Botanical Alchemy

While exploring the gorgeous architecture of Cambridge, my friends and I  stumbled upon a tiny alley with a beautiful exterior, a mint-coloured storefront much like Tiffany’s. Throughout our time in Cambridge, we kept noticing the colour mint everywhere. Later, as I was researching for this blog, I found that the official colour of Cambridge University is indeed mint! Although, much to my confusion it is called Cambridge blue, inspired by the shades of spring green. 

Upon entering this Tiffany-esque store which looked like a lab, we were filled with excitement. The store was Cambridge Gin Laboratory. The interior of the store felt something like a chemist’s lab, very apropos for a gin ‘laboratory’. There were pipettes with gin, pressure gauges like the ones you can find in labs (or distilleries) and beakers as tasting glasses. We were offered a taste of any gin we liked, each with a unique flavour combination. 

Now, if you were to take a brand marketing nerd and put them in this store, they would be positively ecstatic, which is exactly what I was! The colour, Cambridge blue, was consistent and could be seen on all the brand assets - the logo, and packaging, and was woven into the design of the bottle as well. Moreover, the brand’s personality matched the store's aesthetic perfectly. A gin store that mirrored the inside of a distillery but was designed for consumers, is a brilliant way to immerse your consumers within the brand. To assess the brand's overall health, I created a brand report card based on the parameters defined in the Brand Report Card by Kellar. Kellar emphasises that a healthy brand delivers consumers' desired benefits (Kellar, 2000). A brand that consistently meets customer needs and delivers on its promises, ensuring that its products or services fulfil customer expectations (Kellar, 2000). Having tried the gins, I can confidently say that they were delicious and packed with flavour, exactly what the brand's tagline says - ‘Dedicated to Creating Outstanding Gins’ thereby successfully delivering on its promise to satisfy consumer needs.

Another parameter according to Kellar that constitutes a strong brand is its perceived quality. Cambridge Distillery captures this by offering premium quality gins and the experience of making your own gin. They also offer ‘molecular’ cocktail-making sessions, aligning brilliantly with the laboratory theme. Offering these experiences reinforces the brand’s commitment to excellence. Moreover, participants experience the brand's products or ingredients firsthand, thereby influencing their perception of the brand’s quality.  Additionally, the use of Cambridge blue as the primary brand colour, inspired by the city itself creates a memorable brand association in the mind of a consumer and distinctly stands out all the while paying homage to its origin. Overall, I would assess the health of Cambridge Distillery as robust, with a particularly strong brand identity. 

If I were to make a recommendation,  I would suggest a non-alcoholic range. There is a gap in the marketing for naturally made organic non-alcoholic drinks. Moreover, the flavourful profile of non-alcoholic drinks is quite limited. Its counterparts in the industry, such as London Dry Gin and Tanqueray do indeed have alcohol-free 0% spirits, but they have limited flavour options. What will differentiate Cambridge Distillery products from its competition is being true to their origin, of producing high-quality products using fresh (and local whenever possible) ingredients, each with a unique flavour profile. Mintel reports that the retail value sales of low and no-alcohol drinks doubled from 2018 to 2023, reaching £278 million in 2023 (Mintel, 2023). Volume sales also surged by 89% during this period. Therefore, introducing a non-alcoholic range could significantly enhance Cambridge Distillery's overall revenue.

Additionally, introducing a non-alcoholic range will enhance Cambridge Distillery's product portfolio, aligning it with direct competitors who have already achieved successful launches in this sector.

Cambridge Gin Laboratory definitely tops my list of strong brands and I would highly recommend a visit the next time you are in Cambridge for a gin-spired adventure!

References

Josh Sims  (2024) ‘What’s next for luxury spirits?’, InsideHook, 22 May. Available at: https://www.insidehook.com/spirits/luxury-spirits-premiumization  (Accessed: 8 May 2024). 

Keller, K.L., (2000). The brand report card. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), pp.147-157.

Meet: William (2020) Hidden Gems. Available at: https://www.love-cambridge.com/hidden-gems/meet-the-owners/meet-william/ (Accessed: 8 May 2024). 

Mintel (2023) “Attitudes towards Low- and No-Alcohol Drinks - UK - 2023”. Available at: https://shorturl.at/URsBC (Accessed: 8 May 2024).