Lunar Eclipse of the Heart

Our hearts go pitter-patter for developing fresh ideas, strategies, products, and organizations from scratch. We love to nurture bold ideas from their most basic seed stage and transform them into tangible things that make the world a better place. It’s what we love to do, and we’re great at it. Even after all this time, it warms our souls to see our concepts come to life in the real world.
And when that concept involves libations, well…what could be better?
Be Kind, Rewind.
This love story started way back in 2015, when we started our product exploratory work with Constellation brands, a global wine and spirits company based in San Francisco, CA. They came to us looking to break into the burgeoning wine-in-a-can market, and wanted to do it the right way, the first time.

First thing’s first: Laying the Groundwork

We started with research. We went straight to oenophile hubs all over the U.S. and talked to the target market. We heard from their mouths exactly what they’d be looking for in a canned wine product, and what types of values resonated with them. We learned all about when they’d use it and why they’d choose one brand over another. We used all of our insights to compile in-depth profiles of our ideal buyers and how we could best communicate with them.

Next up: Product Playtime

We knew that the best way to make something people want to buy is to make it alongside them. So we designed and executed Consumer Co-Labs in places like New York City and Santa Monica, during which we brainstormed names, personalities, flavor pairings & profiles, and packaging designs & language. With their help, we created visual stimuli and rich inspiration in the forms of moodboards and context maps to really bring our concepts to life.

Amidst the exploration, we created a concept for a wine called 7 Moons, with a dusky & sultry vibe and a complex profile that came from 7 different grape varietals. It was a favorite in our Co-Labs and tested well in follow-up validation exercises.

Cheers, to the Start of a Brand New Story
The end of our story leads to the start of a new and cool story for Constellation.
After we provided a range of about 10 solid product prototypes derived from consumer-vetted co-labs, the client followed up with their own internal testing and learned a ton about the burgeoning market, and how millennials saw themselves in it.
In the end, the 7 Moons story and identity we created made its way from a wine-in-the-can model to a bottled red blend wine that can be found on the shelves of your local store. From insight to idea to prototype to store shelf…it’s another great 20nine idea that shipped! Cheers!