profile september 2016
TRANSCRIPT
September 2016 Packaging News 23
Davidoff Profile
You never know where the inspiration will come from nextJohnathan Caldwell Davidoff
When you view Davidoff’s headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, luxury doesn’t immediately spring to mind. Concrete dominates the scenery. But if you’re lucky enough to take a look inside, you’ll find a treasure trove of fine cigar packaging that’s inventive and impossible not to play with. And
when you meet the two men behind the designs, you begin to under-stand how these beautiful packs came to life.
Scott Birtwistle, vice president for packaging design and innovation, works alongside Johnathan Caldwell, design and packaging manager, and for over three years they’ve been allowed to let their creative minds run wild in ways that might make other designers green with envy.
“We love what we do,” explains Birtwistle. “I’ve always said to designers in my team that if you have a mad crazy idea then just go off and do it. There have been many times when I’ve gone to a supplier and asked for something and they’ve looked at me like I was mad. But we ended up getting something brilliant.”
“We’re always collecting stuff,” adds Caldwell. “You never know
Scott Birtwistle and Johnathan Caldwell are the driving forces behind the award winning packaging for fine cigar brand Davidoff. They spoke exclusively to Philip Chadwick about the process behind their designs
where the inspiration will come from next. You look through magazines, you bring things in – it’s like cooking. We have plenty of ingredients in the cupboard, some we’ve not used for a while. I was a daydreamer as a kid and still am.”
Both have extensive experience in design to make those dreams become a reality. Birtwistle’s career has been vast, switching between design agencies and brands. He helped set up Swiss agency CBá (now Paragon Designworks based in Lausanne) and was head of design at Philip Morris. Birtwistle was also responsible for the creation and development of Amcor’s internal innovation and design services department based in Switzerland. It was there he took on Caldwell, who had just arrived in Switzerland after working for agencies in the UK.
“Scott gave me an introduction into design in Switzerland,” adds Caldwell. “He’s been a mentor as well as my friend since. It’s now our third adventure working as a team.”
Three and a half years ago, while global head of design at Novartis, Birtwistle was approached by the head of HR at Davidoff to head up the packaging design team. He accepted and then set about building
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24 Packaging News September 2016
the department; Birtwistle negotiated that Caldwell would join his team and six months in, Caldwell was again back with Birtwistle.
“Everything has been built in a way that we know best and have proved to be successful for the brands we’ve worked for,” says Birtwistle. “It’s about how we envision packaging design should be developed, innovated, checked for feasibility and then manufactured to excellence. We have integrated a system of heavy prototyping and simulation to validate our concepts and maximise innovation. Now nearly four years in, we have a solid infrastructure for getting things out of the door fast, efficiently and to the high standards we strive to deliver on.”
High expectationsSuch an approach has benefited Davidoff. Its cigars have extensive back stories from a raft of exotic locations. The products are typi-cally enjoyed by a consumer who has a detailed knowledge of the product and a high expectation of quality.
The starting point for any packaging design project is the brand story and this is built in collaboration with Davidoff’s marketing team and communications agency. Birtwistle and Caldwell’s input is given once this is established.
This brief also includes details of the cigar itself; the story of where it was created, the development of the seed, the land where the plant was grown and the country and people involved. With all that information and guidance, Birtwistle and Caldwell set out to get the creative ball rolling.
“Every design you see here comes from a story, a brand essence,” says Birtwistle. “It’s a great way of doing things. Sometimes it’s challenging because you don’t always have that much to go with but at the end of the day we have a clear indication. When you’ve been in packaging for 20 years you build up an archive.
“I don’t throw stuff away; it’s parked and I know where to find it. A packaging toolkit might be a cliché but our toolkit is everything from jars of jam to tins of biscuits. I still have loads of print samples, hundreds of different techniques. We constantly look into new technologies, print techniques and materials to help us keep up to date and provide new and cool packaging.”
“I pull them out at meetings today. Just because it’s a little bit old doesn’t mean it’s bad. A combination of this with something new creates something new again. It’s a never-ending cycle of recycling, redeveloping, looking, creating and recreating. We’re recycling all the time – our own ideas.”
There is a balancing act sometimes as different markets respond to different designs. For example, in China consumers love the bling. In the US, it’s different.
“In America, it’s about having something that’s desirable rather than bling,” adds Birtwistle. “We’ll have feedback from Asia saying ‘it’s not red enough, it’s not got hot foil’. In the US the feedback is more ‘it has to be bold and masculine’. You’re juggling. For example, we loved the year of the monkey; it’s a beautiful box as far as I’m concerned. But it wasn’t red, it didn’t have any hot foil and didn’t tick a few boxes. The Asian markets thought it would flop – it was all good and sold out fast. In the US, they sold out in hours. You have to compromise but you have to push as well.”
So what makes the packaging stand out? At first glance, many of the cigar boxes on show are made of solid wood. They’re robust and made to last. These boxes have been manufactured to be kept and reused. For example, the Davidoff ORO Blanco box contains cigars in beautifully crafted trays; the consumer is encouraged to play with the pack and use it again.
“This is something that’s desirable but you’re not throwing it away,” says Birtwistle. “If the trays are removable then you can take them out for a secondary use. People use them for collecting coins or stamps. We’ve noticed that a lot of the packaging we’ve done over the last three years is on eBay.”
Inventive designThere’s plenty to admire, whether it’s inventive closures or the use of a material that simply blends in perfectly with the product’s nar-rative. For example, the special edition year of the monkey box was made from bamboo. It incorporates a sliding tray and the nature of the material meant that each lid was different. It was no easy feat to construct but the end result worked.”
“It fits in with what we were given as a brief,” explains Birtwistle. “It’s used in furniture, in lighting fixtures but not necessarily in cigar packaging. The playfulness of the material fitted the marketing message.”
“For each year, all these Chinese zodiac symbols have their own characteristics,” adds Caldwell. “Part of our job is to match the characteristics with the packaging. The monkey fitted with the bamboo as well as the natural feeling of the box.”
Birtwistle and Caldwell are incredibly passionate about their craft; they are meeting the demands of the brand and having some fun at the same time. n
Birtwistle (left) and Caldwell have been together at Davidoff for over three years Davidoff: Quality of materials a major consideration
Every design you see here comes from a story, a brand essenceScott Birtwistle Davidoff
