Based on the understanding of what young people will be drinking this summer, how do we create an upscale, ready-to-drink alcoholic beverage that you would find on the shelf next to Truly and White Claw?
Based on our research into the U.S canned-cocktail marketplace, there was a glaring absence of the world’s most popular alcoholic beverage, Soju. Over a billion people outside the U.S enjoy this delicately sweet libation on a daily basis with large meals, amongst friends and while attending social gatherings. It’s subtly sweet nature and moderate alcohol level made it the perfect backdrop to feature the sophisticated “cocktail-like” complexities of forage-able PNW ingredients. Blended together, we have created an upscale carbonated beverage that is high in flavor, low in sugar and gives younger folks more refined drinking options. The compact packaging is good for taking your drinks on-the-go and keeps in mind the younger demographic who like to go out with friends, in group settings or go on weekend getaways.
I kept with the theme of "getting out into nature" by making the choice to animate the seltzer cans socializing around a campfire. By displaying the rapid passage of time, I wanted to convey that it passes quickly and effortlessly when you're enjoying it with friends. The mountainous backdrop was a nod to the area where South Fork's unique ingredients are harvested along the South Fork Snoqualmie River, in Western Washington.
Embracing the flavors of the Pacific Northwestern landscape, we capture the essence of local botanical ingredients in every brew. Offering four base flavors, we draw inspiration from the changing seasons, crafting a unique seasonal brew for spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Using soju, a smooth-flavored Korean spirit, as our base alcohol, we simplify our expenses for warehousing allowing more financial flexibility for unique and pure ingredients. Our ingredients are locally sourced and our seltzers are locally produced, keeping our communities and natural environment thriving.
We began this project by exploring the vast seltzer market and defining our target audience. Additionally, we created a 15 question survey that was sent out to a number of adults, ages 25-40, to help us learn more about their personal preferences. From this survey, we were able to collect information about their flavor preferences, preferred types of alcohol, container preferences, alcohol content preferences and social drinking behaviors.
Based on the information gathered in our survey, we were able to narrow down our market by distilling common traits among our audience members. Generally, our audience valued alcoholic beverages that are crafted from quality ingredients, not necessarily the cheapest thing on the shelf. Most were concerned the beverage being "too filling" or loaded with empty calories. Finally our audience preferred that the beverage be somewhat portable so that it may be consumed in public with relative ease.
In order for this brand to stand out on the shelf next to its competitors, we chose to accentuate color over illustration. So many of the existing brands use line drawings and/or images of fruit on a plain white can to communicate flavor to the customer. The bold, rich hues of our color palette set themselves apart on the shelf, and are still able to communicate flavor visually as each represents the flavor as you would see it in the wild. The light stippling pattern around either rim of the can offers a stimulating color accent that recalls the refreshing effervescence in each seltzer.
The lock up of the logo embraces the tall skinny profile of the can that makes it so portable and easy to transport. The diamond shape atop the logo represents a simplified version of an Alder leaf, used to represent the type of trees that line the shore of the South Fork river basin. This fertile valley is the inspiration for the list ingredients used to make these beverages. Each ingredient is abundant and forage-able making it the ultimate flavor representative of the Pacific Northwest. The intersecting lines inside the diamond represent the main trail that follows the riverside, utilizing the "Southern Fork" of the trail as a visual representation of the trail used to find these botanicals.
The aroma is lively and fruit-forward with notes of fresh blueberry cobbler, citrus, and florals
The fruity, tangy and toffee notes of this beverage compliment orange, lemon, lime, rhubarb, apple, pear, mint and cardamom
Lightly sweet with a hint of citrus. Grapefruit maybe, with an ever so slight bitter note of pine
This aromatic member of the mint family has a bright, citrusy taste that brings together the acidity of lemon with subtle hints of mint
This is the landing page for SFSC
The pop up in the park was a way to get this beverage out into the world into local neighborhood. We found a way during the pandemic, to provide a social gathering space where folks could remain socially distanced within their group bubbles and enjoy South Fork. Curated merchandise and South Fork S'mores packs were branded and sold to encourage groups to come together and share a moment by the fire with one another.
These sophisticated beverages lend themselves to hours of enjoyment and interesting conversation as you enjoy them in natural settings, friendly outings or weekend hikes. The pop-ups were a hit we look forward to initiating more themed movie nights this summer. For inquries about this pop-up or helping us get this product into the world—shoot us an e-mail! We'd love to hear from you.
