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History of the Jack Daniels Logo and The History of the Business

The first (and one of the best) distilleries in the U.S, Jack Daniel’s has a presence beyond the States, across the globe, and the credit for this world recognition ties back to the brand’s longstanding logo. So, why not go through the entertaining history and meaning of the logo and the business behind it?

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The legendary Jack Daniel’s was founded in the middle of the 19th century by Jasper (Jack) Newton Daniel, a young boy from Tennessee, United States. Jack didn’t initially know the art of whiskey making when he set out to build Jack Daniel’s brand. He learned how to make whiskey from two people he knew well, his priest, and his family’s African American slave.

With more than 150 years of whiskey making under the brand’s belt, Jack Daniel’s is the staple of what whiskey should be. Since the brand was founded in Tennessee, Jack Daniel’s has paved the way for other distilleries to open not only in Tennessee, but across the United States and world. We’ll take a closer look at Jack Daniel’s classic logo and how it evolved over the years but as you’ll see later in this article, the logo always paid homage to the Jack Daniel’s brand.

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How Jack Daniels’ Logo Evolved Through the Years

Trying to determine specifically when Jack Daniel’s logo was first released is a little challenging, but from what we can see, the logo we first found resembles the logo we see today. The emblem features a square shape representing its bottle, enclosed in another shape.

The brand’s staple “Old No. 7” branding is located on this design as well. Located at the top of the logo is Jack Daniel’s wordmark, making it clear what brand this logo belongs to (if you didn’t already know by the Old No. 7 branding).

Below it was the words ‘Old Time’ that are no longer used in the newest emblem version.

Here is the evolution of the Jack Daniel logo since the 1950s:

The Earlier Version of the Jack Daniel’s Logo (the 1950s to the 1990s)

It was important for the brand to always have a logo that ties back to Jack Daniel’s roots in Tennessee. The name Jack Daniel’s is written at the top of the logo and has an arch shape. Below the name is the phrase ‘Old Time’, followed by an oval shape surrounded by a spiral pattern. Inside the oval is the inscription ‘Old No. 7 Brand’ divided into lines and complemented by two small dots on each side.

The logo has information about the manufacturer, including the product type, owner’s name, place of manufacture, year of distillery’s foundation, etc. different fonts are used for the different inscriptions, with serifs being the most common.

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The Next Version of the Jack Daniel’s Logo (the 1990s to 2011)

This logo design received a slight change between the 1990s to 2011. The name, Jack Daniel’s was increased while ‘Old Time’ was reduced to highlight the brand visually. The oval feature became compact, changed the size of the ‘Old No. 7 Brand’ text. The text on the bottom of the logo design was also revised at this time as well.

The Latest Version of the Jack Daniel’s Logo (2011 to today)

The final redesign of Jack Daniel’s emblem touched its labels and shape. They removed the clutter of words, arguing that the text distracted attention from the main thing. 

The phrase ‘Old Time’ was removed, and the two dots inside the oval disappeared. What’s more, the emphasis shifted to ‘No. 7’ in the phrase ‘Old No. 7 Brand’

What Font is Jack Daniels Using?

The Jack Daniels emblem features several custom fonts. The company’s name is written in capital letters, and it closely resembles the phrase Black No. 7. ‘Whiskey’ is also written in caps and features a different typeface. The word ‘Tennessee’ – the distillery’s origin – is written using a handwriting font that closely resembles the Lynchburg script.

Why Does Jack Daniels Logo Work?

Jack Daniels has one of the most iconic and compelling logos globally. It’s simple, legible, unique, consistent, etc. It works perfectly to market the brand.

Here are reasons why the Jack Daniels Logo works:

a. The Logo Is Simple: Jack Daniel’s logo never played around with elaborate designs and colors. Instead, the emblem is simple – making it memorable and unique. It has relatively fewer elements, including texts and icons. This may explain why most people connect quickly with the brand.

b. The Logo has a font that is easy to read: For 99% of logo designs, legibility is so vital. The brand’s name should be read easily and quickly so that clients can tell who the firm is and how it can benefit them. So, whether you’ll share your logo via small or big screens should be legible. Jack Daniel’s logo creator understood the assignment when it came to creating a legible logo. No matter where you are, when you see a Jack Daniel’s logo, you know what it says because the font is scalable.

c. The Logo Is Unique: In a world fueled by competition, it’s vital to have a unique logo that stands out from the rest. Again, the creator of Jack Daniels’ logo made a unique emblem that tells their story accurately. The logo has unique elements that make it for consumers to differentiate it from competitors.

d. The Logo Is Versatile: The logo isn’t complicated and is scalable across multiple platforms by versatility. Even when shared or printed across different platforms, Jack Daniel’s logo maintains uniqueness. It features Black and White colors, making it legible whether printed with or without colors.

e. The Logo Is Consistent: The Jack Daniel’s logo is consistent; it has had the same designs and colors since the 1950s. The logo ties back to the Jack Daniel’s brand and as a result, Jack Daniel’s has build a loyal customer base.

What are the different design elements of the Jack Daniel’s logo?

Jack Daniel’s design team choose the perfect colors, shapes, and other graphic elements for the logo, complementing the brand.

Let’s look at the various graphic elements that make Jack Daniel’s the king of distilleries:

 I.         Jack Daniel Logo Shape and Symbol

Jack Daniels logo has a unique bottle-like shape and cork that makes it stand out among competitors. Let’s take a deeper dive into these elements:

The Unique Enclosure:

The famous logo features an oval shape with an elegant, thin line creating this symbol. This line helps to convey what this oval represents – it resembles a brown-up crown cork or cap. The cork stands for preservation and protection as a closure for the bottle. As we noted earlier, the brand is referred to as the “king of distilleries,” so with the cap also representing royalty, this logo element makes sense.

The Jack Daniel’s bottle:

When creating the Jack Daniel’s logo, the design team thought critically about how this logo would look on a bottle. This helped them to design a logo that would work with the shape of the bottle, from the top to the bottom. Other competing brands likely only thought of their logo as a logo design, and likely did not give how it would look printed as much thought as Jack Daniel’s. And although most bottles were circular, Jack preferred a square-shaped bottle that’s easy to handle, preserve, and distribute.

   II.         Jack Daniels Logo Colors

Color choice in a logo is vital as it helps you connect with consumers on a deeper psychological level. Jack Daniel’s features two main colors – black and white – representing the brand and its products.

Why Jack Daniel’s chose black:

Color choice in a logo is vital as it helps you connect with consumers on a deeper psychological level. Jack Daniel’s features two main colors – black and white – representing the brand and its products.

Why Jack Daniel’s chose white:

The primary color of the logo is white. This color is often chosen to represent simplicity and purity, which is likely what the brand was going for. The brand is simple, straightforward, original whiskey brand, that is purely made in Tennessee.

What is the significance of “No. 7.?”

Whether you’re a whiskey lover or liquor connoisseur, I’m sure you’ve seen it, too: the famous “Old No. 7” printed across every Jack Daniel’s logo. So, what does it represent? This iconic Old No. 7 phrase is Jack Daniels’ original label. When Jack was starting off selling his whiskey, this number was the tax number he was provided. While the brand’s tax number eventually became “16,”

Jack decided to keep the “Old No. 7” because it had become the brand’s unique identifier.

What is Jack Daniels Slogan?

Slogans play a crucial role in marketing and advertising a business. It can make or break your business’s popularity. Jack knew he needed a creative slogan to attract and retain customers in the relatively new whiskey business.

So, he devised a mantra to market himself and his business. While some think the official slogan is “Old No. 7,” the actual slogan is simply, “Make it Count.” 

Jack chose this to emphasize that we all have one life to live, a mantra that is believed to resonate with Jack’s lifestyle.

Who Started Jack Daniels?

Jack Daniels was founded by Jasper Newton Daniel, in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Jack didn’t initially have a background in whiskey-making, but he had an interest in liquor and had a keen eye for business opportunities.

Although his birthday isn’t clearly known, most research states that Jack was born in September 1846 to Calaway and Lucinda Daniel. His mother died shortly after he was born.

Jack’s father remarried in 1851, but the stepmother mistreated Jack. Jack became an orphan and found safety with a local Baptist preacher, Dan Call. Dan was pivotal not only to Jack’s upbring, but also to his distillery education. He learned the art of Whiskey making from the reverend and his slave.

After receiving some of his father’s land in 1875, Jack set out to start his whiskey distillery business with Dan. Dan didn’t want official ties to the business due to a conflict of interest with his work as a priest, so Jack became the sole owner, and his business became

what we now know as Jack Daniel’s. After Jack passed away in 1911, he didn’t have any children or a spouse to leave his business to, so he opted to leave it to those that were the closest thing he had to children – his nephews.

Is Jack Daniel’s also credited with inventing the brand?

The sparkling taste of the famous Jack Daniel’s has amazed many for decades upon decades. Whiskey lovers have been left wondering who invented the mouth-watering recipe. Yes, Jack Daniel’s started the brand, but as we shared, he learned the craft from his priest and slave. That leads us to wonder, was the recipe initially his?

Publications have stated otherwise. Apparently, the Jack Daniels recipe was invented by Nathan Green, an enslaved African American owned by Dan Call. Nathan shared his recipe with both Dan and Jack, which Jack later used for his own distillery.

Jack Daniels Short History

Today, Tennessee takes pride in some of the most authentic American whiskey firms, thanks to this iconic brand. The company is the oldest distillery in America and has inspired others in the state.

As mentioned above, the distillery was started by Jasper Newton Daniel together with Dan Call. The whiskey’s recipe is said to have been made by Nathan Green, Dan Call’s slave. Having a slave involved in whiskey operations was taboo at the time so Nathan being involved with this was unusual.

Dan Call left the business not so long after it started, leaving Jack Daniels to run it independently. Using the recipe and his share of his father’s estate, he turned the distillery into an empire. In 1884, Jack bought land and built the business’s headquarters, where it is until today.

In 1904, Jack Daniel’s distillery won an award at the World’s fair – the beginning of more to come. Three years later, Jack handed the business to his nephews – Lem and Jess Motlow – when his health deteriorated.

Jack Daniel gave ownership over to Brown-Forman Corporation in 1956. Through the years, Jack Daniel’s has gone through 8 different master distillers. Today’s master distiller is Chris Fletcher. In his role as a master distiller, Chris is responsible for managing the entire Jack Daniel’s whiskey-making production, as well as being the face of the brand.

How Big Is Jack Daniel’s Distillery?

Today, Jack Daniel’s headquarters can be found in the same town where the business was founded (and Jack’s hometown), in Lynchburg, Tennessee. The company employs more than 700 workers, 95% of whom are local residents and two-thirds of generational descent. Like most whiskeys, Jack Daniel’s products are produced from rye, corn, and malted barley. We’re sure they have some secret ingredients, or secret ways of producing their whiskey beyond using these three whiskey staples and copper stills for distilling, but their recipe is a secret, for good reason! What we do know though is that whatever process they partake in, they have excelled are removing the taste of corn.

And there you have – the long-treasured liquor.

Jack Daniels has a wide range of products, including Gentleman Jack, Tennessee Fire, Old No.7, and Tennessee Rye. The company has produced more than 16.1 million cases and garnered about $121.7 million in net income in the same period.

The liquor firm annually produces about 16.9 million cases and is valued at approximately $7.171 billion.

Concluding Thoughts

It’s amazing for a business to remain as stable as Jack Daniel’s has for 150 years. Jasper (Jack) Newton Daniel, an orphan, founded the company with the help of Dan Call.

Jack acquired the art of Whiskey making from Nathan Green, Dan Call’s slave. Green also gave Jack the recipe to Jack Daniels, which he used to make the beverage empire.