It’s no fun to be a concept. Either you’re killed or you’re executed. When a concept is killed, the blood is on the hands of the client. (Which could be you.) And it’s very ugly, and very messy. When it’s executed, the heartless designers at SANDSTROM PARTNERS take care of the dirty work. So why take it into your own hands?

Sandstrom Partners is a strategic brand design firm that specializes in the creation and revitalization of thought-leading brands. Many of these brands compete in highly competitive environments that require their brands to be clearly differentiated. We specialize in creating package design for beverage brands, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Unlike most categories, beverage packaging is the primary identifier of both the brand and the products. The spirits category in particular has become highly competitive in recent years and it is imperative that your package design communicates a unique and compelling story.

Communicating your brand’s story with package design is the most efficient use of marketing dollars and will create efficiencies throughout your organization. We create package design to be a media opportunity to help tell a story about your brand. The brands we create always have a built-in story, which makes activation seamless and efficient. Most of the brands that we create for entrepreneurs go on to have successful, high multiple, exits. 

Whether scanning the retail shelf, the back bar, or DTC offerings on the internet, people see visuals and imagery first, then read words once the product is in hand. Creating this non-verbal visual communication is often the difference between getting pulled off the shelf or being invisible to your audiences.

Every brand we create has an idea/story that is integrated into the design both visually and verbally to create a brand connection and experience. At times, we articulate the positioning statement on the bottle. Bulleit Bourbon is “Frontier Whiskey”. Aviation Gin is “American” Gin. Tazo “The re-incarnation of Tea”. Revivalist is “Garden” Gin. Session Lager is, as we named it, sessionable beer.

We often inject what some might describe as a “retro” appeal into brands. This creates an instant sense of familiarity and trust. This approach has resulted in Sandstrom Partners becoming the go-to design firm for brand reinvention, where we are often found scouring the archives searching for iconic and classic category elements that we can adapt with a contemporary twist. This creates a sense of both familiarity and novelty, making it difficult to determine if the brand is from a bygone era, or new to the scene. We call this “floating time”.