Party Can
2018-2020THE PROJECT
Cocktail Courier had piloted a test program of our cocktail kits in London with Diageo in 2018. While our kits didn't take off in this new market, we learned something extremely valuable- Londoners prefer their cocktails "Ready to Drink." From this user data, we began developing our own RTD. We worked with Scott Baird of Trick Dog, SF to develop new cocktail recipes specifically for this project. As Cocktail Courier's Creative Director, I was brought in in 2019 to help develop this line extension.
SCOPE
I was initially in charge of overseeing and designing the packaging for the product and worked on the packaging design and developing its market positioning. The original cocktails were the "Flamingo" and the "Smoky Margarita" then it was pivoted to the name, "Triple Spice Margarita" based on user testing and response to the word smoky.
As the RTD, now dubbed “Party Can” continued to develop, it became apparent that Party Can was moving farther away from CC's core branding (kraft boxes). This is when we brought in a packaging designer to design the new sister branding for the Party Can line. Based on the style guides, we started working on the marketing and campaign strategies to integrate this new color palette. We realized this was going to complicate the launch, as now we need to push a whole new brand to market (vs. releasing entirely under the CC umbrella.)
While I was working on the Marketing and Campaign go to market strategies, I was approached to develop the Party Can website. I took the personas I had developed for the marketing, and starting sketching for our wireframes and site framework. The personas I developed aligned with the market data for alcohol sales in the RTD category, the project price point (near $35), the market positioning we were developing (12 cocktails per can! Everyone's invited!), and the CEO's feature request of being able to "be on the beach, and order a Party Can delivered right here."
Because of this very specific feature request, I started looking at ride-share apps, food delivery apps, and competitors like Drizly. I lead the visual team and worked side by side to develop the site aesthetic. Some of our early prototypes were experimenting with a very long scroll homepage, with eye-catching animations that were triggered based on page movement.
SOLVE
After much research, I determined the best way to convey the "instantness" of the product was to focus on "bringing the party to you." I ended up designing all new wireframes and re-conceived of the website as a mobile optimized site (with app structure), bringing the navigation into easier to access locations, but making it available on every device (no downloads required).
In the end, the mobile-optimized site configuration that I landed on was completed in under a week. I leaned on pre-existing icon components, as we did not have the luxury of time to develop custom iconography. I had originally pitched some custom icons as well as a library of photographed + isolated ingredient components (for eventual additional product releases). Unfortunately, most of the playful animations and interaction design that I had pitched in the original concept did not make it to the finals in market, due to needing an MVP released as the priority.
Laila Grainawi - Creative Director / CCO
Hannah Buhr - Graphic Designer
Scott Baird - Beverage Development
Brandon - Packaging Designer
External Dev resources were used