NAKED SPIRITS
BARREL COLLECTION

SCENARIO
Our client, Naked Spirits, asked us to create a bottle design for their first barrel-aged rum. Finished in a 2006 Mt. Pleasant Tawny Port Wine Barrel, the rum needed to communicate limited-edition and high-end sophistication as only 600 bottles would be produced.

THE PRACTICAL APPROACH
High-end rum has a tendency to be overly ornate, stuck in the past, and just plain over-designed. Worse yet, the rum category tends to resort to pirates way too often. Luckily, our client just had one mandate: NO PIRATES!

OUR PRACTICALLY DANGEROUS SOLUTION
During our Creative Destruction session, we pushed to find what inspired Naked Spirits outside of the rum category. As they are huge fans of music and classic cars, there were two answers that stood out: Johnny Cash and Gentlemen Hot Rods. Instantly, that became our unlock and design strategy. 

We channeled the attitude and style of Johnny Cash with the design approach of the best Gentlemen’s Hot Rod designers. Strip away the excess. Borrow from the best of the past, but make it modern. Draw attention to subtle detail and clean-lined sophistication. Protect the purity of lines and silhouettes. 

Overall, create a design that is at once familiar, yet like nothing else.

The Result: While the bottles sold well at the launch party attended by hundreds of guests, the best win was Total Wine buying out the remaining inventory.