Xdesign’s Promo-Driven Design for Sprigs & Spirits

The HOW Promotion & Marketing Design Awards, which is HOW’s longest-running competition, has seen thousands and thousands of outstanding promo-driven design projects over the years. One such winning project—one that informed, persuaded and filled a need with flying colors—is Baton Rouge-based design firm Xdesign Inc.‘s work for Capitol City Produce.

The project—a campaign for a cocktail creation contest created as a way for the client to showcase their products—was spearheaded by Xdesign Inc. art director Tiffanie Pitre and her team, which includes graphic designer Simone Begneaud, illustrator Vitalija Svencionyte, and copywriter Paige Fenerty.

It all came about last year, when Capitol City Produce, an ongoing client of Xdesign’s, came to them with a challenge: Could they expand their service industry clientele? Capitol City Produce offers a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and specialty products that are great for garnishes and craft cocktails, but they felt ignored and under-used by the local, regional service industry. “Our goal was to get their potential customers’ attention, and then get them to be ongoing customers of Capitol City Produce,” Pitre says.

Capitol City Produce was very open to ideas, Pitre adds. “They let us take the reins on this project, and we had a few guidelines and limitations concerning budget and deadlines, but other than that, they were open to reaching their target audience in any relevant way.”

Pitre and her team knew they wanted to get the attention of Gulf South cocktail bars and restaurants, but they also knew they had to do something more than just your typical business-to-business method of promotional flyers and emails. “We wanted the campaign to be tangible and rewarding for mixologists,” Pitre says. “Something they would appreciate.”

The resulting cocktail creation competition, Sprigs & Spirits, kicked off with the celebration of fresh produce, beautiful herbs and the most creatively crafted cocktails throughout the south while highlighting the commitment to quality and service that Capitol City Produce is known for. “Entrants would have to submit a recipe using at least one ingredient from a pre-approved list and, in turn, would have the chance to win a variety of prizes, including a showcase at the Capitol City Produce booth at the Louisiana Restaurant Show, press releases and even a $750 credit,” Pitre says.

To start this project, the Xdesign team started out brainstorming on a mood board. “We flipped through our favorite cookbooks and cocktail books, looked through our favorite websites and collected our favorite illustrations,” Pitre says. “Our individual research and inspiration-gathering process led to a collective visual theme that was whimsical yet sophisticated.”

read more/source: http://www.howdesign.com/design-creativity/projects-profiles/xdesign-promotional-campaign/