Background
Jigger is an Indian liqueur brand that creates flavours drawn from Indian nostalgia. This form of spirit is a ready-to-shoot option that requires no additional mixers or chasers. (Note: The brand has since made changes to its final designs and packaging, while the areas of my personal contribution — copywriting and strategy — stayed the same and are still in use today)
Challenges
Other than their brand name and product development in progress, Jigger had no branding material when they reached out. Our first task was to understand how we could tie these existing ideas into a full fledged visual and verbal identity.
‘Rooted yet modern’ was part of the brief. Finding the sweet spot between relatable but not overdone was an interesting challenge for us to play with in the communication strategy and copy tonality.
Work
Brand narrative
Vision & mission
Tone of Voice
Naming
Packaging copy
Taglines
Apart from this, our team also worked on their logo, packaging, illustrations, and design guide.
Research
Jigger had already started their research in terms of the product space and found a clear gap for Indian liqueurs. There were little to none that existed in this ready-to-shoot format other than popular, international options like Jägermeister.
We did our brand research in two phases: first, we looked into what kinds of bottles/spirits Indians reach out to during celebrations and why. Then, which of these actually made an India connection feel natural. We also tried to understand if gender came into play here, what drinks did better with a male versus female audience.
Our market audit also included looking at popular, modern Indian brands outside the beverage industry. How do they stay relevant even if they are built on something from the past? Brands like Bombay Sweet Shop, Forest Essentials, Nicobar were looked at here.
INSIGHT
The best times and memories are never really planned. They just happen and how!
Strategy & Solutions
We played with the name first. Jigger is a measuring apparatus used while mixing drinks (commonly called a peg measurer). Jigger also means ‘heart’ in a variety of Indian languages. This double meaning became a subtle theme in our work, and was used in our packaging and copy.
We wanted to position Jigger as the go-to party drink. Be it for weddings, birthdays, or any large communal celebration. We tied in this feeling with the brand tagline, “The Heart of the Party.” This in itself connected to India’s celebratory spirit.
Before getting into the collaterals, we fleshed out the mission and vision for the brand. What they focused on presently, what they aim to accomplish in the near future. This process helped our teams align on our overall direction.
From here, the brand story came into play. We did umpteen revisions trying to capture the exact essence we had in mind. Between lived memories, truly Indian flavours, and a lot of hearty feelings, it finally panned out.
The story paved the way for all other copy material – product naming where every flavour was associated with a distinct memory, brand taglines, and packaging copy. The brand tone of voice fell into place naturally right after.
