INTEGRITY SPIRITS
There is so much to love about our client Integrity Spirits. First, it’s a Portland distillery that makes small batch, hand-crafted spirits. Second, it’s run by two passionate and talented young guys who happen to be best friends. Third, there’s the taste-testing.
Project: Trillium Absinthe Supérieure
Any day now, Integrity Spirits will release only the second absinthe made in the US since the ban of 1912. Trillium Absinthe Supérieure is handcrafted here in Portland in small batches with all-natural botanicals: wormwood, lemon balm, damiana, hyssop, and star anise. ID Branding is proud to have developed the brand strategy, selected the bottle, created the label design and overseen the complex printing process to deliver this historic spirit to the world. Finally, the beverage that inspired Baudelaire, Van Gogh, Degas, Rimbaud, Hemingway, and countless other creative minds is now, after 96 years, available once again.
Project: 12 Bridges Gin
Our second effort for Integrity Spirits is the branding of a gin unlike any you’ve ever sipped. We suggested the name 12 Bridges Gin because, true to the Portland way of doing things, this spirit is the unusual love-child of a Dutch genever and a London dry. The 12 Bridges Gin label honors not just the bridges within our fair Portland, but also celebrates the 12 botanicals that make this gin such a refreshing surprise. A new bridge will be featured periodically on the bottle until all 12 bridges receive their due. So, when you see a bridge you like, we suggest you buy several.
Project: Lovejoy Vodka
Integrity Spirits announced its presence to the world in November of 2007 with two inaugural products, Lovejoy Vodka and Lovejoy Hazelnut. Several months prior, ID Branding developed the strategic positioning, created the name, chose the bottle, concepted and designed the labels, and managed the production and delivery of the entire Lovejoy packaging system. Read on if you’d like to know more.
Project: Lovejoy Vodka
Lovejoy Vodka has a smooth flavor with a unique depth and character. But this small batch, hand-crafted Portland vodka also stands out from the crowded liquor shelves because of its design concept. Lovejoy Vodka comes with four different labels, allowing customers to choose the design that fits their mood, décor, or gift situation. It’s the same fine vodka but with different label designs. Each label features a different pattern and color scheme. New designs will be released over time, and old designs will be retired. Who knows? Eventually customers might be asked to vote for new labels and bring back old ones.
Project: Logo Design
Our logo for Integrity Spirits is an instance of channeling the personal mythos of the two founders, Rich and Kieran, into visual design. The two founders are long time best friends. They are yin and yang. They are entwined in a passionate commitment to the distillation of spirits. And they’re into dragons. Celtic dragons, Asian dragons. You should see Kieran’s tattoos. While the naming, labels, bottles, and strategic concepts for their products are highly calculated branding efforts, this logo is really Rich and Kieran’s album cover. It’s what they’re about. It’s them.
What’s Next
When you’re dissatisfied with the current state of branding as a discipline, it’s time to pitch in and help change it. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re willing to think aloud, knowing we won’t always be right. But in this business, like in surfing, it’s a lot more fun to be out in front of the wave than it is to be dragged along underneath it.
Give Them Something to Believe In:
The Value of Brand Culture
This is the first in a series of two papers that propose a new model of branding. It’s the culmination of two years of trying to figure out where this field of ours is going next. We didn’t invent the idea of Brand Culture out of nothingness. It’s a combination of our own experience with clients, the influence of friends in the business, and the thinking of several anthropologists who are studying what the world wants out of a brand these days.
Download Our White Paper:
"Give Them Something to Believe In: The Value of Brand Culture.”
SAIF
SAIF Corporation is Oregon’s not-for-profit, state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance company. It’s played a vital role in the Oregon economy since 1914. A few years ago, the SAIF brand stumbled, and they came to ID Branding for help.
The Revitalization of a Great Oregon Brand
What happens when a venerable old brand lets other people tell its story? Not a very happy ending, especially when the brand’s chief competitors are doing the telling. We worked with SAIF to change that ending by helping them reclaim the powerful values and the compelling purpose that had nearly been forgotten by their own employees. 
The SAIF story is a great example of the new model of branding described in the concept of Brand Culture. SAIF didn’t need an external controllable brand image. They needed to understand, embrace, and act from their values, as this case study shows.
Download Our Case Study:
SAIF Corporation "The Revitalization of a Great Oregon Brand.”