the opposite reason when it launched its 40 year old whisky, which it says was deliberately not overpackaged to keep the price down. At the time of the launch, Glenfarclas director of sales George Grant was quoted as saying: “Compared to other whiskies of a similar age, this has been priced to open and enjoy.”

So I ask design experts what they think about this. Should the Scotch Whisky Association be called upon to reduce secondary packaging and cut carbon emissions?

Huynen from Cartils sums it up nicely. He says: “Boxes and cartons are still important to the whisky industry as they influence the perceived value (an indicator of premiumness) of a product – a factor which is of importance in a consumer’s buying criteria (shelf impact). Therefore banning boxes and cartons will have many negative consequences on the industry as a whole.”

The gift that keeps on giving

He goes on to say that customers looking for gifts may shift to other spirits categories that offer more luxurious packaging. “If it were only the Scotch Whisky Association that was to ban them, then we can safely say all scotch whiskies would lose out to foreign competition which would continue to use them, or to other spirits, for instance bourbon, rum, cognac, vodka, gin, champagne...”

Design Bridge’s Cook says secondary packaging is important to the gifting sector. He adds: “As a gifting sector for duty free and premium outlets the box and outer packaging provide an essential story to drive purchasing. It would be risky for an individual whisky distiller not to offer them. That said, if all cartons were banned, consumers would not buy one brand over another for its gift-ability.”

Claessens’ Boulton suggests a more practical reason for secondary packaging – avoiding damage. He says: “There is a need in certain areas of whisk(e)y sales, due to the prices being paid and the rarity of the product, to ensure packaging is carefully designed to prevent damage while enhancing value through reflecting the high-quality image of the brand. For this reason, consumers, whether sympathetic to green issues or not, will always expect whisky to be packaged in a way that reflects its price, quality and rarity.”

I wonder what kind of box a Rolls Royce comes in? Maybe I’ll buy one and put it on expenses.