Packaging Design
John Blackburn
Executive Creative Director - Blackburn’s
Foreman
Following a career in advertising John flirted with publishing. The Times during its transition of putting news on the front page, and the groundbreaking Nova magazine (sadly no more).
Wishing to return to advertising, he set up Blackburn's whose aim was to create ads and commercials, but ad agency CDP (sadly no more), on behalf of their client Cockburn's, put a stop to all that when they commissioned a consultancy of two (art director/writer) to design a bottle of port!
Breaking the mould with CDP style resulted in Cockburn's Special Reserve,
the first port to re-write the rules by casting aside what until then was a stuffy image suited to only reactionary, upper-class gentlemen. Benson and Hedges and Silk Cut cigarettes followed.
Blackburn’s are now a drinks specialist still based on strong advertising ideas and not just attractive graphics. The very principle D&AD stands for, in fact.
