Valser Visual Identity
Valser is a locally well known Swiss natural mineral water from the village of Vals in Graubünden, Switzerland. The brand is owned and managed by Coca-Cola Switzerland and currently holds the position as a market leader. The water is harvested from the two sources; St. Peter (1.252m) and St. Paul (1.806m) and highly mineralized by the water-bearing strata of the Piz Aul mountain ridge. It takes around 25 to 100 years for the water to reach the source – from fresh mountain rain and snow to crystal clear nutritious mineral water.
From the very beginning, Snøhetta worked closely with Valser and Coca-Cola to understand the company’s interests through collaborative workshops. This process gave the designers useful insights into Valser’s brand and heritage and their important unique product. Through a collective approach, the design team listened and gathered important contributions from the company’s many talented employees.Snøhetta’s work on the Valser brand has been a transdisciplinary process, engaging an array of design disciplines - graphic design, motion graphics, corporate identity, communication design, advertising design and product design.
The corporate identity is built on the concept of a foundation. A foundation is the element of an architectural structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads from the structure to the base, stabilizing the creation. The foundation concept for Valser acts as an unrestricted guide for all design and strategy disciplines representing a stable, secure and rooted base.
The captivating origin of the water and the years of refinement through the mountains gave communicative fuel to the new Valser brand film – “Ode to Valser”. Derived from the brand concept “Foundation” and the communication strategy “Made by Mountains” ("Vo Berga gmacht”) the film tells the story of how the water is “made” – from the product’s own perspective. Mountains are not only the origin and source of the Valser water, but stand for naturalness, stability, peace and Swiss values. The new brand film dramatizes the waters own story through authentic elements and subtle poetry along with the desire for originality, authenticity, deceleration, and simplicity. In addition to the enigmatic scenes in the film, shot on location in Vals, comes the musical piece “Miss you” with high emotional impact composed by the famous Danish electronic music producer Trentemøller. The brand film was directed by the Los Angeles based swiss director Marcel Langenegger and produced by Chocolate films in Zürich.
