Millions of Brazilians know the caipairina (cap-eh-ren-ya) as a mixed drink made of cachaça, (kah-cha-sah) a spirit well known throughout the country. But when Leading Edge Brands sought to introduce U.S. and European consumers to its Moleca brand of cachaça, would their product fall like Portuguese in Peking?
The company engaged the talents of our agency lead by Senior Designer, Tim Ravenna to ensure the brand was well poured. The firm created Moleca’s logo, packaging and marketing materials with the goal of infusing some of the product’s existing elements and cultural passion into its new look.
The logo features a brightly-winged "moleca," or mischievous woman, holding high an urn with cachaça splashing about. Its gold and black colors brought a "top-shelf feeling" to the double-distilled product, Ravenna says. For the European market, 22 versions of the label were created; one is being used in the U.S. market. We also created packaging, boxes, point of sale displays and in-store signage, and a two-bottle box for the duty-free market. As a special and unique touch, UV ink was employed in the printing production process of the label to make it glow on black-lighted shelf-top displays.
"There’s a glowing halo around the image of the girl, making her angelic in a devilish kind of way," Ravenna says. (Want to mix a caipairina? Mash any fruit and pour in some cachaça, ice and sugar). "We’re going to showcase cachaça and caipairina as hip new drinks, just like the cosmo or mojito."
Traditional marketing is one part of the campaign. Moleca made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. Today, it’s in the midst of a months-long in-club guerrilla campaign to introduce the product throughout South Florida, says Alain Scheiman, Leading Edge’s Managing Director. Between the packaging and the grassroots marketing, The agency has transformed Moleca into the next premium liquor on the bar scene – akin to the Grey Goose of cachaça.
"Brand continuity has been created, from the packaging to the party invitations to the banners and ads," Scheiman says. "Moleca changed from just another brand to a premium brand. You need a great product along with insightful and attractive communications to do that, you also need to be in love with your product and have a smart and talented agency on your side."