Here's an innovative, award-winning package design from Kirin for their shochu* brand Tarucho.
In Japan Shochu is usually packaged in bottles or in rectangular coated paper boxes; this is the first time I've seen it sold in a square container. The idea of using a woodgrain pattern to elicit the image of wooden casks (taru means cask in Japanese) is also a nice touch to convey tradition and to differentiate the brand from the clear bottles and white packaging employed by most rivals.
I'm particularly enthusiastic about the bold kamon-like logo at the center of each box, which is both extremely eye-catching and further enhances the sense of tradition. Yet the manner in which they're rendered is very modern, allowing the brand to (hopefully) appeal to both young adults and mature consumers. Additionally, the variant-specific kamon unambiguously convey that one is made from grain, while the other is made from yams.
All in all this is a great effort for a mass-market product. The Tarucho website is also worth a look.
*Shochu is a distilled, nearly flavorless alcoholic beverage made from ingredients like sweet potatoes, rice, barley, or sugar cane and has a fairly high alcohol content (25%-40%). See this article for a take on how Suntory, one of Kirin's rivals, marketed one of its shochu brands last year.
