CLIENT
Scottish Leader
PROJECT
Moving from bottom shelf to pride of place in Taiwan
DISCIPLINE
Insight & Research, Competitor Analysis, Design Planning & Strategy, Packaging Design, Packaging Implementation
Burn Stewart Distillers is part of CL World Brands spirits group. Their range includes Scottish Leader Supreme, a blended whisky exported directly from Scotland to Taiwan. Scottish Leader has enjoyed a strong reputation as an off-premise value brand, equivalent in quality to JW Red Label, Bells or Grant’s – brands popular with a certain segment that seeks reliable, honest, non-fancy liquor.
After years of being regarded as a budget-choice blended whisky, Scottish Leader Supreme needed modernisation and a refreshed brand toolkit. A lack of advertising and promotion meant the brand had no image and was always sold on price. It wasn’t premium enough to compete against the major international brands. To be a contender it needed a look that would position the label as a quality blended scotch that could eventually become a formidable international player in Asia. The product was good, it needed to look the part to be taken seriously.
The first step: modernise the core assets. The SL Supreme bottle’s distinctive angular octagonal structure was refined with a chiseled, more jewel-like aesthetic. This added clarity and sharpness to the brand.
The Scottish Leader eagle was rendered in a delicate line that was more modern and that could become iconic over time. A new brandmark was created to be more elegant and legible, set against a cream label and embossed. Gold still featured very prominently in the packaging along with subtle embossing and finishes to highlight the brand’s provenance and quality.
Next we created new packaging for upcoming age expressions; 12YO blended whisky (to compete with JW Black Label and Chivas), a 15YO Blended Malt (equivalent to JW Green) and finally to top the range a sumptuous, elegant 21YO Blended Malt. The bottle shapes changed in line with the product and age expressions to fit the market expectations.
Sustainable Impact
Scottish Leader Supreme sales in Taiwan increased 50% year-on-year from 50,000 cases to over 200,000 today. The brand now represents over 10% of the Taiwan market
The 12-Year-Old Scottish Leader, with its distinctive blue packaging, has given the brand the chance to compete in the critical on-premise market with higher margins that come with a higher reputation.
“The 15 and 21-Year-Old Blended Malts provide the loyal Scottish Leader drinker with a clear, accessible ‘upgrade path’ to higher levels of sophistication and enjoyment. Through these expressions Scottish Leader now has something it had lacked for so long” – Prestige
