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There’s a lot of talk about ‘storytelling’ in marketing – brands creating a narrative with an incredible backstory or a series of famous faces.
Acqua di Parma certainly has a story to tell: it likely makes us think of the Rivera, of a classy, mid-century leading man starring in a film on the Italian coast.
But instead of thumping us over the head with outrageous advertising campaigns or flashy sales points it somehow contrives to do so via a fairly unlikely source, its packaging.
Acqua di Parma Colonia C.L.U.B. Eau de Cologne
Acqua di Parma Colonia C.L.U.B. Eau de Cologne
The cachet it inspires is there in its Art Deco-inspired bottles, dating from the Thirties. Also in its signature colour yellow and its royal crest (yellow originally recalled Parma’s historic palazzi and these days it’s up there with Hermès’ orange and Tiffany’s robin-egg blue in the pantheon of great luxury colour branding). And there too in its yellow cylinder outer casing, reminiscent of Veuve Clicquot champagne packaging and its neat sans serif typeface which lightly says ‘nostalgia’ without getting heavy on specifics.
Acqua di Parma Holiday Neve Freseca Diffuser
Acqua di Parma Holiday Neve Freseca Diffuser
The cardboard packaging is etched, it looks as though the label could have been stuck on and you might find it in a little Tabac-type shop in Florence somewhere. For a huge global brand it still feels like it has been touched by hand.
With good reason. Acqua di Parma’s production has always been based in Italy. It is still distilled by hand. The packaging has been designed and handmade by craftsmen using the same techniques for the past century. It still has someone on the production line fitting the labels to the bottles and placing the Bakelite stoppers in the necks.
Colonia Eau de Cologne Fragrance Gift Set
Colonia Eau de Cologne Fragrance Gift Set
Even before you get to its scents – fresh, modern, citrusy – it’s the packaging that puts Acqua di Parma in a class of one.
The hand-touched appeal extends to its latest launch, the Acqua di Parma Holiday Season, which includes limited-edition scented candles, diffusers, gift sets and its traditional advent calendar, all featuring unique handcrafted design touches.
Its range of classic Colonias – certified fresh since 1916 – remain a year-round necessary luxury.
