Simply finding a simply better expression

Hailing from the island of St Croix, a fine rum with a drinking experience to match the island’s golden sands and a heritage as rich the people’s vibrant past, Cruzan is unequivocally, ‘simply better rum’. But its presentation belied the golden purity of the rum within the bottle. Years of brand extension had created a tired looking portfolio that spoke neither of quality nor the rich heritage the brand laid claim to. It was Dragon Rouge’s job to breathe new life into the Cruzan range and re-present it once more, strong and proud as the ‘simply better rum’ that was its brand essence.

Golden layers of history

Digging into the distillery’s history, looking through the Cruzan owner’s Nethropp family annals and soaking up the rich culture and heritage of the island of St Croix provided the richest tapestry of equities and influences from which to revive this proud brand. From heraldry to ancient barrel seals. From the richly inspiring colours of seasoned barrel woods to the golden hues of the various rum vintages – the very fabric of the brand provided us with the richest inspiration upon which to create an inspiring, fresh and simple new identity and design.

World class simplicity

The new identity borrowed from the stone carved Cruzan name at the entrance to the Cruzan estate combined with the until now overlooked Nelthropp family crest.  Proud, clear and confident, it needed no further embellishment and instead provided the frame from which the simple purity of the rum could shine through. We revived the distiller’s signature on every bottle – the sign off on each range label, providing a very personal unifying seal of approval across every part of the range. A new classic-yet-contemporary bottle design kept things simple with low key embossing of the brand name and the 1760 founding date – nothing more, nothing less – allowing the quality of the liquid to do the talking. The clean, crisp simplicity of the new design created real flex to comfortably span from aged rums at one end through to flavoured mixable rums at the lighter end – testimony to a design befitting a ‘simply better rum’.