CASE STUDY — BRANDING

Giving an identity to a city-wide happy hour

I branded a central city summer happy hour to effectively market the promotion to Sacramento locals aged 22–45.

TEAMMATES
Project Manager, Communications Manager, Business Development Manager, & Social Media Coordinator 

DELIVERABLES
Branding, social media graphics, table tent, poster, & magazine ad

TIMELINE
3 months,
April – June 2023

MY ROLE
Brand & Graphic Designer

THE PROJECT

Sacramento gets really hot in the summer. This means a lot of locals are gone on vacation or staying home where there’s AC, so bars and restaurants start to struggle. Downtown Sacramento Partnership wanted to create a promotion to support our bars during those slow months where people were encouraged to go out with cold drinks for $5, $7, or $9. To make this promotion effective, we needed strong branding.

THE OUTCOME

Through mood boards and two rounds of logo drafts, we settled on a brand that feels playful, bright, and vibrant. The display font I chose, Lovechild by Simon Walker, has both sharp and rounded serifs. It is reminiscent of the sharps lines in glassware and the curves of the liquid inside. I used the shape of the curved terminals on the S to create the liquid splash to keep the logo feeling cohesive even with the font being manipulated to create the drink image. 

Inaugural Year Results

3,407

DRINKS SOLD

381

VOTES ON BEST COCKTAIL

244K

REACHED ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Process

We first identified the goals and target audience of the program. The target audience was 22–45 year olds living or working in the downtown area. The goal was to create branding that accurately portrayed the program and interested the target audience.

CHOSEN MOOD BOARD

CHOSEN LOGO REFINEMENT

THE BRAND IN ACTION

Have a similar project?

Let’s work together.