You can't truly tell a brand story unless you put in the time to understand what makes it unique. For Burnside Whiskey, this meant exploring and documenting the various sensory experiences that go into a craft whiskey.
To capture the story of the Oregon Oak barrels Burnside Whiskey is finished in, I traveled to the McMinnville, Oregon cooperage to document the process of building a barrel—from mossy tree trunks to finished barrel. Through this story could pay respect to the hard working people behind the brand, and celebrate a flavor only found in the Pacific Northwest.
For the official brand launch of the Portland Mule, I helped to define the voice and lifestyle of the brand website. I worked with Photographer Micah Fischer to capture sun soaked lifestyle imagery to showcase the "go anywhere" versatility of a craft cocktail in a can.
We knew the quality and taste of the product would speak for itself, and by utilizing vibrant lifestyle images throughout the website, social channels, and promotional campaigns we could showcase Portland Mule's role in outdoor fun.
Continuing the brand positioning of The Portland Mule being the perfect warm weather drink, I created a series of social ads targeting popular summertime activities. By combining targeting techniques with copy that spoke to different interests, Eastside Distilling was able to test different potential markets before investing in more creative.
Our lifestyle assets were also used for more traditional media buys, including a series of outdoor billboards around different key Portland neighborhoods.
After defining the lifestyle of Portland Mule brand for the website and social channels, I worked with Eastside Distilling on an experiential brand launch campaign. We reached out to bars and luxury apartment buildings around Portland with some of the most coveted patios and rooftops to throw a series of Portland Mule parties.
I also led the development of the Portland Mule Summer Guide that encouraged Portlanders to ditch the copper mug and roam beyond the barstool with their new favorite cocktail.
Read more about that project here.
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Eastside Distilling rebranded their coffee rum to elevate the look and feel of the brand. This redesign brought with it the challenge of building this new brand up from scratch, and generating interest within the spirits industry and with consumers.
For Eastside Distilling, the main focus for Hue-Hue Coffee Rum in its first year was to build brand recognition and get the product in the hands of bartenders. To help reach those goals, I led the development and production of a brand website, storytelling photo assets, and developed a featured cocktail campaign culminating in a cocktail competition.
With a limited number of ingredients used to make Hue-Hue, I felt it was important to respect each ingredient's origin story and educate about the journey it took to make its way into the bottle. The storytelling narrative I created started by describing the taste profile of Hue-Hue Coffee Rum, and explored the many different hands the ingredients passed through before finally arriving at Eastside Distilling. This narrative helped frame Hue-Hue as a true craft spirit.
While most coffee flavored spirits on the market are syrupy sweet and lower in proof, Hue-Hue is only slightly sweetened to let the cold-brew coffee and natural "sweetness" of the rum to be the stars of the show.
I helped craft signature cocktails with the home bartender in mind that highlighted the best qualities of Hue-Hue, and showed how it was different than a run of the mill coffee liqueur. These recipes were featured on the Hue-Hue website and Eastside Distilling social channels.
And to give bartenders a better sense of how to use Hue-Hue in their cocktail programs, I created a brand activation campaign working with some of the best bartenders and baristas in Portland. Read more about that campaign here!
If you like what you see and want to work together, get in touch!
ryjdon@gmail.com
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