Stockyards Small Batch Distilling Company represents the future of handcrafted, small batch spirits. Their approach is grain to glass production with a “no-compromise” focus on organic, local, single estate ingredients. 

Although their ingredients are the main story, the Stockyards package design plays a crucial role in ensuring a distinct and highly visible shelf presence. We wanted to explore a packaging direction that would clearly stand out in a cluttered, highly competitive, sea of clear glass. We chose a white, matte overall coating for the bottle and a fairly minimalist approach to the bottle decoration. The brandmark is a testament to the ingredients with a space for the distiller to mark each bottle with its unique batch number. Craft spirits the way they were meant to be.

Strano and Pettigrew Design Associates is very pleased to have been asked to take on this packaging project and we very much look forward to watching this brand grow.

Second Cup Canada had introduced the Flat White to its menu of espresso based coffees. Strano + Pettigrew was asked to develop a nation-wide launch campaign that would introduce this antipodean favourite to Canadians. Since the Flat White was new to most Canadians, our mission was to “Educate and Advocate”—and there’s no better way to do that then by letting Canadians taste one!

So we commissioned two, custom made, Piaggio Ape50s from Ireland to be the focal point of our experiential sampling campaign. 

Marketing Magazine did a great write up on the launch which also showcases our TV spot.

S+PDA has a true passion for food and beverage design, branding and packaging. Over the years we have had the opportunity to shoot some great product and work with talented photographers and stylists. The selects below are from the past two years working with photographer Anthony Manieri.

All images—©copyright Anthony Manieri & Second Cup Coffee Co.

In 2014, following Second Cup’s rebranding, we were asked by their marketing team to look at redesigning their coffee packaging. Of all the creative explorations we developed, this was one of our favourites.

Each year, Second Cup Coffee Co. makes the holiday season special for their customers with unique new beverages and seasonal favourites. It also gives us the opportunity to design new cups, in-store material, and packaging for their tea and hot chocolate varieties.

This, along with food and beverage photography makes it a fun time of year for us as well. 

Fourfront Developments is a custom home builder whose core focus is on modern design incorporating natural elements and personalized features.

The Walper Hotel is a luxurious, boutique hotel situated in the heart of Kitchener. Built in 1893, The Walper was meticulously restored in 2017 with no design detail overlooked. From the finest rugs and curated wallpaper to the locally crafted millwork and art, every inch of this elegant hotel is exquisitely designed.
Rightly so, C.K. Atlantis, the hotel’s management team, wanted to produce a look book that was designed with the same contemporary elegance and attention to design detail as the hotel itself—a piece that would be present in each room and used by the hotels management team as a sales tool.
The hotel’s interior design team had incorporated two primary colours, used sparingly in each room as accents. We took those colours and used them as part of the master palette. Additionally, the luxury wallpapers play an important role in the hotel’s aesthetic—we incorporated some of those as patterning. 
The Walper Hotel is a showpiece of design and sophistication. We would like to thank C.K. Atlantis and Perimeter for this amazing project.

Fresh truffles—the ultimate culinary indulgence. V&A truffle products are from Molise in Italy and represent some of the finest in the world. They truly are "diamonds of the kitchen." 

This project allowed us the opportunity to develop some interesting package design options for the bottles and a unique gift set. Packaging of the gift set tubes proved to be a very successful items for gourmet food stores and markets.

We were extremely pleased to have been involved with Courvoisier’s creative initiative aimed at giving artists a platform, and mission, from which to showcase their work.

Working with Courvoisier’s Canadian brand team, Strano and Pettigrew built on their “Art of the revolution” strategy to conceptualize the Courvoisier Collective. A “revolutionary” approach to communicating the brand’s values while providing artists with public exposure and a venue where they can exhibit their work.

Incorporating the global brand standards, Strano and Pettigrew developed the naming and design system for the Courvoisier Collective, designed the manifesto, QR code teaser campaign and the website—which will act as the main forum for submitting art and voting.

A huge thank you to Nina Knezevic and Deepti Gurkar for giving us the opportunity to work on this truly revolutionary project.

Sauza Tequila is the  number one tequila in Quebec. To celebrate that achievement, and as a way of showing their appreciation, Sauza has introduced “Sauza Blue” to Quebec. We were asked to develop the outdoor campaign for this momentous occasion by celebrating Montreal’s love of celebrating. Montreal is known for it’s “Joie de vivre” or as we like to say “Joie de bleu.”

A special thanks to the extremely talented, U.K. illustrator Laura Barnard.

We always enjoy working on unique Canadian brands. Beam Global Canada asked us to develop the packaging for Alberta Premium's limited edition 30 year old rye—only 700 cases produced. So pleased to have been able to design, what has become a collector's item. 

Dark Horse Whisky definitely represents Alberta Premium’s Darker side. This is a breakthrough whisky that is bolder, richer and discernibly Canadian. Spirits packaging is something we do a lot of and creating packaging for a fine Canadian whisky is always exciting. We really enjoyed working on this project.

Some of the motion work we've done over the years for Second Cup Coffee Co. Working with the Phantom high speed camera on our Flash Cold Brew spot was a unique experience. 

This is an older project we did a while back for Grenville printing. Capic supplied the photographers, we designed the book and Grenville did the printing.
We were fortunate enough to have it recognized in Coupe Magazine and Communication Arts.

Air Canada Cargo was ready for a major marketing effort and came to us for help. S+PDA, after conducting a survey of their existing client base, discovered that there were two areas that needed to be tackled strategically - Customer service and awareness of ACC's extensive product line.

We decided to take a "consumer" approach to cargo by positioning it as "Business class for your commodities" accentuated by our "Going further" positioning line.

Marketing Magazine did a wonderful write up on it as well.

Summer 2017—S+PDA launches Flash Cold Brew nation-wide with Second Cup.

While some coffee companies make cold brew by steeping coffee in cold water for 24 hours, Second Cup re-thought the process in order to ensure their cold coffee would retain it's full flavour.

The process of brewing fresh coffee directly over ice results in a cold brew that maintains all its flavour and aromatics without becoming week or watered down. 

Our positioning: Rethink the cold.

Like with most new product launches, the best way for consumers to understand it is to try it. So we proposed a sampling campaign that would feature custom made cold brew trikes and street teams. In addition, we felt that the process needed to be shown as did the flavour options—so we created a promo video with Jamie Way showing the process... shot at nearly 1000 frames per second.

Definitely a cool project.

The Wheatless Gourmet is a line of gluten-free hors d’oeuvres recently launched by VP Brokerage. With the trend in gluten-free meals well on the upswing, VP Brokerage is offering this unique line of zero-gluten hors d’oeuvres perfect for entertaining.

S+PDA developed the naming, identity and an overall design system as well as the packaging for the entire line. A light, uncomplicated aesthetic with a delicate approach to typography is paired with simple, white backdrop food photography. Bon appétit!

In 2011, Dental Corporation set out to revolutionize the business of dentistry. We were asked by their brand team and COO to re-develop their brand identity and assets into a unified design system that would serve them well as the company planned for extensive growth throughout Canada. 

Dental Corporation now, dentalcorp, has grown to over 220 locations, 4,000 team members and over 2 million patient visits a year.

This was a fun project for Second Cup Coffee Co. We used a combination of illustration and animation to showcase Second Cup's brew at home retail options. The same coffee you get in café is now available in grocery. The video and print ran on Air Canada’s onboard media channels and on Second Cup's social media channels.

Thanks to Three in a Box and talented Canadian illustrator Cai Sepulis.

Züküdla is a Canadian company dedicated to creating superior quality feeds that address the challenges faced by zoos, breeders and collectors alike. Their mission is to be the source of unique diets for zoo and exotic animals. Züküdla focuses on researching, creating, and marketing the highest quality diets for extraordinary animals through fostering relationships with zoos and institutions.

Because of their unmatched customer service and ability to tailor unique diets, our strategy was to position them in a manner that would differentiate them from much larger competitors – that differentiator is the ability to “Craft nutrition.”

We developed the brand strategy, the brandmark, the overarching design system as well as the packaging. We design a lot of packaging for food brands so package design for animal feed products seemed like a very interesting challenge.

Nothing says “Happy holidays” like a hearty bottle of Barolo. So in 2015 we decided to design some packaging and labels for our favourite Barolo to share with clients, family and friends. We began by designing the patterning, then applying it to the label, custom tissue paper and our small greeting card.

We were very pleased to have been asked by Second Cup Coffee Co. to design their 2014 holiday campaign.

This project consisted of packaging, cup design, merch design and a complete POP roll-out. 

A special thanks to UK illustrator Laura Barnard.

VP Brokerage had asked us to develop a catalogue for some of the items they would be promoting at the Sysco food show. We decided to produce a newspaper which featured some of their new items as well as an article or two. 

It was very well received—so much so that VP Brokerage would like to produce a similar, quarterly publication to showcase their rapidly growing selection of new food service and retail offerings.

Anna Kari is a Canadian owned brand of beautiful, hand made knitwear and clothing. Stunning designs hand crafted by Anna Zygowski.

Photography by Ian Ross Pettigrew