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Mindful Drinking Defines New BC Brand

Farm Food Drink SPOTLIGHT – Steephouse Beverages

Friends since high school, Liam McFadden and Cole Berry took a thoughtful vision, turned it into a product, and now into an evolving business. They developed an alcohol beverage that has an herbal tea flavour and that isn’t full of sugar and other nasty ingredients. With the drink recipe done and some ideas for a logo and name, they approached Farm Food Drink to help them with the creative.

Our team fell in love with this project because of Liam and Cole’s mindful and values-based approach. Their vodka soda made with steeped tea ingredients appeared to fill a gap in the vodka beverage space, an exciting opportunity. Creating a collaborative partnership, with mutual respect, they gave us the room and flexibility to go beyond just a logo and develop the brand itself which manifested itself onto the beverage container label.

The Why

As proponents of the mindful drinking cultural movement, the owners are passionate about offering a healthier, alcohol beverage. They use natural ingredients like lavender, orange peel, and spearmint in their vodka soda. There is no added sugar or other toxic ingredients, which typically are the cause of hangovers. And the drink has a unique flavour profile unlike other vodka sodas.

Liam and Cole wanted to make a drink that they would like, that their friends would like, and that people with similar values would like.

The Project

Purpose: To create a logo and label for first beverage product

Client Input:

Product

  • Herbal, naturally brewed, tea spritzer
  • Vodka soda
  • Low calorie, all natural
  • No added sugar, no artificial flavouring
  • First flavour – Citrus Mint

Differentiators

  • Standard steeping practices
  • Natural herb flavours
  • No sugars/sweeteners
  • Unique flavour profile

Target Audience

  • Millennials
  • Mindful drinker segment
  • Ethical, environmental, and health-focused values

Creative Ideas

  • Initial Name:  Steep Vodka Soda
  • Logo Design – some initial tea bag imagery

Farm Food Drink Approach

We encompassed the owners’ values and incorporated them into everything on this project – brand imagery, wording, tone, and personality. The owners were very involved in the brand development process, but also gave us creative license to do what we do best – idea generation, design process, brand implementation.

After researching what competitor packaging looked like, our Creative Director, Tammi saw the vision for this project while enjoying some tea, with the tea tag hanging outside her cup. And the creative process began. A truly collaborative effort with the owners’ creative team and the Farm Food Drink team evolved into something quite unique and special, matching the product itself.  

Creative Elements: 

Product Name

  • The original ‘Steep’ name proved to have some copyright issues, so the name ‘Steephouse’ was selected. It stays close to Steep and is unique.

Font Choice – Main

  • Simple label, so the font needed to be memorable. It’s somewhat rustic.
  • Implies that this product is how things used to be made before mass manufacturing, a subtle nudge to times past, good quality practices that are ignored today.

Font Choice – Mindful drinking

  • As this is the values-based mantra of the owners, this was put on the label sideways in a script that looks like a signature or a personal message.

“BC Made” logo

  • A unique-to-the-brand logo in a tiny square emblem that can be used on all brand elements

Don’t Drink and Drive logo

  • Instead of just the usual text, the owners and Farm Food Drink came up with a unique set of icons to connect further with the target consumer

Label Colour

  • For this flavour, Citrus Mint, we chose a fresh looking green to indicate the sparkling contents

Label Design

  • We worked with the client’s printer directly to find out the most creative and cost-effective solutions – label size (not full can, only on flat part), label wrap – not directly printed on can, finding the perfect green that would turn out right when printed
  • The client had confidence in us managing all these technical elements instead of trying to be a liaison with their printer and potentially missing crucial pieces.

Brand Readiness

Liam and Cole are thrilled with this collaborative project and how their new brand truly represents their vision. They are now in full selling mode talking with liquor stores and developing their distribution. Having worked so closely with this client, we are excited that their first product competes well and is thereby affecting target market connection and sales.

Because these guys are so mindful of everything they do, our Farm Food Drink team felt a strong connection to their values and were excited to have the opportunity to see their vision come to fruition.

Learn more about Canada’s first herbal tea vodka soda at Steephouse Beverages.

Your brand identity is an important part of your marketing strategy, so that you are recognizable and appealing to your target audience. Do you have a vision that needs some creative flair? Contact us for a free consultation.

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