Baron’s Blood was created in response to an industry brief asking for a fresh new rum brand targeted at 18-24 year olds. Through research and interviews we found that rum is experiencing a revolution, where drinkers are looking for brands in a mid-tier price range that ditch the tired sailor heritage and embrace new flavours, new stories, from places they don’t expect.
We’ve discovered the fascinating story of Vodou, which in reality is nothing like the evil portrayal in popular media. Their ceremonies consist of dancing and singing, drinking Krelen rum (a unique Haitian rum found nowhere else) socialising, and celebrating their ancestors. We wanted to bring this Haitian tradition of celebrating life to our rum brand, and worked hard to make sure the brand is not only accurate to the story of Baron Samedi, but also excites the drinker to learn more and engage with it’s beautiful culture.
The bottle shape was inspired by Haitian vodou potion bottles that contained herbal medicines and were used to brew rum in ceremonies. The outer packaging is based off traditional coffin shapes linking back to the life and death aspect of the brand.
The core concept, “The Spirit of the Spirits”, centres around using UV to create a bottle that looks unassuming and clean by day, but at night it comes alive, and the spirits come out to play.
Vodou worships Loa (Spirits) called Guédé that shepherd souls to the after life. Chief among the Guédé is Baron Samedi who meets you at the doorway between life and death and takes you to the world after death. During ceremonies they drink specially brewed Krelen rum and party to entice the spirits into their world. At the climax of the ceremony they drink the Krelen rum infused with sacrificial blood that helps them connect with the spirit world. Our rum is infused with native Haitian Hibiscus flower that tints the rum a dark red colour representative of the ceremonial drink. Drink the Baron’s blood and meet Baron Samedi at the Doorway between life and death.
