A Case For Curiosities (19/03/2019)
'Farewell to the Humdrum! Farewell to the Normal! (as if such a thing exists)', one of Hendrick's Gin's brand taglines, encapsulates a sophisticated visual and verbal language rich with wit. (Images: www.rwquigley.com; graphic: Martin Jacobs)
In the twenty years since Scotland’s Hendrick’s Gin launched, it’s become a brand highly respected for its originality – particularly in its brand identity and marketing strategies. Its visual language is so compelling that amongst its target audience, the mere mention of its name brings to mind its black apothecary-inspired bottle, and conjures up a whimsical world of quintessentially British, idiosyncratic Victoriana. Tremendous successes in its evolving brand strategy have resulted in Hendrick’s Gin becoming one of only seven gin brands globally to have sold over one million cases in 2017 (the others are largely established brands like Gordon’s, Bombay and Tanqueray) and in it earning the title of The Spirits Business’s Gin Brand Champion 2018. Achievements and accolades like these, within two decades, reflect a mastery of brand identity development. The brand’s vision, personality, values, tagline and visual and verbal language (all components of a brand identity system) have been given careful corporate consideration, and have contributed to this staggering success.
In 1999 Hendrick’s Gin set out to revolutionise the then stagnant gin market – a vision that meant introducing a boutique gin aimed primarily at a sophisticated (urban) hipster. Twenty years ago, the gin industry wasn’t what it is today, a bustle of entrepreneurs well-versed in the concept of carbon footprint, and eager to offer socially-minded communities the opportunity to be part of a localised experience. Hendrick’s Gin entered a staid market. The brand’s purpose was to capitalise on the burgeoning arrival of a new youth culture, and to target – through the differentiators of quirk and delight – an audience whose increased expression of individuality meant the shunning of all things mainstream in favour of an appreciation of the past. When talking of this audience, marketing expert C. C. Chapman says, “Hipsters don’t respect money, they respect art. There’s a certain level of craftsmanship that goes into brands that matter to the hipster market. They buy into brands that have put effort into crafting their own story and identity.” With such insights into Hendrick’s Gin’s targeted consumer, it was critical that the brand create a resonant personality and brand story.
By embracing a disdain inherent in its targeted consumer, Hendrick’s Gin was able to adopt a personality and tone of voice rich with ironic condescension. And what could be more intrinsically Victorian than that, when addressing an audience seeking exclusivity through snobbish elitism? If the brand was intent on revolutionising the market, bold, memorable taglines were a necessary component in its brand identity system. Aimed at the brand’s target audience, and intended to create brand resonance, taglines including “Loved by a Tiny Handful of People” and “It’s Not For Everyone” are audacious choices, for they risk alienating a consumer hesitant to stray far from the crowd. But having a strong psychographic understanding of its desired customer enabled the Hendrick’s Gin team to, in their words, ‘avoid the obvious, (and) seek the marvellous’ and spearhead a premium gin, and craft cocktail, renaissance.
Airships transporting cucumbers, inventors and their machines, and other idiosyncratic Victoriana are key visual symbols in Hendrick's Gin's brand imagery. (Image: www.quakercitymercantile.com)
Creating a compelling brand story through a visual and verbal identity system that would emotionally impact on Hendrick’s Gin’s audience was equally important in defining the brand. Hired to take on this task, Steven Grasse, founder of Quaker City Mercantile, the branding and marketing agency responsible for most of Hendrick’s Gin’s brand identity, likens the gin brand’s visual and verbal language to that of a Jules Verne or JRR Tolkien novel; that is to say an immersive world that one steps into. In 2014 Hendrick’s Gin’s senior brand manager, Kirsten Walpert, reinforced this concept. “We want our consumers not just to enjoy the terrific taste of our cocktails, but to jump into our brand’s world, which is a unique and special place,” she said.
In various marketing touchpoints, Hendrick’s Gin encourages consumers to regard its product as “a gin made oddly.” The oddness of method included the introduction of two key infusions – cucumber and rose, both (at the time) unique to this product’s distillation process. In a strong, if somewhat literal, demonstration of art imitating life, Hendrick’s Gin’s brand strategists chose as core symbols for Hendrick’s Gin’s sophisticated and layered visual language (and as key visual elements in all advertising and marketing material), cucumber and rose. This imagery, along with a plethora of wondrous, Monty Pythonesque automata, airships and other steam punk- and taxidermy-inspired curiosities, combine in surrealist juxtapositions to visually support the brand personality and to create, as Hendrick’s Gin describes, ‘a haven from the mundane’, a sentiment that directly speaks to a targeted market keen to reject the ordinary.
In brand advertisements, a whimsical, quintessentially British world is conjured up through the surreal juxtapositions of Monty Pythonesque illustrations and witty copywriting. (Images: www.rwquigley.com, www.quakercitymercantile.com)
In defining the brand’s verbal language, internal stakeholders needed to keep in mind that were Hendrick’s Gin a person, this was to define that person’s linguistic communications, and importantly, be consistent with the visual identity and overall personality. Thus the decision to make it wryly British, and to include arguably dated adjectives (like wondrous, mysterious, delightful and curious) that hark back to Dickensian times. These would offer a perfect linguistic counterpart to hand-coloured illustrations that depict thespians and musicians, phrenology-related paraphernalia, and zeppelins or parachutes transporting cucumber slices and roses. It is a verbal language like this, which allows for campaign copywriting that includes witty sentences like, ‘Somewhere between ‘Oh’ and ‘My’ he realised he’d never drink any other gin again’ and ‘Cucumbers had never delighted her like this before.’
In conclusion, Hendrick’s Gin’s verbal and visual language – in appealing to a hipster consumer, in part defined by a dislike of mainstream branding – is one that is elitist, and which references a class-driven Victorian society rich in appreciation of the academic and adventurous. Components in a broader brand identity system, both the visual and verbal languages of the brand work cohesively with other elements, like taglines, in defining Hendrick’s Gin’s personality and communicating to the consumer the brand's vision and story. Global brand director, Pamela Selby, last year said this of the brand, “Hendrick’s didn’t behave in the way a gin brand was expected to. The charming, witty and surreal Victoriana world that we create is a core pillar of the brand. It is a rich, unusual and consistent anchor for the brand that appeals to drinkers around the world.” These drinkers are not only the modern hipster, but any consumers appreciative of the idiosyncratic and esoteric.
Martin Jacobs
A somewhat quirky brand story reveals many of the foundations upon which Hendrick's Gin built its visual identity.
Bibliography:
Segran, E. How One Brand Hunts Cool Young Customers – And Captures Them. Available: https://www.fastcompany.com/3039481/how-one-brand-hunted-cool-young-consumers-and-captured-them (2014, December 8)
Hopkins, A.Hendrick’s Gin Sales Hit One Million Cases. Available: https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2018/06/hendricks-gin-hits-one-million-cases/ (2018, June 13)
Author not credited. Gin Brand Champion 2018: Hendrick’s. Available: https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2018/06/gin-brand-champion-2018-hendricks/ (2018, June 18)
Bruce-Gardyne, T. Hendrick’s: A Brand History. Available: https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2014/10/hendricks-a-brand-history/ (2014, October 29)
Author not credited. Hendrick’s Gin ‘Escape’ By Tulips And Chimneys. Available: https://www.stashmedia.tv/hendricks-gin-escape-tulips-chimneys/ (2018, May 11)
Falls, J. We’ll Drink To That Content: Hendrick’s Gin. Available: https://goelastic.com/well-drink-to-that-content-hendricks-gin/ (2014, December 09)
Quotations:
C.C. Chapman: from How One Brand Hunts Cool Young Customers – And Captures Them.
Kirsten Walpert and Pamela Selby: from Gin Brand Champion 2018: Hendrick’s
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