Onegin Vodka

Creative Agency: Mildberry
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Simple
Location: Moscow, Russia
Packaging Contents: Vodka
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Glass

Mildberry has developed a visual brand identity, bottle and label design for the Simple company’s new premium class Onegin Vodka.

Onegin Vodka is the first independent product of the Simple distribution company. The company announced the launch of a high value product and offered a new concept of drinking to the market: Onegin is premium quality vodka that can easily be turned to a long drink for leisurely conversations.

The product launch is dedicated to the 185th anniversary of the great novel.

The brand concept is based on the image of a Russian aristocrat, familiar from the classics of Russian literature. The elegant shape of the bottle, specially designed by the Mildberry team, became a starting point for creating a holistic visual image: handsome, tall and elegant, Onegin is a nobleman in a fitted black redingote. Its unique silhouette and the increased height of the bottle also give Onegin an advantage on the store shelves.

The contradictory and elusive nature of the Russian soul is expressed in the multidimensional composition of Onegin’s label design. Carefully organised elements are the key to understanding the nature of the Russian dandy: simple and matte, Onegin’s snow-white label conceals a delicate frost pattern, while a clock face without arrows — Onegin is a timeless character — is barely noticeable in the background of its O monogram. Details here are slipping away from a cursory glance — Onegin does not want to be judged superficially. However, the closer you look, the more you know Onegin and the more intriguing he becomes.



Along with the new vodka the Simple company is creating a new culture of drinking the beverage: modern onegins drink it straight and slowly, so, served on the rocks, it looks more like a glass of whiskey.



The packaging refers to the Golden Age, but does not seem out of date, and neither does the hero, because each epoch has its own onegins: dandies and aristocrats, world citizens with a Russian soul, intellectuals standing at the crossroads of cultures. A modern day Onegin is able to recognise true quality and beauty, and for him a bottle of premium vodka by the Simple company on the table is a symbol of good taste. It is a symbol of luxury, but the sensible one.