Title	BAILEYS CHOCOLAT LUXE
Brand	DIAGEO
Product/Service	WHISKEY CREAM LIQUEUR
Category	D02. DRINKS
Entrant Company	LEWIS MOBERLY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Advertising Agency	LEWIS MOBERLY London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Mary Lewis	Lewis Moberly	Design Director
Lucilla Lavender		Designer/Illustrator

Brief Explanation

Creating a premium sub brand is challenging. You need to avoid undermining the mother brand whilst allowing the new brand to be sold at a higher price point. Avoiding cannibalisation is a key issue The key design objectives were to establish a strong visual identity to be used throughout the entire communication mix and clearly position the brand as something genuinely different within the Baileys portfolio. Ultimately to create a bottle which, like chocolate, became an object of desire to women 25+, appealing to an audience of chocolate lovers beyond the typical Baileys consumer.

The Brief

Diageo had developed a groundbreaking product, the fusion of the finest Belgian chocolate, Irish whiskey and cream. Technically difficult, it took more than 3 years to craft. The brief was to develop the visual identity, name and packaging for this unique product, to help launch and position it at a 50% price premium to the standard Baileys product.

How the final design was conceived

The strategy was to establish real chocolate credentials: ‘Chocolate awoken by the spirit of Baileys’. The sensual, playful and intriguing Rococo illustrative style conveys the magic and experience of real Belgian chocolate fused with alcohol. Rococo artists used a style that was ornate, asymmetrical to add dynamism, curvaceously feminine and often gold. The illustration on the bottle creates a framing device around the branding drawing attention to it and, at the same time evoking the product experience. The French descriptor ‘Chocolat Luxe’ adds sophistication and is written in script to suggest the melting nature of the taste.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

This was most successful launch undertaken by Diageo with hugely successful results. Starting in the UK the brand was rolled out into every single country in Western Europe – 15 in total. Actual sales figures are confidential but sales ran into tens of thousands of cases and tens of millions of net sales value. Incremental sales and the premium pricing has grown the Baileys brand significantly, extended its audience to chocolate lovers and given a much loved brand a new sense of energy and aspiration.