Aiming to bring a better taste of tequila to the UK market, HACIEN is an all-new spirit brand boasting a better kind of agave flavour – one specifically curated for milder palates.
Originally coming to us with an RTD mixer, HACIEN’s founders soon refocused their energy into the premium spirits market, looking to bring some of the world’s finest spirits back home.
Aware of tequilas marmite reputation, they set themselves the mission of reinventing its taste and putting never-before-seen SKUs into the UK bar scene.
And while they went on a Mexican pilgrimage to find their flavours, they tasked us with devising their entire brand…
And the result is HACIEN.
Our Approach
The tequila industry is currently going through something of a revolution, and American celebrity-endorsed brands are everywhere.
It was important we avoided the accusations of cultural appropriation aimed at these brands, creating something which honoured and respected Tequila culture and understood its own position in the market.
We started with the name – HACIEN – a nod to the hacienda farms originally responsible for tequila production, as well as a play on the Mexican phrase phrase ‘al cien’ (100%), a reference to HACIEN’s 100% agave purity.
To stand out on a shelf, it was then vital we designed a strong, impactful bottle which portrayed premium, high-quality spirit without having to say a word.
Inspired by the traditional piña carving method used by Tequila farmers, the bottle is a strong-shouldered, towering glass structure with deep chiselled slices and a solid piña crest – a shrine to tequila’s production and home.
But while the bottle is an ode to Mexico – we made sure to be clear through comms and social marketing about who the brand is and what they’re trying to do.
Focusing on the founders’ quest to find the perfect agave spirit, our photographers documented trips to Tequila, Jalisco, which became integral to our social media strategy and website design.
By fleshing out the HACIEN brand story, we helped capture the brand in its infancy and build up excitement for the brand’s launch, introducing the founders on social media and slowly releasing their story through our original imagery and graphic content.
In preparation for their launch, we then devised a strategy to celebrate the spirit’s main USP: an entirely different experience from the shot culture of the UK.
Our campaign ‘Your tequila story, rewritten’ aims to appeal to those with previous aversions to the drink, highlighting the smoother-tasting, 100% agave flavour and exciting Pineapple and Cristalino SKUs – a whole new taste for the UK!
Services
- Complete Brand Design
- Marketing Strategy
- Brand Name
- Campaign Slogan
- TOV
- Bottle Design
- Website Design
- Social Media Management
- Community Management
