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SWEET GWENDOLINE FRENCH GIN
OBJECTIVE: BRAND INVENTION
Opportunity
The spirits market was filled with products that were “for” women, but the majority took the approach of low-calorie, low-ABV, or sweet.
We saw an opportunity to create a product with a unique flavor and a strong personality that appealed not only to women but to a new generation of spirits consumers.
Result
Distilled in France, Sweet Gwendoline French Gin is infused with fig and six botanicals, making it a perfect base for a variety of cocktails. The artwork and bottle design is based on the artwork of John Willie, a mid-century fetish artist who created BIZARRE magazine and, within its pages, his character Sweet Gwendoline, after whom our gin is named.
Launched in NYC in November 2021, the brand is now sold in bars, restaurants, and retailers in 8 states and is available for online purchases in 28 states and Washington, DC.
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Services
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Brand Creation
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Packaging Design
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Building of Brand World
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Liquid Sourcing
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Partnership Strategy, Sourcing, & Management
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Distribution Strategy
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Sales Strategy
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360-Degree Design
ESPOLON TEQUILA
OBJECTIVE: BRAND INVENTION
Opportunity
Espolòn Tequila had a great product and a wonderful package, but it
needed help with some real-world tactics that could help increase
on-premise velocity. We dove deep and suggested that the brand reposition
itself and relaunch with an entirely new, cohesive brand and message that
consumers and trade could discover and embrace as their own.
Result
The new Espolòn brand was driven by the mantra, “courageous
creativity”, anchored by the label and marketing artwork and expressed
through the call-to-action, “Let’s Stir Things Up" tagline and campaign.
Espolòn grew from 30k cases at relaunch to 500k cases in 5 years. Seven
years later, it remains a bartender favourite.
Services
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Brand Creation
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Packaging Design
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Event & Sampling Program Strategy & Execution
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Partnership Strategy, Sourcing, & Management
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Sales Strategy
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360-Degree Design
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Line Extension Strategy & Development
ABASOLO ANCESTRAL CORN WHISKY & NIXTA
OBJECTIVE: BRAND LAUNCH
Opportunity
Our friends at Casa Lumbre in Mexico City launched Abasolo Ancestral
Corn Whisky and Nixta Licor de Elote in April 2020, just at the start of
the COVID-19 pandemic. What was intended to be an on-premise launch
quickly turned to a strategy built around off-premise distribution supported
by social media content that taught consumers how to use both products at
home.
Result
We identified influencers with large digital followings to partner with on
content creation and distribution. Focusing on easy-to-make at-home
cocktail creation and regular messaging on where to purchase the products
led to a booming home delivery business for the brands. In addition, we
took advantage of “to go” kits for on-premise, which were increasingly
popular in the summer of 2020. The brands were sold to Pernod-Ricard for
$57 million in October 2021.
Services
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On- / Off-Premise Strategy, Messaging, Design
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Social Media Strategy & Implementation
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Partnership Strategies Sourcing & Management
SKYY VODKA
OBJECTIVE: BRAND REVIVAL
Opportunity
Shifting consumer priorities began to value artisanal, made-in-America
stories, leaving many luxury brands in the dust. SKYY’s origin story had
all those elements in spades, but no one had ever thought to tell it. The
brand’s looming 25th anniversary became the perfect time to refresh and
re-establish it.
Result
Working with iconic lifestyle photographer Tony Kelly, known for his
outlandish vision and over-saturated aesthetic, we harkened back to
SKYY’s original campaign gave it a new reason to exist. The resulting
360 campaign celebrated the real story behind SKYY’s entrepreneurial
spirit, invented by an eccentric San Francisco visionary, creating a brand
ethos to inspire our audience to live like every day is theirs for the making.
Services
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Brand Positioning & Creative Development
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Brand Story (Consumer, Trade, & Sales)
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Experiential Strategy, Production & Management
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Strategic Partnerships
ROBERT HALL WINES
OBJECTIVE: BRAND REVIVAL
Opportunity
Robert Hall had an award-winning vineyard and enjoyed some notoriety
within the respected Paso Robles winemaking region, but it needed to be
overhauled to attract a new, and broader audience.
Result
First identifying a key consumer target in males 35 - 50, we immediately
looked to embrace the down-to-earth and rustic vineyard but give it
contemporary and approachable appeal through new packaging. Keying
off a consumer insight that showed a real parallel between the winery’s
self-made man beginnings and our audience’s own desire for the sweet
taste of success, we created a brand and campaign that made our wine
both the outcome of our own hard work and the reward for it.
Services
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Brand Positioning & Creative Development
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Label and Packaging Design
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Brand Story (Consumer, Trade, & Sales)
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Experiential Strategy, Production & Management
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Strategic Partnerships
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COINTREAU
OBJECTIVE: BRAND REVIVAL
Opportunity
Our team uncovered a product truth about Cointreau - if you mix Cointreau with lemon or lime and any spirit, you have a cocktail.
We repositioned Cointreau as “the heart of the cocktail” and then created a national experiential program, “La Maison Cointreau”, to educate trade, consumers, and the press as to how to use the product, as well as entertain them.
Result
The education provided at La Maison events, coupled with partnerships, limited edition items, P.R., and focused sales message, helped to drive U.S. case sales from 195,000 in 2012 to 500,000 in 2019.
Services
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Brand Positioning
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Brand Story (Consumer, Trade, & Sales)
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Experiential Strategy, Production & Management
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Packaging Design
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Campaign Materials
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Strategic Partnerships
WE ARE A BRAND COLLECTIVE
Don’t call us an agency! That’s an overused term and an outdated approach. We are a select group of industry professionals with a unique perspective formed by years of experience creating, launching and running big and small brands.
Each one of us has been a part of the corporate world and thrived.
But it was time to feed the entrepreneurial spirit in all of us,
by working to develop brands that we believe in.
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“Take risks in your life. If you win, you can lead. If you lose, you can guide."
- Swami Vivekananda