The reality of modern commerce is that to compete effectively, a business must have a functional online presence. By functional, we mean more than just a shop window. We mean a site that is fully leveraged to exploit the dynamic opportunities of digital marketing, to optimise branding and to lead customers to a positive user experience throughout the purchase process. Businesses who were cautious about committing to online before the pandemic, have had to adapt to the limitations of lockdown and finally recognised what others foresaw: there is no return to the old normal. Ecommerce is the future. If it can be sold, it can be sold online.
The Sipello Story
When planning its launch, the drinks manufacturer Sipello saw how powerful an opportunity the online environment had become. Its founder, Tim Simmons, worked for two years to bring his innovative craft aperitif to market, tirelessly experimenting in the distillery and delivering samples to dozens of leading bartenders during lockdown, covering over 700km crossing and re-crossing London by bike until his plans were realised in October 2021.
Sipello is an entirely new bittersweet aperitif, handcrafted in the Surrey Hills. With its blend of gooseberry, rhubarb, the splendidly named chuckleberry and sustainably sourced botanicals including gentian, wormwood and sandalwood, Sipello is a drink for the mature palate. Its sophisticated taste is like nothing that has come before it and top bartenders are using it to fuel the reinvention of classic cocktails.
Since its quality is exceptional, Simmons knew that it needed branding to match. This task was approached with the same dedication and energy that went into the creation of the drink itself. In recognition of their success in rising to this challenge, the Sipello brand recently won gold at the World Brand Design Awards.
Blue Flamingo’s Role
One of the fundamental components of this branding is the drink’s web presence. Once the design of the packaging and presentation was settled, Sipello had a look, style, livery and signature crying out for a website to match. This is where Blue Flamingo stepped into the picture. We created a design that matched the sophistication of the product with ombré colour blends to mimic the visual effects of mixology.
Discreet golden text frames are set against a blue background to echo the label artwork and the crowning feature is a 30-second video on the home page, with stunning photography, stylish illustrations and an irresistible Jazz Age soundtrack. Blue Flamingo’s web design completed the narrative of this remarkable new British brand.
Blue Flamingo’s clients come from diverse industries all over the world that include large companies, start-ups and local businesses. We provide website design, app development and marketing services. We always begin by listening to the client and understanding their requirements. For Sipello, firstly we conducted a workshop to review their visual identity requirements, target audience, user journey, information hierarchy along with existing research that they may have conducted. Then we went on understanding the site objectives, like – information that the target users want to know or the actions they should take. The information gave us an overall idea of the site design and information architecture. Finally, we discussed about the look and feel of the website which include determining the images, colours scheme etc.
The second step was all about execution where we built the wireframes for the key pages and confirmed the layout of the site. Once wireframes were approved, we designed a prototype of the website to provide a visual sense of how the website would look and function before commencing the development.
Find out more about Sipello at www.sipello.com. Get in contact with Blue Flamingo to discuss your project on [email protected] or drop in at our offices located in London, Toronto and Vancouver for a chat over a cup of coffee … or a Sipello !
