First, its products are expensive. Second, most young potential customers see the company’s cut-glass products as utterly irrelevant to their lives. Its something Grandma might drag out of the china cabinet once a year.
To overcome such obstacles, design firm Identica created a new identity for Waterford that stresses spontaneity and making everyday events truly memorable experiences. Waterford crystal should not be saved just for special occasions.
The cross-sectioned W from the old brand was retained, but everything else is new. The shapes of the new letterforms are inspired by the distinctive forms created through the brand’s distinctive crystal cuts, which in turn were originally inspired by the battlements and windows of Lismore Castle in Waterford, Ireland. A clear, deep blue-green and bright orange are the brand’s new signature colors. Perhaps the most delightful update is the brand’s seahorse: it is modern yet elegant, chill but energizing.
Waterford is owned by the Fiskars Group, which also owns many other brands that could be construed as “stuffy,” including Royal Doulton, Wedgwood, Royal Copanhagen, Royal Albert, and others. The identity of the Fiskars Group was updated in 2019, and it uses a color scheme that is similar to Waterford’s: a deep blue-green and a bright green. Royal Doulton also uses the same blue-green. The Fiskar and Gerber divisions of the Fiskars Group use the same bright orange as a brand color. Whether coincidental or purposeful, the parent company is no doubt modernizing these historic brands to improve their relevancy to new audiences.
(Learn how the Tiffany & Co. brand is struggling with similar relevancy issues at https://www.marketing-interactive.com/analysis-more-experiential-less-design-focused-rebrand-say-industry-players-on-tiffany-cos-new-direction.)