Creating a distinctive Rum in a busy category

KBE Drink’s first step in the busy spiced rum category; their aim was to build a strong brand narrative around their Polynesian inspired flavours. 

We needed to cut-through a world of pirates and octopus to reach an audience looking for something more relaxed and approachable.

Naming | Branding | Illustration | Packaging | Copywriting

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Makai Ingredients
Makai Bar
Makai Macro
Makai Serve
Makai Menu
Makai BottleWater
Makai Rooftop
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Makai Sign
Makai Neon

The Concept

Where worlds collide; we created a brand world to bring to life the place where jungle meets ocean and where tradition meets modern.

The Impact

“Working with Kingdom & Sparrow was an absolute pleasure throughout the project… fresh thinking that really allowed us to break new ground in an overcrowded category” 

Tom Elliott-Frey, Innovation Manager, KBE Drinks.

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Positive Change

A premium rum with an accessible reach to help build out KBE’s spirits portfolio. This included visual brand strategy, naming and brand design. We purposefully left the tropes of old world, colonial Tiki at the door, wanting to instead bring new life to the world of Polynesia through flavours, landscape and relaxed joy.

For Makai, the brand world was inspired by the idea of ocean meets jungle. This is represented throughout the branding assets, most notably with the wildlife-inspired illustrations and the bright, positive green, blue and yellow colour palette. 

The screen-printed bottle adds another point of difference and helps the colour and illustration to pop off. Overall the brand elevates the spiced rum occasion while still opening consumers to a world of relaxed escapism.

Liam, Designer

talk to our team

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