Royston Labels helps bring new whisky brand identity to market

Brand founder James Catto was one of the first to ship whisky around the world when Catto’s was established in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1861. Catto’s new design reflects the story of the ocean liners that would have taken Catto’s Blended Scotch whisky to all the corners of the world, while giving the brand a strong identity in the upper standard segment of the mainstream whisky category. It will be introduced first in Canada, Russia and Spain, then rolled out globally in 2016. Brand manager Lynne Buckley described the new Catto’s brand proposition as epitomizing the provenance and heritage at the heart of the product. 'Today’s whisky drinkers can identify with James Catto’s pioneering spirit and his dedication to making an exceptional whisky, launched in Scotland with a drive and determination to ship it around the world for people to enjoy. The beautiful new bottles and cartons bring his story to life and give us a striking new look to support our own ambitious plans for Catto’s in global markets in the years ahead.’

The bottles were produced by Ardagh Group from a new brand proposition, with primary and secondary packaging designs by JDO Brand & Design.

The label shape, which takes inspiration from a boat’s bow cutting a path through the waves on the ocean, was designed to sit within the bottle’s wave feature and intensify the lines created in glass.

From concept designs, Royston Labels had to combine many different decoration techniques in order to achieve the desired end result. Both front and back labels are printed in four special colors. A bespoke satin tactile varnish, specifically formulated for this particular label, was then used to enhance the main branding. The labels also incorporate hot foil, which has been used in both solid areas and for fine detail. Royston Labels invested in new equipment to ensure the absolute best quality from this particular process.

A further challenge, with the label being a unique triangular shape, was fitting it into the front and back recesses on the bottle, which made it more difficult to strip waste and maintain an exact register during die-cutting. This was just one of a number of complexities the project threw up, said Royston Labels managing director Paul Clayton. ‘Nevertheless, our teams of experienced technicians ensured that the final result was beyond expectations, even down to the speed of the final pass on press, which had the brand manager (Lynne Buckley) commenting that, “it was the quickest press approval that I have ever been to”.

‘It was a pleasure working with this client as they had a complete understanding of the challenges faced from a label production perspective.’