What do you do when your greatest asset is hiding under a glacier? Affinity Creative Group was asked by Anchorage Distillery to capture the brand essence as well as the authentic and adventurous spirit of Alaska. The design solution included creating a logo that projects authenticity and achieves strong brand registration on a crisp, white, textured label stock; adding an engraved Alaskan Moose to emphasize a rugged and hardy spirit of the brand; and developing packaging with a hand-made, customized, and specialty-crafted look and feel. Other packaging details include a finely detailed ‘tax-stamp’ look of the neckbands to the rippled, die-cut labels, suggestive of the Alaskan water’s edge. To further underscore the brand’s origin and attributes, Affinity Creative recommended a new glass bottle structures more aligned with the brand personality. For instance, The Aurora Gin translucent-colored glass effect is inspired by the aurora borealis and Alaska’s undulating-blue waters. Additionally, the switch from transparent closures to wood stoppers delivers a sophisticated, yet down to earth, craft vibe for the entire product line.
Johnny McCormick, CEO, Anchorage Distillery, commented, “The Affinity team has a winning approach to the creative process. Rather than dive straight into label concepts and bottle shapes, we started with the essential questions: What makes our Alaskan spirits unique? What elements of our distillery’s Alaskan identity do we want to convey?” In addition to Aurora Gin, a range of Vodkas, Roadhouse Rye (a clear un-aged whiskey), and a new, Single Barrel Release, Straight Rye Whiskey, round out the re launched brand family. From its unique creative campus, (two mansions and a bungalow), along historic officer’s row on Mare Island CA, Affinity Creative Group provides brand design, digital media, and retail activation marketing services, particularly for wine, spirits and other luxury categories.
