The market of hookah tobacco in Russia and the CIS countries is continuously expanding. This business includes both large companies and small artisans-enthusiasts, and the growing audience of consumers includes urban youth, office workers, successful businessmen, up to housewives. The growing market and the appetites of customers require the development and introduction of new and improving traditional tastes, conducting bold experiments and, of course, developing a design of high quality for the hookah tobacco brands.

The market of hookah tobacco shows a steady growth with a decrease in the level of use of traditional tobacco products – cigarettes. Cigars also did not receive mass distribution, remaining in the premium niche and are considered more as an exquisite gift than as a product for their own consumption. Indirect competition consists of smokeless electronic tobacco heating systems, but only indirect, since they imply daily consumption. Hookahs are an element of recreation for a limited audience. The market of hookah tobacco is regularly updated with new brands of varying degrees of quality, strength and composition. In terms of tastes, there is a history similar to the craft beer market. Product lovers develop their own brands and experiment with passion. There are regular exhibitions and even video blogs dedicated exclusively to hookah tobacco. The target audience of this product is a kind of community.

In the design of packaging and labels and in the general positioning among hookah tobacco, the “youth-hooligan” direction predominates mainly in the tone of visual and verbal dialogue with its consumer, which is characteristic of a craft product. That is quite justified, since the product itself has already formed its own” own ” subculture. Although the market is full of traditional and boring Arab motifs. Since everything craft corresponds to a bold design, in the design of the labels of Zapp hookah tobacco, we decided to move away from competitors, emphasise the boldness of the brand and entered the “pirate” territory, unusual for tobacco, but characteristic of alcoholic beverages like rum or gin. Mr. Zapp, a dashing pirate, a sea wolf, an Epicurean, enjoying life and also an octopus, picked up as a baby in the waters of the Red Sea. The presence of eight limbs allows him to smoke in parallel and drive away the enemy boarding team from the hookah. The design of the brand’s logo is executed as a hand lettering inscription in the Gothic style. Tastes differ from each other by thematic names and the corresponding color palette.