SGK and Fever-Tree: A Recipe for Branding Success

Hi Bennett, it’s a pleasure to talk to you today. I am genuinely excited about reviewing our journey with Fever-Tree and exploring the collaborative efforts we’ve undertaken with their team to drive their global expansion swiftly. Before we delve into that, I would love to hear more about your industry experience and your role at SGK.

Kicking off with graphic design & print during my teens, I’ve gone from mounting plates and mixing inks all the way over to client engagement. I’ve been with SGK for 20+ years, currently as Client Director, working with luxury retailers, infamous biscuit makers and market leading pharmaceutical brands of all shapes and sizes.

Considering your extensive experience in working with various FMCG clients, each at different stages of growth maturity, I’m curious to know about the prominent recurring themes you’ve observed.

Oftentimes our clients want the shiny new things in the current status quo, some examples:a

• Repurpose of assets; in their digital ecosystem, to leverage cost and supply models.
• Artwork Automation – to accelerate speed to market and reduce touchpoints.
• Colour Harmonisation – to enable multiple packs to be printed in ‘one’ print run without costly changeovers of inks etc.

And where we support our clients in topics like this, what are the essential elements that contribute most to success?

The key factor to success in these disciplines, ironically is ‘discipline’! There is an adage that fits the bill nicely, ‘pay attention to what you pay attention to’.
Clients that recognise this, alongside new initiatives and/or emerging technologies already know that you need to have your ‘foundation’ really dialled in. You can layer the exciting stuff on top of ‘rock solid basics’. The big misconception here is that basics are simple. In fact, they are the jewel in the crown when applied well and far more complex to get right than you’d imagine. Many clients discover this way too late in the journey.

That’s really interesting, so recognising the complexity of getting the basics right is key. Tell me about how we have applied this to our partnership with Fever-Tree?

Working with one of our trusted partners, brand owner: FEVER-TREE, a British producer of premium drink mixers, they have quickly adapted to a business that has seen exponential growth, and with it a supply chain that required to scale adjacent to these needs.

Sarah Brenneis, Fever-Tree Group Artwork Manager, is a firm believer in the importance of 3 hot topics, it’s no surprise that we can relate!

1. Total clarity of inputs to the prepress workflow
2. Commonality where possible and a zero tolerance for unwarranted reworks
3. Range consistency, range consistency & (yep, you guessed it) range consistency.

It’s fantastic that our thinking aligned with the Fever-Tree team. Could you outline the approach we took to address these needs?

In collaboration we built out a ‘Master’ approach to pack formats, sizes, and product variants. Homing in on the common details to develop an ‘anchor’ for all future iterations of the product family, from range extensions to regulatory updates etc.

Once you have the foundation firmly in place, you can develop streamlined briefing methods, which Fever-Tree have done with great success. Your ‘metadata/content’ journey starts to take shape and your repository builds with ‘locked/approved’ assets. All these building blocks allow the advantages of new tech to be harnessed properly. After all, artwork automation won’t fix your content issues but well managed content that’s locked at source, will 100% support your artwork automation aspirations!

That’s great Bennett! So, the key principles we have put in place in collaboration with Fever-Tree can be summed up by the following:

• Project First
• Integrated exchange of data
• Standardised briefing documentation
• Managed Fit for Use
• Reduced touchpoints

Absolutely right. On a daily basis, this is how we collaborate closely with them to swiftly deliver precise, consistent, and top-notch packaging for their premium brand. This approach empowers them to successfully pursue their extensive worldwide expansion goals both now and in the future.