East meets West

SŌTŌ, which means ‘outside’ in Japanese, set out to launch as a super-premium sake brand in the West, despite consumers’ limited knowledge on rice wine, more commonly found in Asia. ‘Sake is a beautifully complex drink largely unfamiliar to Westerners outside of sushi restaurants,’ Doucet tells LS:N Global. ‘Labels on virtually all bottles of fine sake imported to the West are in Japanese, so it can be intimidating to order.’

To ease the process, Doucet used traditional Western cues of branding, incorporating minimalist, streamlined visuals that ‘tell you how you should feel about the sake before you even taste it’. The label features an explanation of the brand in Japanese and English, and holes that enable consumers to see inside the bottle.

‘There are no sake brands in the West,’ says Doucet. ‘The design is intended to say ‘I am a very good Japanese sake and you should try me,’ and we are told that people constantly ask to take the empty bottles home.’