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Throughout the occasional ups and downs, Smirnoff ICE<\/a> has remained a popular choice for consumers wanting a refreshing alcoholic drink<\/a>. The flavored-malt-beverage space has grown in recent years, though\u2014to say nothing of the fragmentation brought on by the ascendency of hard seltzers and ready-to-drink cocktails. With more competition than ever, Smirnoff ICE saw that it was time for a change to its package design. \u201cWe kind of looked like we’ve been around for 23 years,\u201d joked Lisa Lee, brand director for the Smirnoff ICE. \u201cIt was just time. The brand needed a bit of a glow up.\u201d<\/p>\n The team at Diageo<\/a> (which owns Smirnoff ICE) knew the brand and understood the challenge\u2014improving the brand\u2019s look and feel without alienating loyal consumers. They tasked Design Bridge and Partners<\/a>, the esteemed global branding agency, with the task.<\/p>\n \u201cWe provided a very practical and concise brief, but it was also inspirational,\u201d recalled Hania Midura, design and visual identity director for Smirnoff ICE. \u201cWe really wanted to give Design Bridge and Partners plenty to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really a dream brief,\u201d recalled Katie Hughes, associate strategy director at Design Bridge and Partners. \u201cAnd it was clear to us that, for anyone who has tried Smirnoff ICE, flavor and refreshment are the two things that immediately strike you. So everything we needed was already inside the bottle, it was just a question of how to tease out those elements. Or as we like to say, define what the brand stands for, then leverage that to make it truly stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n In the past, communicating refreshment had been of paramount importance, but in today\u2019s market\u2014and specifically with Gen Z consumers, who are a key audience\u2014flavor needed to take the lead. \u201cWe took the time to really understand what matters to Gen Z, and its flavor,\u201d Lee remarked.<\/p>\n \u201cFlavor is the number one driver of purchase, and we needed to make sure our design clearly communicated Smirnoff ICE\u2019s deliciousness to consumers. We felt we could connect with the classic nature of Smirnoff ICE for our existing consumers, while also re-imagining it for a younger audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Design Bridge and Partners created six concepts for the folks at Smirnoff ICE to consider, and prioritized creating some visual consistency with the parent brand, Smirnoff Vodka (a top-selling vodka around the world).<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew we needed a flexible system. So first we decided which fixed elements were tied to the brand, and that gave us the freedom to adapt and evolve elsewhere,\u201d Hughes commented.<\/p>\n After some back and forth, one leading concept eventually emerged, and it diverged considerably from the current design. The brand had brightened the overall design considerably, shifting from a largely gray background\u2014a motif meant to suggest the coldness of ice\u2014to a baby-blue one that evokes a clear sky or a swimming pool. There were also two bottles (rather than just one), and the rocks glass had been removed entirely. \u201cNo one really pours Smirnoff ICE into a glass; they drink it out of the bottle<\/a>, and primarily in a social setting,\u201d Midura stated.<\/p>\n There were other elements on the old design that weren\u2019t contributing to the design\u2019s effectiveness. Shang Wu, client brand director at Design Bridge and Partners, noted that in the previous design, the \u2018I\u2019 in Ice was actually a \u2018minus-one,\u2019 which was meant to convey -1\u00b0C.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNot a lot of people knew what it meant, and it didn\u2019t really make sense for markets like the United States, so we removed it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of these decisions were made easier because of the research the brand conducted. In fact, in certain areas, research helped convince the team to make choices they would have initially opposed. Take the shift from a gray background to a bright blue one\u2014a package-defining change that initially encountered resistance.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause it was so different from the gray, the blue was a harder sell for us,\u201d said Lee. \u201cBut it turned out that consumers loved the blue, and it conveyed refreshment very clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n To hammer home the deliciousness of the drink, the team introduced bright, colorful imagery of fruit. On the packaging for the \u201cOriginal” variety, for example, there are sizable slices of lemon and lime. In a deft move, the brand also tweaked the name of the product itself, from simply \u201cOriginal\u201d (with a small reference to lemon-lime flavoring below it) to \u201cOriginal Crisp Citrus.\u201d Together with the imagery of the fruit, this call-out helped to really highlight the taste appeal of the beverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, \u201crefreshing\u201d is also one of the top purchase drivers in the category, so the brand needed to maintain its standing in this area. The agency simply utilized new ways to communicate this, such as adding the \u201crefreshingly cool\u201d tag at the top of the 12-pack, including little flecks of ice, and incorporating that sky-blue background.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese are subtle nods to refreshment, which is already implied in the name of the product,\u201d Wu noted. \u201cI think there\u2019s a fine line\u2014if you overdo those elements, it feels overwhelming or fake. So we wanted to find that balance.\u201d<\/p>\n Designalytics\u2019 data suggests they did: Consumers were far more likely to describe the new design as \u201crefreshing\u201d \u00a0than the old.<\/p>\n Throughout the process, the teams at Smirnoff ICE and Design Bridge and Partners had in-depth conversations about particular design choices. Lee had originally viewed the project as \u201cpackage design hygiene,\u201d but her opinion changed as she began to see data showing consumers\u2019 response to the design. \u201cJust seeing the standout data, the purchase intent data\u2014for me, it was hard not to feel like, \u2018Wow, this isn\u2019t just hygiene, this could be a real growth driver for the business,\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n As it turns out, that was prescient\u2014during the 26 weeks following the new design’s launch, sales increased by 3.5% compared to the same period during the prior year\u2014a massive achievement, considering the size of the brand.<\/p>\n This aligns with Designalytics\u2019 analysis of the new and old designs: 87% of category buyers preferred to purchase the new design over the previous version. In fact, Smirnoff ICE\u2019s result ranks in the top 5% of Designalytics\u2019 database, which contains nearly 2,000 in-market redesigns across CPG categories to date.<\/p>\n The redesign\u2019s results created a buzz throughout Diageo. \u201cI think that the new design got people excited in the organization,\u201d said Midura. \u201cThere was a real energy and a desire to showcase it. It was a focal point for our marketing efforts, including our social channels and TV. The design became the real star of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, Lee noted that the outcome prompted the Diageo team to revisit the packaging for another one of its brands, Lone River. And for her, it validated the business impact that great design can have.<\/a> \u201cI’ve always been a big believer in design, but it was always important to manage expectations when launching,\u201d she said. \u201cThis redesign has shown that design can truly be a growth driver and accelerant. Of course, you have to compliment it with the right marketing tools, but design can be very effective in helping move the needle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n