The key word is Heritage, that is, history, lived experience, and legacy. Expressing the value accumulated over time helps in conquering markets around the world. However, to do this well, culture, respect, and expertise are needed.
2021 ended with two important testimonials of esteem for our country. We refer to the recent article published in The Economist and to the intervention of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during her speech at the Catholic University of Milan. A hymn to work by Mario Draghi but also to our way of being, to Italianity, to the reputation of a country that during the summer already showed, thanks to the successes of the Italian athletes, the will and the ability to fight and to rise again by investing in traditions to create new paths.
It is therefore a positive moment for our reputation abroad and we must take advantage of it; in all fields, at all levels.
We offer you our perspective on how to communicate Italian origins through brand and packaging design, starting with examining some great success stories in the food market: products that have won the trust and memory of foreign consumers, as well as a premium positioning on shelves worldwide. We do this with three brands that are part of our country’s history, examining a client of RBA Design Cinzano, and two other projects, emblematic and in everyone’s memory: San Pellegrino and Mutti. Has packaging design contributed to the success of these products? Can we identify a style common to these brands that can express their origin?
The new bottle Cinzano 1757
It is a story that begins in 1757, in Turin, in a shop in Contrada Dora Grossa (now the central Via Garibaldi), where Cinzano the Maestri Acquavitai Carlo Stefano and Giovanni Giacomo prepared and offered the Piedmontese aristocracy those delicious aromatic and liqueur wines that would later become, a few years later, the ’Vermouth di Torino“. An authentically Italian story, characterized by the close relationship between family and business, the unbreakable bond with the territory, but also by the desire to be international and pioneering.
A positioning that inspired our design work, which took shape thanks to this precious history: In the archive Cinzano we found all the material we needed to face “the next 260 years”. Because it is a beautiful responsibility to handle a heritage spanning almost three centuries: it requires respect to preserve its charm and value; and it requires courage to restore the adventurous, enterprising and somewhat brash spirit that animated ’Francesco e Cinzano Compagnia“, founded in 1868.
The new bottle, Cinzano 1757, a packaging that effectively expresses the essence of the brand.
S.Pellegrino, an icon of waters
It is a highly successful water, present in many of the best restaurants around the world. The water, whose fame is also documented by Leonardo da Vinci, gushes from the eponymous San Pellegrino springs, the natural thermal baths that became the exclusive destination of the European bourgeoisie during the Belle Époque period. S.Pellegrino water, from its label, conveys the heritage of Italian prestige, suggested by the red star – which represents the ancient symbol that between the 19th and 20th centuries marked quality products destined for export – and the white and blue filigree, a tribute to the Liberty style. The bottle is the classic Vichy green bottle, which once represented the standard for all mineral waters; subsequently, everyone adopted proprietary bottles except S.Pellegrino, which remained unchanged and immutable in the ’old“ Vichy green, today a true icon.
Mutti, the sauce of the two lions
If we move to the United States, one of the most iconic brands of flourishing Italian antiquities is Mutti: they were the first to make tomato concentrate and in the 1970s exported the tomato pulp in cans, conquering the American market. The statues of the two lions placed at the sides of the name are there to claim their Italian origins: imposing monuments, a living piece of history that expresses history and knowledge. The logo made the brand recognizable from the very beginning, allowing even illiterate people to recognize ‘the sauce of the two lions“.
What can we learn from these examples of success? What do these brands have in common?
Everyone communicates what the Anglo-Saxons call Heritage, which in our language means heritage, legacy. They use often archaic images (although almost always revisited in a modern way) that bring back visual elements that belong to past eras: monumental columns, gold medals (awarded at various universal exhibitions for the quality of the products), lion heads, etc. These images date back to past eras, evoking ancient traditions and artisanal craftsmanship. But why are these icons successful? Because they are the images that foreigners imagine when they think of Italy. Magnificent squares, monuments, ancient architectural works, Renaissance paintings, Roman ruins, columns, medieval villages, and so on. Their main image of our country is this: they not only buy a product but an experience; they identify with our way of life, with the beauty of our places, with the warmth of the sun, with the empathy of the inhabitants, with our social relationships.
