The Focus
Creating a bottle for Jolly Roger Jamaican Rum that is both, aesthetically and functionally sound
Embodying the masculinity that rum is usually associated with
Connecting these cues to a pirate theme, given its Jamaican origins
The Design
Elephant developed a broad-shouldered, stout bottle to highlight strength and sturdiness with a guala cap to prevent adulteration
Designed to apply across the full range of variants
Added pirate-centric cues on the pack graphics
The Story
Jolly Roger rum is one of the prominent products in an already impressive portfolio assembled by the company Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD), which is the third largest distiller in India.
ABP recently made history in 2019 with the Sterling Reserve Whiskey, where they sold over a million cases in just 261 days after its release. They had already repeated this performance with Officer’s Choice in 1988.
Thus, despite the already cluttered market, ABD has carved out a comfortable niche of its own. They approached the team at Elephant to create a packaging structure for their Jolly Rogers rum that could adhere to general masculine overtones that rum drinkers subconsciously echoed. In addition, due to its ‘Jamaican’ rum label, we had additional material to work with when giving it a distinctive identity.
“ABD approached the team at Elephant to create a packaging structure for their Jolly Rogers rum that could adhere to general masculine overtones that rum drinkers subconsciously echoed. In addition, due to its ‘Jamaican’ rum label, we had additional material to work with when giving it a distinctive identity.”
Masculinity Redux
Rum has always been associated with manliness since its origins in the 1600s, where it was intimately connected to the slave trade and later, to pirates and other ‘men of the high seas’.
It’s somewhat easy to understand why this hard, warm drink would evoke such sentiments even today. It is also relatively easy to make and does not possess the highfalutin character that whiskey or wine does – making it a workingman’s drink that can be enjoyed by all.
Thus, we decided to encode all these impressions into the Jolly Roger bottle. The bottle is necessarily broad shouldered, reminiscent of a pirate’s swagger and open chest – and is also stout, keeping the ‘stout and sturdy’ sailor aesthetic in mind.
“The bottle is necessarily broad shouldered, reminiscent of a pirate’s swagger and open chest – and is also stout, keeping the ‘stout and sturdy’ sailor aesthetic in mind.”
Aggression and a certain rustic feel permeate the bottle’s structure due to this treatment, which caters to the general category codes followed overall. But we also decided to make it more distinctive with some graphical design work.
“Crows, palm trees and other graphics adorn the label with a pirate schooner sitting squarely in the centre. The finishing touch is the emblem embossed on the sturdy glass bottle, giving it an old-fashioned reliability that harkens back to its heritage.”
Danger on the High Seas
As we’ve just explored, Rum’s association with oceanic endeavours and more importantly, piracy, cannot simply be ignored. Crows, palm trees and other graphics adorn the label with a pirate schooner sitting squarely in the centre. The finishing touch is the emblem embossed on the sturdy glass bottle, giving it an old-fashioned reliability that harkens back to its heritage.
Jolly Roger’s product is also a dark rum spirit, which, as opposed to white rum is much stronger in flavour: making it an independent drink. Since its original taste and purity is an important factor, we also added a Guala cap that prevents adulteration and dilution.
“As we decrease uncertainty, we give ourselves permission to increase fidelity.”