A Danish classic

The Manchester branch of Denmark-based branding agency, Agency Spring, has teamed up with Nordic confectioners Cloetta to redesign Skipper’s Pipes, a traditional pipe-shaped liquorice confectionary beloved in Denmark.

With a heritage akin to Marmite or Oxo in the UK, the image of the brand has remained largely untouched for decades; its previous packaging remained unchanged for over 30 years.

Owing to the success of this image, the central elements of the brand have remained the same, despite the new advertising campaign, packaging and image design by Agency Spring.  The iconic ship is still emblazoned on all boxes of the liquorice confectionary.

The rebrand has also led to a 15.5 per cent increase in sales.

The managing director of Agency Spring UK, Paul Iddon, comments, “The pipes were already more popular than ever in Denmark, making a rebrand potentially risky. However, Cloetta seemed to recognise that while respect for the existing brand was important, so too was revitalising a product which had been largely untouched since the early 1980s.”

As well as providing the confectioners with a new look, Agency Spring has also designed new variants of Skipper’s Pipes, including a new sharing pack, advent calendar, and ‘gift’ and ‘single serving’ varieties.

In addition, Spring have designed a luxurious gold embossed ‘Log book’, a hardback book which contains a story which has been specially created to support the new brand. Furthermore, the liquorice pipe itself now weighs close to double that of the original product.

Iddon continues, “Knowing we successfully brought such an important Danish brand into the 21st century without damaging its iconic status is great, but the fact sales have actively increased since the rebrand is just sensational.”

Iddon says, “We pride ourselves on being able to get to the heart of what makes a brand special and open it up to a wider market so it’s good to know we’ve done this with Skipper’s Pipes, enhancing what has always been a great relationship with the Danish market.”