“Harrods is famous throughout the world for being the home of super brands, and we knew we needed to create a super brand out of confections,” explains Smith &+Village strategy director Richard Village. “We made very sure that the design of the new packaging followed the principles of a super brand and conveyed the sae opulent look and feel.”

Unlike some whiskey brands, Maker’s Mark doesn’t have a century or more of distilling history behind it. The brand was launched in 1958 by husband-and-wife team Bill and Marjorie Samuels. Bill was the distiller, but Marjorie handmade the iconic identity.

From an article on whiskeywash.com: “[Marjorie] single-handedly invented the Maker’s Mark brand: she came up with the company’s logo (the star represents Star Hill [where they lived], the “S” stands for Samuels, and the ‘IV’ is a reference to Bill Samuels being a fourth-generation distiller); she designed the font on the label… and thought of the name ‘Maker’s Mark,’ inspired by the identifying marks English pewter-makers stamped into their work…. Her finishing touch was the wax closure on the bottle. Supposedly, she nailed the distinctive drippy look in the family kitchen, melting the sealing wax in a deep fryer.”

Turner Duckworth has now built an entirely updated brand around that iconic dripping red wax top. The “red drip” shows up throughout the new system, as does woodcut prints, traditional fonts, and creamy, aged color, all working together to create an authentic, handmade feel. Even using “William + Marjorie” as part of some packaging and advertising adds the feeling of hand-crafting by real people.