Sandeman revamped by Wren & Rowe

Global fortified wine producer Sandeman is relaunching with a redesigned corporate identity and overhauled packaging, in a six-figure-a-year design project by Wren & Rowe.

It is the first time the Portuguese wine-maker has made any changes to its identity since the mid-1980s, and the first major revamp of the company’s image since it was created in 1928, according to Wren & Rowe managing director Paul Foulkes-Arellano.

Wren & Rowe was appointed to the project two and half years ago and briefed to bring a coherent brand structure to Sandeman’s globally distributed portfolio of ports, sherries, Madeiras and vermouths.

‘The brand has been overhauled piecemeal over the past 50 years, with different ranges done a bit at a time. There was no overall brand structure and the logo was used in different ways on packaging,’ says Foulkes-Arellano.

The consultancy has created bottles, labels and packaging, as well as other branded materials, such as shipping cases. It is working on a redesign of the website at www.sandeman.com and will continue to work with the company for the next two years, updating each product range in turn.

‘The whole point of the rebrand is in trying to trade people up, perhaps from a standard port to a reserve and then up to a ten-year-old port. Britain has a lot of potential as a ten-year-old port market, as we already understand the idea of ten-year [maturity] through whisky drinking,’ adds Foulkes-Arellano.

A global roll-out of the Sandeman brand begins next month in France.