New look and flavour for Southern Comfort

Southern Comfort has evolved the brand with striking new packaging and introduced an additional flavour, Caramel Comfort, to the range in the US market.

Caramel Comfort has been designed to appeal to a broad age range and carries on Southern Comfort’s heritage as a leader in the flavoured spirit category. It can be served in a variety of ways including mixed with Sprite for a refreshing, simple cocktail and meets consumer demand for great tasting flavours that are unique, the company says.

“Caramel Comfort presents an opportunity to strengthen the Southern Comfort franchise by delivering on a decadent and great tasting flavour experience,” says Jennifer Powell, Southern Comfort US brand director. “Caramel is a versatile and emerging flavour which appeals to both men and women. This new flavour entry can be used in cocktails, as a stand-alone chilled shot or even in dessert drinks.”

Along with the new flavour, Southern Comfort has also announced its largest packaging evolution in nearly a decade, contemporising the brand and reasserting its relevance with today’s consumer.

One of the most significant new features to the new package is a unique icon on the neck and label proudly owning Southern Comfort’s position as a category of one. The new bottle shape draws from the brand’s heritage and wears the same fluted shoulders that drinkers recognise from years past.

“Southern Comfort is a sweet, smooth and delicious drink created by a bartender in 1874 to let his patrons experience a more enjoyable cocktail,” says Lena DerOhannessian, Southern Comfort global marketing director. “The new packaging and visual identity lets drinkers know Southern Comfort is truly the ‘Flavour of Whiskey Made Comfortable’ and unlike any other brand on the market.”

The new packaging extends past the parent bottle and into the entire Southern Comfort Family of brands including Southern Comfort 100 proof, Caramel Comfort, Lime Comfort and Cherry Comfort. Each line of Southern Comfort carries its own distinguishing traits, while still holding true to the overarching brand identity.

Helms Workshop, an award-winning creative firm based in Austin, TX, designed the new package.

“We challenged the team to consider the entirety of the brand’s history and visual equity, rather than simply focusing on refining the previous packaging,” says Christian Helms, Helms workshop owner. “We also engaged consumers in a dialogue around brand personality and values to gain insight into how to leverage those aspects of the brand in crafting the new identity. As a result we pulled forward and refined elements from the past that communicated Southern Comfort’s unique history while creating new language and iconography that speaks directly to contemporary drinkers.”

Southern Comfort founder M.W. Heron’s signature still graces every bottle of Southern Comfort, along with the year of his original creation, 1874. “None genuine but mine” still announces the uniqueness of the brand. Changes in colour and font elevate the modern cues of the brand, while retaining welcoming and approachable characteristics.

Caramel Comfort and the new Southern Comfort packaging are hitting shelves in the US beginning in early March. Caramel Comfort has a suggested retail price of US$16.99 for a 55 Proof 75cl bottle.

11 February 2015 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor