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A True Texas Original

A hard-luck farmer, a painter, a couple of cowboy bankers and our team of branding experts walk into a bar. No joke. In fact, it was the perfect recipe for a killer vodka launch.

Food & Beverage

Research
Digital
Branding
Advertising

As the world’s only vodka made from black-eyed peas, BLK EYE Vodka is all about unique vision, originality and handcrafted artistry. So we decided to commission Texas artists to design the interior illustrations on each limited-edition bottle as a tribute to that originality. Gold leaf accents on the black and white illustrations give added visual impact. The front label semicircle alludes to the eye of the black-eyed pea and the matte black finish gives the product an ultra premium feel without the expense of custom glass.

Video

Artistry distilled to its essence. That’s the story of BLK EYE Vodka. But where do you start when you’re trying to get somewhere unexpected? A historic old firehouse-turned-distillery seems as good a place as any. And what better way to pay tribute to a 107-year-old building where an unconventional vodka is made than mixing up a conceptual cocktail — a classic speakeasy vibe with a modern-day twist. It’s 30 seconds that reminds us that true originality never goes out of style.

Posters

Our goal was to create versatile interior signage for BlackEyed Distilling to support the brand’s launch in multiple ways. Used together, these posters formed a mural at the distillery, but were also handed out individually to promote BLK EYE Vodka to bars, investors and stores. The posters are printed on gold metallic paper to add an additional eye-catching element.

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Thinking Digital

As we launched the brand, we created a custom, fully responsive website that established BLK EYE Vodka as a premium but approachable product. We focused on a great user experience, taking a mobile-first approach, adding animation and making navigation intuitive. By making the product the hero, we take the user through a simple journey of the BLK EYE story, highlighting their signature ingredient in subtle ways such as a hidden black-eyed pea cursor, a slow-motion video and original photography. A global call to action makes finding BLK EYE Vodka easy, and we developed a CSV importer tool that updates retail stores where BLK EYE is available.

Social Media

Branding needs to work across all platforms, especially social media. To maintain brand consistency and generate awareness, we created a series of posts that showcased the playfulness of the brand while maintaining the premium feel of the product.

Collateral

To generate buzz for the grand opening of BlackEyed Distilling, we sent media outlets kits designed to promote the event and position BLK EYE Vodka as an ultra premium product. Each kit came in a miniature version of the vodka’s shipping boxes. Inside were an event poster, a branded shot glass and a gold tin with coasters. For shipping filler, we used the vodka’s signature ingredient — black-eyed peas.

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