Responses by Kasia Bannon, founder and chief executive officer, Grandmerci.
Background: The founders of rum brand Palm Republic chose to revisit their branding, as they didn’t believe that the previous design did enough to bring the brand’s narrative and premium identity to life—let alone distinguish it on the shelf. They have an exceptional liquid, but the design wasn’t doing it justice, and that’s something we were able to solve at Grandmerci. We dived in headfirst and spent weeks interviewing the brand’s founders and board members, each of whom has an infectious passion for the brand and offered significant inspiration.
Design thinking: As a specially blended rum sourced from three Caribbean countries and celebrating their rich histories—Panama, Jamaica and the US Virgin Islands—that story now sits front and center in the new design for both the brand’s Silver and Aged Rums, miles away from the tropes of pirates and dusty maps. Across both expressions, Jamaican rum provides depth, Panamanian rum adds structure, and the US Virgin Islands component brings freshness and finesse. Even the name speaks to a shared sense of place and escape but within a modern setting, further echoed by a brand positioning of “Where it takes you…”
Challenges: Spirits design always involves intense work-back timeframes given the amount of time it takes to get something into production and then onto shelf. There’s an intensity to it, of course, but it’s equally thrilling. Spirits design is also a category that is so accessible; we’re creating something which people will proudly display and share in their homes—and that, for me, is equally beautiful.
Favorite details: Every single aspect of this bottle speaks to the Palm Republic story. Both the custom typeface by designer Rob Clarke and the facets of the bottle speak to the fronds of the palm leaves. The custom illustrations by artist and designer Rose Mears and the three waves on the bottom of the bottle speak to the three countries from which the rum is blended.
Any rebrand is a huge investment on many levels. When you’re working directly with founders on a brand they have built from scratch, the stakes feel higher. I wanted to do an amazing job for them and ensure that their trust in us paid off, which it has. Grandmerci is a new, founder-led company ourselves.
Visual influences: Our team researched the palm species native to each of the rum’s source countries in order to illustrate them on the label, further grounding the brand in authenticity. At the bottle’s base, wave details reference the sea that connects these countries. The deep blue glass gives the impression of the bottle being dipped into the ocean, delivering on the brand strategy of “where it takes you.”
Time constraints: Time constraints didn’t affect us adversely; it meant to we had to work efficiently and make decisions quickly, which is my preferred way of working! Creating a new custom bottle means working closely with bottle suppliers and ensuring technical feasibility from an early stage.
Specific project demands: As rum aficionados, Eric Winter and Brad Parkes founded Palm Republic to disrupt the rum category by launching an ultra-premium rum. This meant that, together, we had a unique opportunity to create something that is a significant departure from what most consumers know while maintaining the vibrancy and fun of the category.
Alternate paths: I only wish we’d been able to do some on-the-ground research from the source countries! Designing this project during a New York winter allowed for quite a bit of Caribbean daydreaming.
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