In an increasingly competitive marketplace, focusing on a strong brand identity is essential to differentiate yourself from the competition and capture the attention of your target audience. But how do you create a unique and memorable brand identity? What are the key steps to building a clear, coherent and recognizable image at all levels?
Let’s dive deeper into the topic by tracing the story of Campari together Fabio MolinaroRobilant’s partner and creative director who designed the latest redesign of this iconic brand.
The origins of Campari and the Red Passion aperitif
Led by his fiery passion in 1860 Gaspare Campari invents a blend so distinctive and revolutionary that it has never been altered and still retains its original composition and recipe today.
In the years to come, the “Red Passion” continued to inspire its founder and allowed the brand to continue to grow. Thus, in 1867, Gaspare chose a characteristic venue in the new Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the cultural epicenter of Milan, as a point of reference for his work. The bar with a bright view of the famous Piazza Duomo is called Campari coffee.
Photo of the Camparino in the gallery – 1925
As a tribute to his father’s Caffè Campari, Davide opened the doors of in 1915 Camparino in the gallery. Revolutionizes the way bitters are tasted and introduces Red Passion to all Milanese guests. As David Campari spreads the aperitif, still today, a typically Italian moment of conviviality par excellence. The aperitif becomes synonymous with encounters, knowledge and the joy of being together.
The iconic Sprite wrapped in an orange peel, designed by Leonetto Cappiello in 1920.
It’s coming in the 30s Campari soda: the authentic and label-free aperitif created by Davide Campari, with a dash of seltzer. Sparkling and lively, it is served in a specially designed conical glass to enhance its flavor and aromatic notes. This Milanese custom gradually spread throughout Italy.
Extraordinary intuition reaches its peak when Davide Campari decides to combine Campari and seltzer in a bottle designed by the futurist Happy Depero.
Depero designed the bottle by simply turning the shape of the Bitter 1932 glass on its head
Even today, without labels like back then: Because labels often speak about us, but not for us. The aperitif is the perfect time to let go and break free from conventions and frills.
Connection with the city of Milan
The brand’s decision to entrust the company further strengthens the already solid link between Campari and the city of Milan Bruno Munari the redesign of the company logo.
In 1964, Munari designed a closely related poster for Campari at the opening of the first underground line in Milan. Inaugurated in November of the same year, the M1, the “red line”, linked Piazza Duomo to the Campari factory in Sesto San Giovanni.
Its visual impact is maintained even if you only glimpse it from the subway car a kaleidoscopic and curious look at the contemporary city. The basic idea of the manifesto is that of a potentially infinitely expandable montage. A serial iteration inspired by mobility conceptwithout interruptions.
A continuous flow of images: Munari precisely points to the element of continuity of the brand, tracing the company’s long and prestigious advertising history by comparing the lettering taken from the iconic posters of Hohenstein and Dudovich, Cappiello and Deperojust to name a few.
In Munari’s graphic project, the results of his artistic research converge and are projected into a new urban context. The poster for Campari thus becomes a unique and innovative representation of the brand identity, in perfect connection with the city of Milan.
New brand and product identity for Campari
This year, Campari is presenting itself on the international markets with a new brand identity. The result is a sculptural and iconic synthesis of all components the roots, identity and future of the typical Italian aperitif.
The bottle has been completely redesigned by the brand company Robilant to reflect its role as the undisputed protagonist in bars around the world.
With elegant majesty, its glass body is enriched by a refined and meaningful canneté motif, a detail reminiscent of and inspired by the late Deco style rich Milanese architectureincluding the famous Camparino in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where it all began.
The scaled-down label to emphasize the Campari red draws all attention to the “Campari Milano” signature and inseparably sanctions it Bond to its founder and creator Davide.
The wealth of material and the compositional depth of the label can only be grasped on closer inspection.
The new identity It also lives outside of the iconic bitterness while maintaining a perfect synergy with it.
The new Brand Visual Identity system gives shape and substance to the refined and cosmopolitan attitude that characterizes the brand and is now expressed in all its facets.
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The crucial elements for creating a strong identity
Just as our personal identity makes us unique, a brand’s identity is that blend of special ingredients that allows the company to differentiate itself in the marketplace. Campari has always had a strong and memorable identity, unparalleled, full of charm and seduction.
Consistency, creativity, but above all values. Today, the most well-known and successful brands in the world are those that have a strong genetic code that customers can recognize from afar.
«In addition, boldness has always been an essential characteristic of Campari, which since its first identity has been characterized by its drive towards the avant-garde: the relevance of a leading brand at this level is also measured and preserved by the ability to anticipate the times to go further to be authentically yourself in a free and conscious way” told Fabio MolinaroCreative Director of Robilant who signed the project.
A brand identity does not have to be staticbut must continuously evolve to adapt to new trends, values and corporate culture.
This multifacetedness is done justice on the label, where Davide Campari Milano becomes the brand and the print finishes, only discernible upon closer inspection, become an open story a beauty to be discovered.
The inspiration behind Campari’s latest redesign
But how do you ensure consistency across all corporate communications and materials?
«From a branding perspective, there is no room for error when you know who you are and where you want to go.” continues Molinaro. «You have to be good at “focusing” everything well in advance. Then there’s the design. An identity that knows how to become alphabet and visual language guarantees effect, identity, coherence and, last but not least, scene».
The packaging represents the essence of the communication of a brand and a product: it contains the entire history of a company and all the stories hidden within it, however articulate and complex.
This story is summarized in an iconic essenceable to address people’s emotions directly.
In the case of Campari, more than other brands, its strength lies in the bottle itself, a fundamental element that makes up entire “walls” and shelves in almost every bar in the world.
To the elements that influenced this renaming We find the origins of Campari, those of its founder and the strong link with the city of Milan: “We imagined Davide Campari locked in these spaces overlooking the square at the beginning of his adventure and we let ourselves be guided by that same energy, that initiative, that enthusiasm. We let ourselves be carried away by the dream of a man with a vision» adds Molinaro.
Viewing the famous Camparino in the gallery (from the point of view of the man who started it all) made it possible Discover the history of the brand in a new wayand rediscovers its connection with the architecture and the cultural fabric in which it is embedded.
Added to thatbelonging to the city and the deep division of this “citizenship” between Milan branding agency Robilant and Campari.
«It was obvious to turn something so deeply rooted in our identity into design: a homage to the elegant beauty of Milan, coveted but never noisy, sometimes hidden in its beautiful courtyards» concludes Fabio Molinaro.
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