A taste of Polynesia: Where world’s collide.
Moment of Change:
KBE Drinks came to us with their well-known portfolio of world beer brands and a strategy to launch an exciting spirits offering for the on-trade. Their aim was to deliver an elevated spiced rum that created a modern and purposeful story around the multifaceted world of Polynesia.

Makai came from the desire to deliver a socially enjoyable drink that combined the accompanying tastes from across the collection of tropical islands with the feeling of adventure. Polynesia is a real wealth of variety, where the traditional thrives side by side with the modern. Where time spent evokes a heady mix of a sense of relaxation and wonderment.

We set out to create a distinctive brand that brought alive purposeful moments of escape, steering spiced rum away being a nightclub drink and instead resonating for all drinking occasions.

We Delivered:
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 screenprinted 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.

Positive Change:
Makai is set to hit the trade towards the end of this year. They have partnered with American music artist Monster Rally for their launch and are sponsoring cocktail events across the UK. We’ll keep you updated as they grow!​​​​​​​