Finlandia Vodka Redesign

Creative Agency: Cartils
Design Director: Lee Buffham-Wade
Creative Director: Neil Vestrini
Illustrator: Andy Newman
Designer: Bethany Titcombe
Senior 3D Designer: Niels Grimbergen
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: Brown Forman
Location: Global
Packaging Contents: Vodka
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Glass Bottle

The attractive new packaging for the Classic and the range of 10 flavours designed by Cartils London has been conceived to capture the premium and dynamic essence of FINLANDIA Vodka and continues the half century tradition of innovative ice-inspired bottle design. Finland’s Thomas Wirrkala, influenced by ice, designed the bottle in it’s early days setting the precedent for quality and continued inspiration for the bottle design capturing pure natural environment.

The distinctive new bottle derived it’s name from the animated glass representation of ice that appears to flow as it turns, a design that allows the natural quality of the vodka to shine through.

Other premium elements like the embossed reindeer, the Midnight Sun, an enhanced colour palette and vibrant new branding are accompanied by the striking copper detailing noting ‘Vodka from the Land of the Midnight Sun’ ensuring the design stands out of the shelf and back bar.

The brief came about from evolved consumer needs and the demands of markets and regulatory changes but guiding the change were the founding principles of Luonto (Nature), Tislaus (Distillation), Muotoilu (Design) – embossed in the base.

“Finlandia has always been a brand that has design at the heart of it’s DNA so all our work involved balancing the needs of the brief without compromising a strong design ethos.” (Lee Buffham-Wade, Design Director, Cartils)

The design process resulted in an impactful design idea putting purity at the heart of the design. The branding, strengthened across the range by keeping it consistent was in part an answer to the challenge of making a large range of flavours easier to navigate. Flavour shapes and patterns draw on Nordic design supporting the connection of the brand to Finland and creating eye-catching shelf appeal.

“ The new FINLANDIA Vodka packaging is a beautiful next step in the evolution of our award-winning design work, that reflects the premium vodka within. ” (Carmen d’Ascendis, senior vice president, global brand director, FINLANDIA Vodka.)

What’s Unique?
A distinctive and unique new bottle design highlighting the representation of ice that appears to flow as it turns, a design that allows the natural quality of the vodka to shine through.