Boombox-Inspired Shippers Reinforce βSoda with Soulβ Proposition
With the COVID-19 lockdown, U.K. craft soda company Dalstonβs unveils new shippers for its growing online sales that pay homage to its music roots, while introducing new consumers to the brandsβ values and personality.
The three shippers include a 24-ct, a 12-ct, and a four-count case illustrated to resemble vintage turntables and a boombox. A booklet designed to look like a cassette tape provides an introduction to the brand and its varieties.
Dalstonβs, a London-based company that first launched its craft soda products in a culturally-rich music venue called Passing Clouds near Kingsland Road, Dalston in East London, has positioned itself as βSoda with Soul.β While the tagline reinforces the brandβs musical roots, it also taps into Dalstonβs community-focused ethos and its productsβ real ingredients, which it says are at the heart of its soft drinks.
Says Dalstonβs, ββ¦theyβre refreshingly responsibleβout to do the right thing for our planet and people. Because ours is soda with soul. And it does more than just sparkle.β
In March 2020, in response to the coronavirus lockdown, Dalstonβs developed new e-commerce shippers that incorporate all the various interpretations of soul: community, health and sustainability, and music. The unique design facilitates the social distancing demanded by the virus through online shopping while at the same time bringing consumers together with Instagram-friendly graphics that celebrate its heritage. The sharable designs include two plastic-free, recyclable shippers illustrated to look like turntables and one that looks like a boombox, in Dalstonβs bright brand colors.
Focus on community ethos
Dalstonβs was founded in mid-2012, but the current graphic design for its canned craft sodas was done in 2017 by brand design firm B&B studio. Since then, B&B studio has extended the brand look beyond Dalstonβs six soda varieties to three seltzers and two alcohol-free G&T products, as well as to the new e-commerce shippers.
As Shaun Bowen, Creative Partner for B&B studio relates, the agency approaches every project with a clear understanding of the consumer, category, competitors, and cultural context. βThrough our ongoing partnership with Dalstonβs, we are aware that theirs is a switched-on consumer who demands authentic personality, provenance, and a clear point of difference from the brands they buy into,β he says. βCreating an emotional connection with this fickle consumer group has been key to the brandβs success.β
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According to Bowen, the rise of crafted adult soft drinks is having a marked effect on traditional category conventions and the brands within them, where once-distinct sectors like soft drinks, mixers, or alcohol are now starting to merge. βIt is a market full of opportunity, but brands need to have clearly defined values in order to take advantage of these opportunities in a way that is true to them,β Bowen says.
With this in mind, B&B studio designed Dalstonβs brand identity with the soda makerβs community-focused ethos at the forefront. The brand logo is a βbig D,β with the stem of the letter illustrated at the top with a hand squeezing the main ingredient of the variety into a cup or other vessel, which is held by a hand at the bottom of the stem. βThe βbig Dβ identity provides an iconic mark while highlighting the handmade craft and ingredients that make up each variant,β Bowen explains.
Bold background colors, matched to each flavor varietyβe.g., pink for Fizzy Rhubarb, orange for Orangeade, etc.βevoke flavor and taste and stand out on shelf. Crucial to the visual identity, Bowen adds, is βthe development of the broader graphic and illustrative style, brand personality, and tone of voice that touches every aspect of the brand, from packaging to social media and digital campaigns.β
Vintage nostalgia combines with modern utility
With the advent of the coronavirus lockdown in the U.K., Dalstonβs became began selling more of its product online, so it turned to B&B studio to develop a shipper that would not only be utilitarian, but that would also encourage consumer engagement. βDalstonβs wanted to use the shipper as a way to playfully build the brand story while also creating something people might want to keep and reuse,β Bowen shares.
All three boxes are made from corrugated board, which was important to Dalstonβs, as it aligns with the brandβs sustainable values and its commitment to A Plastic Planet, a charity thatβs working toward a plastic-free supermarket aisle. Dalstonβs has also set a goal of going carbon neutral by 2021.
There are three flavor-generic sizes: a 24-ct, a 12-ct, and a four-count. The 24- and 12-ct sizes, colored bright pink and yellow, respectively, are illustrated with line art to look like vintage turntable systems. On the top (when the box is positioned flat) is a drawing of a spinning record with tonearm, along with various dials. On the side of the case are more switches, dials, and meters, and the βSoda with Soulβ tagline. The Dalstonβs logo appears on the top and sides.
The new corrugated shipping cases, including this 24-ct case with turntable artwork, pay homage to Dalstonβs original launch padβa music club in Hackney, East London.The four-count shipper, in bright powder blue, uses line art to replicate a boombox, complete with speakers and a cassette deck on the front (when the box is positioned on its side). On the top is an illustration of a foldable carry handle, along with the Dalstonβs logo and a heart bearing the words, βDevoted Drinks.β
Extending the vintage boombox theme, B&B studio also developed a booklet designed to look like a cassette tape. Included in the four-count shipper, the booklet acts as a sales brochure, introducing the brand and the rest of the craft cola portfolio.
βAs we [consumers] are currently much more reliant on online sales and delivery, Dalstonβs wanted to create some delivery packaging that would help facilitate our social isolation, while also being able to bring people together,β says Bowen. βThe delivery boxes are clearly Insta-friendly, especially stacked into your own at-home DJ booth, and theyβve also helped reinforce Dalstonβs collaboration with Deviate Musicβa weekly live-streamed lockdown session every Saturday at noon on Twitch and Facebook.β
The shipper is being used primarily for online sales, but as Bowen explains, it has been designed with a versatility that encourages other forms of use, for example, for storage or for use in tradeshow marketing.
Engagement facilitates brand marketing
As Dalstonβs works to grow from a niche startup to an international scale-up, its new shippers are helping create and foster a community of brand advocates that are assisting the handcrafted-soda maker market its brand and reinforce its values of community, authenticity, and provenance.
Says Dan Broughton, co-founder and Managing Director of Dalstonβs, βBeing able to add fun and joy to our consumersβ lives is very important to us, especially as people are at home and needing tasty, healthier, and refreshing treats from time to time.
βThe record player and boombox packaging brilliantly reflects Dalstonβs βSoda with Soulβ positioning and musical roots. It is also a shipper that people want to reuse, as storage or even stacked into an at-home DJ booth.β
As Bowen reports, in early May, as Dalstonβs foodservice sales declined, its online sales tripled, with the shippers receiving βfantastic feedbackβall commenting on the packaging design.β
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