Natural mineral water rebrand that took South Downs from Sussex to mainstream

South Downs Water bottle one of the purest natural mineral waters in the whole of the UK drawn from deep below the South Downs National Park. Back in 2015 they had hit a glass ceiling with their existing ‘THE’ brand and approach us to work with them on a complete rebrand.

They wanted to grow the business beyond the immediate geographical location without upsetting existing customers. They required a rebrand that would clearly reflect the product quality and could sit comfortably on a restaurant table or at a wedding venue.

Our suggestions were to throw out the previous and confusing ‘THE’ brand and replace it with ‘South Downs Natural Mineral Water’, expanding on their company name and highlighting the single, geographically exact source of their excellent water.

Over the course of three months, we developed a pared-back natural mineral water brand as pure as the Downs themselves. To ensure some brand recognition with existing customers, our design team chose to incorporate their existing brand blue for still water but introduced a new complementary green for sparkling water to aid differentiation.

We used translucency to create an evocative representation of the geology of the Downs, and transparency to exploit the interesting colours and effects reflected by the natural mineral water. The combination of these two simple effects resulted in striking yet elegant new labels.

As well as dramatically increasing the brand’s shelf appeal, the new three-colour Pantone product labels cost considerably less to produce. Our experienced print management team strive to find the best balance between aesthetics and our clients’ bottom line.

All packshot photography was shot in our dedicated photography studio at Ascender HQ, ensuring a consistent and professional suite of image assets were generated for the client. This allowed South Downs to present the new brand to their existing clients and manage the transition from their previous brand in a professional way.

Since launch, South Downs Natural Mineral Water has secured dozens of new distribution partners, won the prestigious contract to supply the entire Goodwood Estate and have ambitious plans to expand the range and their reach to the whole of the UK.