Building a Brand Series: Ever

If you're not disrupting, then you're standing still

If you’re not disrupting your category, then you’re standing still in a moving market.

This applies to brands, music, movies, art, fashion, cuisine… when others zig, you should zag. You should always be pushing the boundaries and carving a new path. Otherwise, someone else will. Over time (or sooner than you think), you may become obsolete, irrelevant, a commodity, mediocre… I can keep going.

So here’s the lens through which you should be viewing your brand, and the world: Ask yourself, ‘Are we disrupting our category, or are we the status quo?‘

Think about what:

👉 Liquid Death has done with water
👉 Tesla has done with automotive
👉 W by Jake Paul has done for hygiene products
👉 Feastables has done with chocolate

So if you’re a new brand, or thinking about starting a new brand, that would be the first question I would ask – ‘How can we be disruptive?’

If you can’t, then why bother at all?

We created this series to show you how we think about brand building. When applicable, we take aim at traditionally boring categories to see what, if anything, we can do to disrupt them and make our brand stand out. We’ll apply our expertise, skills, and experience in marketing, branding, design, and creativity. Hopefully you will learn something, be inspired, or even better, hire us!

Disruption Meter

Now, while we’re huge fans of disruption, we recognize that not every category is ripe for disruption, or make it to the level of complete, ghost-pepper annihilation.

In the case of many consumer packaged goods, there may not be much you can do to the form that hasn’t already been done — bars, balls, powders, liquids — it has all been done before.

But, Liquid Death didn’t revolutionize water (or flavoured water), they found disruption through their marketing and branding. Things like storytelling, positioning, naming, logo, packaging, imagery and other design elements, etc. That’s not to say you can’t use the product to be disruptive, however, it will most likely be done through marketing and branding.

We talk a lot about branding and how it is like gravity. The larger the brand, the stronger the gravitational pull. Most, if not all, the brands we buy, and are loyal to, are because we trust them, are familiar with them, or have an affinity for them. This is because as consumers, we have anxiety about the purchases we make. We want to ensure we don’t get ripped off, look foolish, feel stupid, make the wrong decision, have buyer’s remorse, etc.

So to recap:

Branding helps companies stand out and be disruptive, which is especially important in crowded markets.
Branding helps attract consumers much like a gravitation pull.
Branding helps alleviate some of the anxieties consumers have when making purchases.

Therefore, branding is REALLY important to the profitability and longevity of a company.

Understanding what branding is and what makes a brand disruptive is the first step. We can then apply these principles to any brand.

We also need to understand the 4 Cs of branding:

Company: What are our organizational objectives, and how does our brand support us in achieving them?
Customer: Who is our target audience, and what are their needs and expectations?
Competitors: What strategies are our competitors employing, and where can we find opportunities to stand out?
Context: What broader trends and events are influencing our industry and market?

Continue reading: 10 Questions You Need to Answer to Build a Brand

You can spend months, or years, defining, strategizing, planning… We don’t have months or years. So to keep things simple and consistent in this series, we’ve decided to follow the same 5 steps for each brand concept we create. We’ll first define the product and look for whitespace in the category for how we can be disruptive. As with any brand, we’ll need a name, some branding elements like a logo, colour palette, identity, packaging, and some ads.

1. Product

2. Name

3. Branding

4. Packaging

5. Ads

Of course, this is only theoretical and for fun. If it were real, we would spend a lot more time and care crafting personas, developing a brand story and identity, using actual market research / data, spending a lot of time thinking about the product and line expansion, creating unique GTM strategies for launch and promotion, thinking about strategic partnerships, developing our social and content strategy, and a million other things that go into creating and launching a brand.

With that being said, we may need to make some assumptions, or infer what the product may be like.

But, in lieu of all that, this series should give you an idea for how we at Ewanity Marketing think about marketing, product, and branding.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Product

For this example, we are going to create a functional beverage brand. Functional beverages, or ‘better-for-you’ consumable products offer nutritional and functional benefits and are typically geared toward sports enthusiasts / athletes, health & wellness crowd, and outdoor enthusiasts.

Typically, their packaging offers clear nutritional information, such as:

Electrolytes
Low sugar or no added sugar
Natural ingredients
Vitamins
Gluten-free, vegan

Unlike so many sports energy / hydration drinks that use high-sugar, high-caffeine, and high-calories, our beverage won’t have any of that. We will have unique flavours and ingredients not commonly found in the market. We will be low calorie with no added sugar, no caffeine, and vegan.

Our target consumer is not just fitness enthusiasts or outdoorsy people. We want to be a hydration drink for everyday individuals who are seeking a healthy beverage that can deliver nutrition, satisfy thirst, and above all, it tastes good.

2. Name

We’ll call our beverage ‘Ever’, which means ‘at any time.’ There are many positive associations with the word Ever such as everlasting, evergreen, evermore, eveready. We can further integrate the word ‘forever’ and other ‘ever’ words into our branding as well.

We can create a tagline for our brand, here are some options:

Hydration for Humanity – “Hydration for Humanity” represents a commitment to providing clean, accessible, and effective hydration solutions for everyone. It’s about recognizing the essential role that hydration plays in our daily lives and ensuring that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, has access to the purest and most beneficial forms of hydration. This ethos extends beyond just quenching thirst; it’s about fostering well-being, promoting health, and supporting communities. By prioritizing sustainable practices and leveraging innovative technologies, “Hydration for Humanity” aims to make a positive impact on both individual lives and the planet, ensuring that hydration is a right, not a privilege

Premium Hydration – embodies the pinnacle of quality and care in providing beverages that go beyond basic thirst-quenching. It signifies the use of the finest natural ingredients, advanced filtration processes, and cutting-edge technology to deliver an exceptional drinking experience. Premium hydration is about offering superior taste, enhanced nutritional benefits, and optimal hydration, catering to those who seek the best for their health and well-being. It’s a commitment to excellence, ensuring that every sip revitalizes, replenishes, and refreshes, setting a new standard in the world of hydration.

Everyday Adventure – Whether it’s a morning jog through your neighbourhood, a spontaneous road trip, or trying something new, “Everyday Adventure” encourages people to get outside, explore, discover, and live life to the fullest. It’s a mindset that transforms the mundane into the magical, inspiring you to see the world with fresh eyes and a sense of curiosity and wonder, making every day an adventure worth celebrating.

The Adventure Continues – “The Adventure Continues” is a celebration of life’s ongoing journey, encouraging a spirit of exploration and curiosity beyond the initial steps. It’s about never settling, always seeking new horizons, and embracing the unknown with excitement and determination. This phrase embodies the idea that every experience, no matter how small, is part of a grand adventure that keeps unfolding. Whether you’re conquering new challenges, discovering hidden gems, or simply enjoying the journey, “The Adventure Continues” reminds us that there’s always more to explore, learn, and experience, making life a continuous, thrilling adventure.

Enjoy Earth – “Enjoy Earth” is an invitation to appreciate the beauty and wonders of our planet. It encourages us to reconnect with nature, savouring the tranquility of forests, the majesty of mountains, the serenity of oceans, and the diversity of life that surrounds us. This phrase inspires a deeper respect for the environment and a commitment to preserving it for future generations. “Enjoy Earth” reminds us to take a moment to breathe, explore, and cherish the natural world, finding joy and inspiration in the simple yet profound experiences that only our planet can offer.

We’ll come back to these in the advertising section.

Ever Beverage Co. Manifesto

What is a brand manifesto?

A brand manifesto is a detailed declaration of the brand’s purpose, values, beliefs, and aspirations. It often includes the brand’s mission and vision statements.

It’s purpose is to articulate the brand’s philosophy and what it stands for, to inspire and rally both internal stakeholders (employees) and external audiences (customers), and to provide a comprehensive understanding of the brand’s broader goals and motivations.

In short, it explains why the brand exists, what it aims to achieve, and how it plans to make an impact. It can include narrative elements, storytelling, and a passionate tone.

Ever Manifesto:

At Ever Beverage Co., we believe that every moment is an opportunity for adventure, connection, and vitality. Inspired by the natural beauty of Vancouver and the spirit of the great outdoors, our mission is to provide hydration that fuels your passion for life.

We are more than just a beverage company; we are champions of a lifestyle that embraces health, wellness, and the great outdoors. Our drinks are crafted with the finest natural ingredients, ensuring that every sip is as pure and invigorating as the landscapes that inspire us.

Our commitment to sustainability reflects our respect for the planet. We use eco-friendly packaging and support environmental initiatives, ensuring that we not only quench your thirst but also contribute to a healthier Earth.

We believe in the power of community. Whether you’re scaling a mountain, exploring a forest, or simply enjoying a moment of stillness, Ever Beverage Co. is there to enhance your experience. Our tagline, “Hydration for Humanity,” embodies our dedication to creating products that not only nourish your body but also resonate with your soul.

Join us in our quest to explore, protect, and cherish the natural world. With Ever Beverage Co., the adventure continues, and together, we can make every moment extraordinary.

Continue reading:

3. Branding

As discussed, branding is at the heart of this exercise. It’s really important and therefore a natural area of passion and interest for us. If we could spend a little time setting the stage, it’ll be really helpful for us before moving forward.

Too often marketers and business leaders use demographics to define their audience. They say things such as, ‘We’re going to market to kids… or women… or people who make $100,000 per year…’ Then, they create these made up personas of Bob and Nancy who drive a minivan and like to golf and paint on the weekends. They rely on stereotypes and guessing about who these groups of people are and what they care about. A fun line I like to use is, suppose you found out that 73% of your consumers were women, what would you do with that information, make everything pink!?’

Hopefully this demonstrates how ridiculous it is to use demographics alone to influence your marketing and branding strategies. Using demographics and psychographics is complete guesswork, fatally flawed, and utterly useless.

Instead, we need to categorize our consumer segments by what they value…. e.g. family, personal growth, belonging, status, environmentalism… There are 56 core values.

Using these values, we can develop products, use materials, craft stories, design packaging, create content… that better align with your customers’ core values.

This will have a much greater impact at influencing outcomes than using demographic and psychographic data alone.

Demographics describe what people are (i.e. age, gender, location, income, marital status…)
Psychographics record what people did, their preferences, and their brand affinities.
Valuegraphics understand who people are, what they want, and how they are likely to behave in the future.

Demographics and psychographics are looking in the rearview mirror and are fleeting (people come in and out of these buckets all the time) whereas valuegraphics are stable and look ahead. As a result, they more accurately predict what a group of people will do and how they will behave. This is much more useful data to use. If you’d like to learn more about obtaining valuegraphic data, please DM us.

So with that in mind, we need to determine what shared values attract and unite consumers to our brand.

The reason why we need to define our brand values is because it helps create an identify. What is our brand about if we cannot talk about our products? It should stand for something. When someone thinks of our brand, what comes to mind? Is it safety, luxury, performance, quality, health…

So much more can be said about branding, but in the interest of time, we’ll need to move on. We just wanted to give you a gist. For those interested, visit our Branding page and go down the branding rabbit hole. We have a lot of great content on branding that you can explore.

It’s important to note that company values aren’t just something that sits on a PDF and only get passed to new employees, they define what your company is all about. If your employees don’t know the company values, or can’t immediately recite them, then you don’t have core values. Values need to be posted around the office, absorbed, upheld, and act as a filter through which everything passes through.

In our case, we can further define our values and what they mean to our brand:

Empathy

We believe in being understanding and kind to others, animals, and the planet. This starts from within – so be kind to yourself.

Health

We believe a healthy mind starts with a healthy body. Get outside, be active, and choose ingredients that are good for you.

Sustainability

We believe in minimizing our environmental impact, contributing to a healthier planet, and ensuring the well-being of future generations.

Resilience

We believe in not dwelling on the past, especially our failures. We all make mistakes, but it’s how we bounce back, learn, and adapt that’s important. We can’t change the past, that’s why we have to keep moving forward.

Curiosity

We believe in continuously learning, growing, evolving, and nurturing our curiosities. Get out and explore the world, make a positive impact, and embrace change.

4. Packaging

The packaging takes inspiration from nature, using earth tones and subtle forest iconography. With more consumers avoiding high-sugar, high-calorie sports drinks, we recognize a gap in the market. Ever is a functional ‘better-for-you’ beverage that transcends options prevalent in the market today.

Ever offers a line of functional beverages that include ingredients such as coconut water, Vitamin B12, electrolytes (Potassium, Sodium, Magnesium, and Calcium), and L-Theanine.

In addition, our branding and marketing looks nothing like anything currently available. With our Earth-positive messaging and packaging, and our strategic partnerships, we are positioned well in the market for health and environmental-conscious consumers.

Note: The following mockups are concepts only and are not intended to represent actual brand collaborations or endorsements. They are purely for creative purposes to showcase package design abilities.

5. Ads

This is an outdoor / active / health-centric consumer brand. We will have have a diversified marketing approach that includes different body types, ages, and fitness levels being active outdoors, going on adventures, traveling, and engaging with nature.

Using some of our taglines, ‘Hydration for Humanity’, ‘Premium Hydration’, ‘Everyday Adventure’, and ‘The Adventure Continues’, we came up with a few fun and creative ads. Whether used in social media ads, print ads, billboards, etc., this not only introduces people to the brand, but also serves to further tell our brand story.

Continue reading: What’s the ROI of a Billboard

Ever: From Concept to Completion

In marketing, standing still means being left behind. We created Ever to disrupt the functional beverage industry with innovation and creativity. By embracing unique flavours, sustainable practices, and nurturing an inclusive community, we aim to elevate the everyday hydration experience.

Building a brand requires more than just a great product; you need a strategy that embraces disruption, creativity, and a deep understanding of consumer values. Through this series, we’ve shown how to apply these principles to create a compelling brand identity, from defining the product and finding a unique name to developing strong branding elements, packaging, and advertising.

Remember, the key to a successful brand is not only in the details but in the overarching vision of disruption and differentiation. We hope this series inspires you to think differently about your own brand and to apply these steps to build something truly remarkable. Whether you are just starting out or looking to reinvigorate an existing brand, the principles of disruption, creativity, and consumer-centric values will guide you toward success.

Stay tuned for more insights and examples as we continue to explore the art, science, and magic of brand building.