When one company’s trash is another company’s treasure: meet the distillery-disrupting brand making world-class spirits out of waste.

As a new player in the alcoholic spirits industry, Damaged Goods Distilling Co. are ready to stand out on shelves, showing customers the way forward to enjoy sustainable, yet super-premium spirits. They put perfectly imperfect, flavour-packed waste streams to good use and challenge the norms of a broken food system (where one-third of all food produced around the world goes to waste). For consumers keen to make more conscious drinking choices, while simultaneously sipping on incredible tasting spirits – Damaged Goods Distilling Co. is a no-brainer.

Setting the scene
We first think of food waste as the scraps we scrape off our plates post-meal, but there’s much more to hidden waste. Think orange husks from juicers, cascara from coffee roasters, “ugly” bananas from markets. What if there was a way to see things differently? To see the immense value in what would be traditionally discarded away as waste. To engage with the community and businesses to re-use their waste streams. To create damn delicious spirits made from high quality produce that’s been given another lease on life.

Damaged Goods Distillery Co. is founded by Tim and Pia, two hospitality experts that are as passionate about the planet as they are about their palettes. They saw the industry’s food waste with their own eyes and realised they had to make a difference. In the crowded alcoholic beverage space, they had to not only communicate their point of difference, but also make a bold entrance by standing out on shelf.

A strong brand identity was needed to enhance their non-traditional disruptor status.

“We’ve been conditioned to judge things primarily based on appearance. From faces, to fashion, to fruits. However, if you really think about it, shouldn’t flavour and nutritional value be more important than how food should look? Damaged Goods Distillery Co. is here to challenge the norm of our broken food system. Giving food a fighting chance… at a second chance.”

The ‘Aha!’ Moment
Their name: a great start.
Their super-premium spirits: taste even greater.
Their sustainable operation: the ugly cherry on top.

The key was to grab consumers’ attention on shelf, and then educate them on why they are different. That even food can say F your beauty standards.

Playing off their brand name, premium-quality product, and disruptor identity, a street-style, street-smart aesthetic was developed.

The tagline, Get Unwasted*, captured the cheeky, energetic and honest persona of the brand, delivered with a playful and confident attitude.

(* Sidebar: there’s multiple ways you view the tagline, just like how there’s multiple ways you can reimagine food waste.)

“Our vision is to inspire people to make small changes that cumulatively have big impact on the environment and community. By being the driving force for that change, our brand is showing the industry that you can make world-class spirits with perfectly imperfect ingredients.” – Tim Laferia, Damaged Goods Distillery Co.

Creative Conclusions
Damaged Goods Distilling Co. considers food waste the hero.

A series of custom illustrations were created for each SKU, featuring one core ingredient drawn abstractly, a nod to the imperfectness of the ingredients themselves.

The brand direction was further fleshed out with custom street-art style typography and loosely drawn graffiti-style visual elements, reinforcing an intense and dynamic street-smart aesthetic.

Combined with a bright and bold colour palette, the core brand attributes (passion, energy, approachability) were enhanced to stand out on shelf, and educate consumers about “Forgotten Food, Memorable Spirits” so they could think of new ways to Get Unwasted.

Their packaging reflects their super-premium ‘slice of luxury’ stance; yet celebrates the perfectly imperfect. A custom die reflected this imperfection (no singular straight edges on the label). An uncoated plantation managed stock, combined with black foil print, highlighted the name and key messaging. A simple wood and cork lid was elevated using a pure black cap label, enhanced with a rose gold copper foil treatment.