Most distilleries take a lot of pride in where they originate from; Grey Goose has the flag of France in its logo, Svedka is a mashup between "Sweden" and Vodka, Jack Daniels makes sure to point out it's from Tennessee. The location the alcohol is made at plays an important part in the brand's identity and culture. But what if we're back to the days of the Prohibition? Or what if the origin is somewhere where Alcohol is outlawed (such as my home of Saudi Arabia)? That's when the idea of brewing something exclusively for the black market came about, thus Black Market Vodka, a high end Mafia-themed spirit that combines make-believe with maturity. 

I was in Terminal B of Dubai International Airport when I was slapped in the face with a TAG Heuer billboard of Cara Delevingne looking really pissed off like she wants to punch me into buying an expensive watch (story of my life), and that very same billboard came into my head as I ran into picture after picture of James Bond drinking Martinis, I thought that was the look I was going for: PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE. Well, not exactly. I wanted something that captures sophistication but also boldness (hence James Bond), TAG Heuer captured just that with their: expensive watch, aggressive attitude. Sophisticated, bold, but most importantly: self-owning. They get to get away with posing Delevingne in an objectively goofy pose and calling it sophisticated and bold, taken out of context this billboard could be funny instead of serious. That was amazing.

At the same time, I felt like the less-sophisticated liquor people were doing something right. I mean, if you can convince a college Freshman that brightly-colored bottles of lower-end Vodka are a necessary staple in your house party, you did something right. So I thought, maybe I can create a hybrid: a Vodka that feels and looks high-end and premium, but also meant for parties and cocktails. 

Right off the bat my biggest challenge was the fact that the name is way too long for a party liquor, and I was too stubborn to change the name. I surveyed many friends for what they associate "party" with when it comes to Vodka, and they all gave me single words: Svedka, Smirnoff, Absolut, and Tito's. So I went with an acronym instead, I thought it adds a layer of mystery to the brand. I also insisted on having different flavors (mostly to score points with my professor, but I'm also the kind of person who needs options in life, I'm very very indecisive). I went with a geometric design scheme consisting of polygons and lines, where each flavor has a different number of vertex in it. It was an Easter Egg at first (and also a bit of a design challenge for myself) but I later post-rationalized it to say it reflects escalating rank, Mafia-style. 

And this brings me to the final brand identity: with a main color palette of black and yellow (and white for typography), yellow for boldness (and mONEY) and black for sophistication, and my mood board was full of black bottles paired with gold or yellow. I wanted to give off the impression of luxury after all. For the color of the "flavors" (coming up next!) I consulted my trusty color theory wheel. I went with purple because it's the direct opposite of yellow to give us some contrast, then with red and green because they're the two colors right next to yellow. The rest of the colors are off-hues of these three colors. I went with Bebas Neue for my font because it's modern, bold, and gives that PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE aesthetic I'm a fan of. 

I went with a wine bottle-styled container for my packaging because I thought that represents the prohibition era the best. Each bottle neck has the color of the flavor on top to make it easy and instant to distinguish the flavors when on a crowded bar, I decided to add a bit of a hue to each bottle because I felt like that would enhance the perception of flavor, the more colorful something is the tastier it looks. The midriff of the bottles is exposed and clear because I wanted the bottle to look contemporary, it's a new variation on the alcohol bottle that communicates the brand identity in its wholesomeness: the dark glass conveys sophistication, clear glass conveys expensive taste, and bright colors convey partying. Plus, having a bottle composed of both clear and dark glass communicates craftsmanship: so much effort was put into making a bottle, so obviously there was a lot of effort put into the product itself. The two kinds of glass represent the market duality that I wanted to target.

For the icons of flavors, I experimented with three different looks, each look had a different motif going on: minimalism, patterns, or shading. I ended up going with the shaded style with rounded edges because I felt like it matches the brand identity the best. I managed to translate the polygons and vertex idea from paper to screen easily, I'm not exactly a great illustrator so making simplistic icons was the best option I could go for. I struggled with naming the flavorless variation, I felt calling it "premium" made it more favorable than the rest (that's what you call gas anyway), and calling it "plain" would not match the brand identity. So between "Original" and "Cocktail," I felt "Cocktail" matched the brand identity better. 

I HAD to go with an airport billboard, mostly as a homage to the TAG Heuer ad I saw in DXB. I wrote down "Cold Strong Vodka" in my original sketches as a potential tagline, it didn't make it to the brand identity but I thought it would make a nice marketing slogan. It was hard finding a stock photo (that I didn't have to pay for) of a model drinking, so that posed a bit of a challenge in communicating the product. But then I referred back to the TAG Heuer ad, it didn't have any watches on it either, so I thought it should be fine. I felt it communicated the brand identity, and all the information a person would need anyway, so I shouldn't bloat or overdesign it. 

This ad is meant for in-house promotions, maybe an office, , shop, bar, or by the booth-side. Each poster would feature a different flavor, here I wanted to focus on the brand identity and visual hierarchy more than on impressing people.  

Merchandise was a required component to my branding project, and I knew that most of my classmates would go for T-shirts, caps, and bags. I wanted something unique to the BMV brand, so I went with accessories for suits: pins, cufflinks, and a tumbler glass to drink in. I picked them because that's the kind of attire I want to be associated with my brand: high-end, mysterious, and sophisticated. But also heavy on the make-believe. I chose cufflinks and pins because they're subtle, what I want to sell is the idea of belonging to a secret club. I felt ties, dress shirts, and hats would be too obvious, however cufflinks and pins are sleek and a bit hard to notice, but are enough to get you to stand out.