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(May 2010) posted on Fri Jun 11, 2010

By Bill Wynkoop

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A few years ago my company was heavily involved in a couple of spirit developments, so we were paying extra close attention to that particular product landscape when Spirit of the Brand’s Super Premium Vodka first hit the shelves. Available in four different, limited edition, numbered series, each of the four bottles offered itself as a canvas to a different artist. The result was an undeniably unique shelf presence with unmistakable cachet—a very impressive effort for a fledgling brand.
With my first sighting of their packaging came a heightened awareness of how a brand could successfully offer itself as a commercial palette for artistic interpretation—and that when done well, the result can be both stunning and highly alluring to consumers.

Art that refreshes
Well ahead of my realization, in 2001, Cooper Bates and Harley Cross came to this same conclusion for Hint Mint, offering their über trendy mint packaging in a variety of limited edition series tins, all executed with original artwork from the likes of James Jean, Gary Baseman, and Owen Smith.
Hint Mint offers each artist five packages to work with (all three of their traditional flavors in limited editions as well as two holiday editions). Editions range from as few as 25,000 tins for the very exclusive to 100,000 for limited, a stark contrast to their standard production of 1 million and up for their high-volume classic items.
This artistic approach actually afforded Hint Mint access to some high-end fashion stores, many in the LA area, where they have now become known as the mint of Hollywood. Their classic products are offered to the general retail and food markets while their Irony and Petit products find their way into convenience markets. As such, Hint Mint is channel-specific for their artistic tin. However, to give each channel a seasonal boost, they offer the Holiday Editions across the board.
For the artists, there is only one stipulation: incorporate a leaf, the heart of the Hint Mint logo, somewhere into the artwork. Consequently, for anyone who enjoys the challenge of I Spy, each execution offers a chance to play “Find the Leaf.” For their legions of fans, Cooper Bates told me that “art, beauty, and design is Hint Mint’s mission, even in something as simple as a mint.” I’d throw fun into that equation, and say, “Well done.”