Elements of Islay Whiskey - Poisonous Packaging or Not?

I read a great post on The Dieline today and had to write about it here to find out what everyone thinks about the packaging for the Elements of Islay Whiskey. In a hat tip to the product name – the “Elements” of Islay Whiskey, the package labels are designed to look like they came from the periodic table of elements. Even the bottle shape has a chemical feel to it reminiscent of high school chemistry class.

When I first saw the picture of the Elements of Islay Whiskey packaging, I thought the bottles contained a poison or harsh chemical. It wasn’t until I clicked through to see the image on Liqurious.com that I realized what is in the bottles is actually whiskey. Of course, whiskey certainly could be poisonous, but that’s a topic for another blog and blogger to tackle. I’m just interested in the effectiveness of the packaging from a branding and marketing perspective.

What do you think? I have to admit that this packaging would probably stand out on a liquor store shelf, but I wonder what type of customer would be compelled to purchase it and try it after seeing this packaging. It might as well have a skull and cross bones on it. Is the customer demographic that would be moved to action and make a purchase based on this packaging the target market that the company behind the Elements of Islay Whiskey, Specialty Drinks Ltd., wants to attract? Does the price point match the brand message that the packaging communicates?

So what do you think?

Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc. and Founder & Editor in Chief of an award-winning blog, WomenOnBusiness.com. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored 10 books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.

Comments

Scott says

March 4, 2009 at 9:44 am

Maybe this is for medicinal purposes only, in which case the packaging is appropriate. Considering their target market, I think they’ll be fine and I can understand they were trying to be clever.
Nicholas McIntosh says

March 13, 2009 at 6:11 pm

I think it’s awesome. Very creative. I’d certainly buy them if I liked whiskey.
Cheers,
Nick McIntosh
Corporate, Editorial & Higher Education Photographer
Tim F says

August 9, 2010 at 6:15 am

Coming late to this article, but many thanks for posting about our Elements of Islay products. Interesting question rasied about the packaging, however, fortunately for us the customers love it – and so does the industry, with UK trade bible Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine awarding Elements of Islay a Gold Medal and the overall Trophy for Best Spirits Range in their Design Awards 2009!

More info here: http://www.elements-of-islay.com/