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When partners Sal LaMartina and Craig Cordes concocted a new way to enjoy a cool adult beverage poolside safely, little did they know they would have to concoct a new alcohol beverage formula. The two were observing children with their Capri Sun pouches and wondered why there wasn’t something similar for adults.
Determined to bring packaging and product innovation to a stagnant category, they put their heads together to solve this perplexing puzzle. Their first inclination was to re-create a margarita drink as closely as possible in a pouch. They soon realized that a distilled spirit in a pouch would not achieve the wide distribution that they desired in wine and beer stores.
Cordes had a second moment of inspiration when he thought: Instead of distilled tequila, why not tequila wine or, more accurately, agave wine? With a third partner, they formed the Big Easy Blends company and branded their line Cordina, a mash-up of last names Cordes and LaMartina.
“We believe we can bring excitement and interest to the category,” LaMartina says. Following their instincts, the first variety is the mar-GO-rita “wine cocktail.” David Caruso, creative director at CPR + Partners in New Orleans, helped craft the branding approach and designed the package graphics. The idea was to emphasize “beverages-on-the-go,” and planned varieties include a GO-jito, a piña GO-lada, and a strawberry daiq-GO-ri.
The mar-GO-rita cocktail is made from 100% all-natural ingredients and natural flavors. The agave wine is turned into a margarita with orange juice, lemon, lime, sugar, and salt. Besides being unbreakable, another advantage of the pouch is that it is freezable. With the ingredients in solution, the product freezes slushy, like a blended, frozen margarita.
Caruso created a unique hand-lettered typeface for the brand to conjure up fun, tropical party times. All of the planned varieties have tropical roots, so the background pattern has a decidedly Caribbean feel. “The design shows that it’s fun without losing the integrity of the high-end beverage,” Caruso says.
For the margarita splash image, CPR + Partners took a liveaction photograph and doctored it up in Photoshop. The busy background does not distract from the type, however, because the similar shades of green all mix together. A red violator “passport stamp” advertizes “Freeze & Squeeze; Pre-Mixed; Ready to Enjoy!” over a sketch of the beach, palm trees, and seagulls.
“That was one way to make it seem official,” explains Caruso. The partners saw many advantages in the pouch option besides durability and freezability. They appreciated the reclosability and the opportunity to attach a straw. Space efficiencies of the pouch were attractive for shipping cost control and sustainability gains, as they found 900 pouches could fit in a relatively small shipping box.
The product is premixed with a higher alcohol content than most beers (8% Alc/Vol), but it can be sold in most beer and wine stores. The 12.7-oz. size is handy for consumers, and retailers seem to appreciate how the point-of-sale merchandizing displays add flavor to the store décor. The founders conceived of the idea as summertime, outdoor indulgence, but early sales in some markets indicate consumers are buying into the concept as a year-round habit.
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