In 2019 Sedley Place collaborated with Roust’s Design Team to evolve Russian Standard Original’s packaging design, in response to market factors and changing consumer perceptions. Russian Standard had seen significant growth in sales volume over recent years and had become the second largest vodka brand in the UK, but the brand hadn’t launched new, more contemporary packaging since its last refresh in 2012. Consumer research had identified that the brand’s packaging could be developed and enhanced in order to better communicate the product’s premium positioning, its Russian provenance, its brand story and, in markets like Russia, its status and aspirational value.
The design task we were collectively set was to premiumise the overall look of the packaging, in the process making it look more expensive and valuable, and to create richer, emotionally engaging packaging cues. In particular, we were tasked to create a new closure design, a more contemporary bottle shape, a more visible bottle coating, and to design a fully revised labelling set to present the brand in a modern and impactful way.
Our joint response encompassed three core areas: the closure, the bottle and the labelling. Working with Guala Closures a unique new cap was designed which features a fully embossed version of the Russian Standard pattern, top and side foiling and a more modern rendition of St. Petersburg’s city crest (the home of the brand).
The bottle has been made taller and thinner, to provide a slimmer and more athletic appearance. Its embossing feature has been streamlined and refined and a brighter and more frosted bottle coating introduced to enhance one of the brand’s signature features while improving its transparency.
On the labelling the onion dome has been removed to focus on proprietary and more modern graphic elements, in order to instill more pride in the brand’s uniqueness and create more consistency with the Russian Standard Platinum and Gold variants.
The brand logotype has been reworked to make it more modern and more legible and other label elements have been pared back to create a minimal and modern graphic design. Lastly, a strong St. Petersburg message has been incorporated on the front of the bottle to demonstrate pride in the brand’s provenance.
Client: Roust
Project: Russian Standard Original
Scope of work: Bottle design and embellishment, capsule design and graphics
If you would like to discuss a project, or learn more about Sedley Place, please email giles.calver@sedley-place.co.uk or call +44 (0)20 7627 5777.