Churchills of London – Traditional Mens Toiletries

Design: Paul Cartwright Branding
Location: United Kingdom
Project Type: Produced
Client: Churchills of London
Product Launch Location: United Kingdom
Packaging Contents: Mens toiletries; soap, shave cream, beard oil, deodorant, talc, hair and body wash, eau de cologne
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Plastic bottle, jar, cardboard
Printing Process: Digital printing onto metallic substrate

Identity design of a new brand of mens classic toiletries products for Churchills of London – a fledgling brand from long-established owners.

We were contacted to create this new identity by a collaboration between two UK companies, who were looking to launch a series of products aimed at the more traditional end of the mens personal care market. Other than the name and the inclusion of a homburg hat (the type sported by Winston Churchill) we were given an open brief.

After creating a series of design concepts for both the logo and packaging graphics, where we challenged the exact image of the brand, the use of wartime imagery, aircraft symbols etc. the identity was approved.

The logo consists of a classic engraved-style typeface, which has been used for the main title text, coupled with some traditional pin-striped detailing. This is topped with a custom illustration of Churchill’s famous homburg hat, and together with an ‘Established in’ date, both are featured in a premium and traditional gold foil. A textured, monochrome slate image acts as the perfect backdrop to the logo, adding to the classic masculine-feel of the range.

The pin-striped underlining detail from the logo appears as an ornate gold-foiled trim across all of the product labels and outer packaging – tie-ing in with the gloss black material of the bottles, jars and tubes.

The homburg hat icon appears on the tops of all product cartons, with the pin-stripe detail running around the foot of each carton, continuing the elegant theme through further use of gold foil.

All of the product cartons and labels have been finished with a varnish to enhance the feeling of quality. The overall image is understated and evocative, with subtle detailing which altogether creates a truly premium look to this range of mens traditional toiletries.

What’s Unique?
The concept of using a wartime British prime minister as the basis of the identity is unusual, but fits the target market perfectly. The use of digital printing and white inks onto a metallic substrate helps keep production costs low and yet still maintaining the high-end finish of a shiny gold foil.