The story of Ice & Fire Creating visual identity and packaging

In spring of 2013, Jan Becher – Pernod Ricard approached Cocoon Group to create an identity for an innovative spirit aiming at a young target audience. The spirits market is actually extremely crowded and active and brands looking to attract young drinkers use various tricks and gimmicks in their communication.

Competitors in this category heavily promote themselves both on and off-premises. So attracting consumers spoiled by constant promotional bombardment is a difficult task. And launching new brands or real innovations is a real challenge both for producers as well as for collaborating agencies.

Catching the Attention of young (LA) drinkers

When CG took on the project, only a few aspects of the brand were nailed down. The product is a spirit, which offers a new taste experience by bringing two different flavors in one sip; hot and spicy, immediately followed by a cool refreshing taste of menthol – the ‘ice and fire’ experience. Together with the client and

Turning a cool drink into a hot new brand

research agency we had to identify relevant brand strategy directions, answering questions such as: “What the brand should stand for in minds of the target?”, “What would be its promise?”, “What moods and emotions might it be connected with?”, or “What is the role within the portfolio of Jan Becher's products?”

Who was our consumer? Mostly young people, and especially men, who like going out, who are open to experience something unpredictable and surprising. They don’t drink the cheapest stuff available. They appreciate quality brands. They’re aware of trends. They like to have fun and enjoy new experiences and challenges.

Experience unexpected!

Stories are the most primal way of communicating ideas. Brands are ideas whose power can be unlocked in a powerful, engaging brand story. CG explored a number of routes for the Fire & Ice brand story, which was later used as inspiration for the design.

In search of a story

After exploring several possible routes, we developed the idea of a dual world as our brand story – a magical place that lures you with its promise of the unexpected and the unknown.

The brand story then became the inspiration for our identity. The CG team sought and developed appropriate visual metaphors through design exploration as well as parsing consumer feedback.

…And a visual metaphor

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Experience the unexpected! Icy and hot taste in one.

Simplicity rulez

The bold and dynamic look of the brand stems from the elements’ nature. The iconic bottle is the signature of Jan Becher Karlovarská Becherovka, a traditional and reliable producer. The matt black coating and the label printed on metallic paper and subtle light effects make Ice&Fire extraordinary and attractive.

“In Developing this completely new offer and new product with Cocoon Group, we really recognized agency’s strength in strategic thinking - the ability to think in the broad context of current trends, the target group needs, and long-term marketing objectives.”

Dagmar Rychterová, Brand Manager