Thorncroft Cordial

Design: Studio More
Illustrator: Natash Davy
Location: United Kingdom
Project Type: Produced
Client: Thorncroft
Product Launch Location: Global
Packaging Contents: Juice
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Glass Bottle/paper label
Printing Process: four colour printing, process printing

Studio More, a brand design agency specialising in ambitious early-stage companies, unveils a new look for Thorncroft, the UK’s oldest elderflower cordial brand. The new identity and packaging are available on James White website, with a selection of varieties available in Ocado, Amazon and farm shops nationwide now. This project marks a continuation of three years relationship between Studio More and royal warrant holder James White Drinks, following work across the core pressed juice and Zingers ranges.

Following the Thorncroft brand’s acquisition several years prior and faced with the sugar tax introduction challenge, the James White team successfully reduced the cordial sugar content by 37% without compromising the unique Thorncroft flavours loved by consumers since 1989. To mark this change, James White Drinks partnered with Studio More to rethink the brand identity and packaging, emphasise the plant-based sources of the cordials, and help the brand appeal to a younger audience, all whilst aligning the range with the James White master brand.

The new identity and packaging design, which was inspired by the English hedgerow, sees the Thorncroft brand name feature more prominently on the pack, as well as visibly now belonging to the broader James White portfolio of drinks to enable ease of recognition both in person and through e-commerce, which is a growing sales channel for the brand.

Studio More tied the expanding range of 8 products together through botanical illustrations, which reflect the plant-based inspired flavours, natural ingredients, and the newly reduced sugar level. Each pack features two natural elements echoing each other: one plant (e.g. Elderflower) and one live creature (e.g. a pollinating bumblebee) to reinforce the wholesome ingredients. Mindful of Thorncroft’s origins, as well as appealing to the established farm shop consumer loyal to the brand, the agency picked an illustrator local to the Suffolk based brand,

“James White always brings exciting challenges to us, and it was a pleasure to reinvent the UK’s first elderflower cordial brand as part of our continued partnership. The reduced sugar version of this truly natural product offered us a unique opportunity to bring nature to the pack, in a look that is distinctive from the majority of the cordial fixture,” said Daniel Wilson, Studio More creative director.

Pauline Rialland, Marketing Manager at James White, said, “Any brand faced with the need to innovate due to sugar tax will know that reducing product sugar levels by 37% without negatively impacting taste is no mean feat. So Thorncroft’s new look needed to emphasise this treasured cordial’s ‘more natural than ever’ sentiment. We were so impressed by how Studio More addressed the brief, whilst also successfully drawing what was previously a stand-alone range, within the James White parent brand portfolio.”