Project:A new mixer for the Gin&Tonic trend

Gin Tonic was a great hype that supported by big companies as Schweppes Suntory, Diageo, Pernod Ricard... evolved to a category trend and a consumer trend.

Dark spirit consumers were looking for a "better image" longdrink, with a refreshing taste and a healthier halo. In Spain the trend was amazing and nowadays we can find hundreds of gins (floral, herbal, smoky...) and thousands of mixers.

Creating a new tonic flavor (for current G&T drinkers) was not the objective. We wanted to create a new product with a very concrete role (increase consumer penetration). To achieve that we started our research being very close to consumers, understanding their pains and gains. We found a strong tension: "I dont like G&T because it´s too bitter, but I love the image that G&T drinkers have, having a beautiful glass with a transparent and refreshing liquid, it´s very cool".

Tension was clear, so now we had the challenge to create a product that could attract these consumers, showing that the liquid was not that bitter but still being a G&T. One option was to reduce the bitterness of the tonic but the product was difficult to be differentiated from the original, and those who tried tonic before were not open tro try it again. So we decided to create a less bitter tonic with a color that helps to tell the story. With the support of flavor houses we created an amazing flavor combination and we named it "Hibiscus".

We had lot of internal challenges as we were launching a colored tonic (quite soft at the begining). However bartender´s response and consumer´s feedback was super positive. Hibiscus was helping us to increase penetration and it was also helping the brand to increase range image. The product still in market, and it was succesfully launched in France, Belgium, Swizerland, Germany... Go to your favourite bar or shop and try Schweppes Hibiscus, it´s super versatile. I recommend you to mix it with Gin or Tequila (I personally love to create amazing Margaritas with it). Cheers!