The Label Makers create mystique with unique Kraken® rum label

Bradford-based The Label Makers has created an eye-catching label for one of the fastest growing rum brands, The Kraken Black Spiced Rum. The label, which achieved a highly commended at the UK Packaging Awards in November last year, wraps around two-thirds of a specially embossed black gloss bottle commissioned to launch the brand’s limited edition. The label was designed by NB Studio.

With the rum brand taking its name from the ‘Kraken’, a mythical giant squid-like sea monster in Scandinavian folklore, the iconic bottle is styled on a Victorian demijohn, including two hoop handles in keeping with the tradition of sailors hanging bottles on hooks to prevent breakages during rough seas. The label features rich imagery of the Kraken’s famed treasure bullion and incorporates a central lozenge panel containing the Kraken brand motif.

To achieve a seamless no-label look, The Label Makers used black matt wine uncoated paper, which avoided white edges when die-cut, as well as a black flexo print and high gloss varnish finish on the edges of the label.

In creating a uniqueness befitting a limited-edition release, the label needed real visual drama, but also texture and tactility. The Label Makers accomplished this by using a combination of complex embellishment processes, including matt and gloss flexo pattern varnishes, hot and cold foiling, translucent flexo ink washes and hi-build screen print. The label was printed in a single pass on an MPS EFS 430 flexo combination press.

“The Label Makers have produced a stunning label for The Kraken® brand,” said Niamh Ryan, brand manager, EMEA APAC. “They’re innovative and forward thinking, and use their expertise in the field to come up with dynamic and exciting ways to achieve the results that we are after.”

Commenting on the project, Kevin Lyons, sales director at The Label Makers, said: “This label was a complex embellishment process from the outset, but one that we thoroughly enjoyed putting together. The end result speaks for itself and we are delighted to have been part of the process.”