Before & After: 10 Cane Goes Square

10 Cane Rum has recently redesigned their iconic, and award winning packaging, and I am not exactly sure how I feel about it. Check it out below, and share your thoughts on the new look.

The original iconic design was created by Werner Design Werks, and even featured in our first book: Box, Bottle, Bag, the World's Best Package Designs by The Dieline.

According to Eater AZ:

"They starting with a beefed up new recipe. After their usual distillation of pure sugar cane juice, 10 Cane rum will now be enhanced with the addition of extra-old rum, making the regular stuff taste a little deeper, more complex, and, well, better than it already did. Because the new bottle will hold a better product, they also decided to design a better bottle. Something as simple as making the bottle square, rather than rectangular like it was, will now solve a slew of apparent issues. A square bottle is greener—it uses less glass and allows for more bottles per case, meaning better use of printed ink. More bottles to a case also means more efficient shipping. And more efficient shipping means more rum for people like us."

Now that the bottle is square, does it the old design translate to the new bottle shape? Im not sure how I feel about it. You?

Share your thoughts below.

Old Design:

Comments

[alicee]

The new bottle looks like a bottle of olive oil. Besides, the elements look stacked to fit the narrow width, losing the charm of the whimsical illustration and label working together. Why change what's already good? I don't believe the new bottle is that much "greener" anyway.

[Zora Göschl]

I think it is not so much the proportions of the base but the proportions of width to height that make the difference. My first impression was that the bottle got slimmer and taller. Only after reading the text I noticed the rectangular/square base.

In straight front view the new silhouette resembles an average wine bottle and many other spirit bottles. Therefore I guess it will not stand out that much in the shelf. Also the old bottle looks more premium to me.

Oh, and I don't know if that's good or bad, but this is the typical bottle shape for olive oil, at least in Europe.

[Yael Miller]

The main difference is that the orange label does not cover the coat-of-arms anymore. That's probably a good thing, but for some reason I still prefer the old one. I can't say it's an improvement really, although both are excellent designs.

[leave_it_alone]

The graphics are completely disjointed now. An obvious business decision.
Why didn't they just reproportion the label over the fun/appropriate etching, that's
the beauty of this great package, it's spontaneity! ;-( And now it fits in a bar's speed
rail, faster pours for the Frat boys and girls. Watered down graphics, watered down
cocktails.

[melody stiller]

Sadly I don't feel the redesign works nearly as well as the original design. I understand the redesign is likely more sustainable, with a reduced carbon footprint, but unfortunately it came at a cost.

The original design incorporates a interesting overlap in the design elements that not only adds to visual interest, but it brings out certain aspects of the crest. When I look at the first design I feel that the crest very much works with the branding block. I really like the way the branding is layered over the crest. It adds depth and visual impact. In the re-design these design elements compete with one another instead and the design falls flat - comparatively. I also feel that the scaled down version of the crest does not work nearly as well as the the original. My eye is drawn in to the "x" in the center of the seal and I no longer notice the intricacies of the beautiful acanthus leaves and the monkey.

The original structural design feels more specialty and premium. This bottle has better shelf presence in the market place as it stands out from the rest. The redesign does the opposite. The profile of this bottle is modeled after a traditional 750ML bottle. It does not feel as premium, instead it looks and feels like a conventional liquor bottle. I'm disappointed that the stippling around the neck of the bottle has been lost. The redesign bottle is more sleek and in my opinion a real snore...ZZZZZZZZ.

m

[B.McG]

Def. think the new shape detracts from the original design. I liked the front label much better on the rectangular bottle. The square bottle reminds me of scotch or whiskey bottles.

Although the new shape dose save on shelf space.

[whell]

Either way, they still don't sell any product so what is the point of an award winning bottle if you aren't moving volume. The point of a retail good, is to sell that retail good.

[Ed M]

Hmm..., square bottle, rounded shoulders, angled stripe label - seems like a pretty big step (inadvertent?) toward Johnnie Walker. This dialed down the special for me. More than likely really dialing down the cost on a brand that's trying hard to survive. I like the original.

[P the rumrat]

I thought it was just a bottle shape change..... until discussion in my favourite watering hole where I was offered a taste this evening.
WTF??
I like my quality rums (like 10 Cane) on the rocks with a chunk of lime. 10 cane WAS the cleanest tasting rum since CSR (cane spirit Rothschild from St kitts 15/20 yrs ago). What I tasted this evening was like a 50/50 10 Cane/CapMorgan Spiced!! Why did they screw up a good drink. I mean, if they want to appeal to the Morgan drinkers, go ahead, change blend, satisfy the market, but change the label and don't call it the same thing, replacing a good rum with a poor substitute,
FFS, bring back the rectangular bottle with that rum for the people who appreciate it!

[dayat267]

Was the old recipe a clear or white rum. The new recipe seems to be a lot darker?