Dewar's launches new look and global campaign

Dewar’s blended Scotch whisky has been given a new visual identity and bottle design. The new packaging designed by Stanger & Stanger is being supported by a global multimedia campaign.

All brand activity moving forward will be under the banner of True Scotch Since 1846 – capturing the brand’s status as “the definitive blended Scotch whisky”.

“We are immensely proud of Dewar’s, and the quality and skill that it has embodied for the past 168 years. True Scotch, coupled with the new design, is our way to connect with the past, while embarking on an exhilarating journey into the future,” says John Burke, global category director for Dewar’s. “Our new marketing campaign tells the story of the brand and the exquisite liquid in a real and tangible way, giving every consumer the opportunity to connect with Dewar’s history.”

The new look and feel begins with a distinctive shape for each bottle in the range. Excellence is expressed in every aspect – from the bold colors, stoppers and seals, to presentation boxes, labelling, bespoke typefaces and product information – all inspired and sourced from the extensive brand archive in Scotland. The labels on the new bottles incorporate a wealth of special features to help consumers discover the stories behind the Scotch whisky. In addition, all Dewar’s premium and super-premium whiskies carry individual statements of aging and provenance. As a nod to its heritage and exceptional craft, each bottle of Dewar’s Signature comes with a certificate of authenticity, signed by the master blender.

The most distinctive feature of the new look is the trefoil Celtic truth knot that has been embossed onto the glass of every bottle. A powerful visual representation of Dewar’s strength and longevity shows three interlocking ‘D’s that represent the three men of substance who created the company that endures to this day – John Dewar and his sons, John Alexander Dewar and Tommy Dewar. The design is intended to embody Tommy Dewar’s famous and widely quoted maxim that “the quality of the article should be its greatest advertisement.”

The new visual identity will launch this month in the UK, Spain and Greece, followed by all other markets, including the US, Russia, India, Lebanon and in global travel retail. It will be incorporated into all point-of-sale and merchandising assets, to strengthen the impact and differentiation of the brand range. 

The True Scotch platform is built on heavyweight foundations. After establishing his wines and spirits business in Perth, Scotland, John Dewar put his name on a bottle of blended Scotch, becoming reputedly the first person ever to do so and making Dewar’s the original brand of blended Scotch whisky. It was Dewar’s first master blender, A J Cameron, who pioneered the process of ‘marrying’ – maturing Scotch whisky in oak barrels for up to six months after blending – which gives smoothness and finish. In 1893, Dewar’s was awarded a Royal Warrant by Queen Victoria, and it continues to supply the royal household to this day.

14 April 2014 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor