Fruzzante is the world’s first and only producer of alcoholic-beverage made from chikoo. Conceptualized in 2010, the brand is the brainchild of Priyanka Save and her husband Nagesh Pai. Under their leadership, the brand has produced more than 25,000 bottles since the wine’s launch in 2017. The brewery is part of their family’s Hill Zill Resort in Bordi, 25 km from Dahanu, and was instrumentally aided by Dominic Rivard, an award-winning winemaker from Canada.
ClientHill Zill WinesCategoryAlcoholic BeveragesServicesBranding | Brand Identity | Packaging Design
Fruzzante is the world’s first and only producer of alcoholic-beverage made from chikoo. Conceptualized in 2010, the brand is the brainchild of Priyanka Save and her husband Nagesh Pai. Under their leadership, the brand has produced more than 25,000 bottles since the wine’s launch in 2017. The brewery is part of their family’s Hill Zill Resort in Bordi, 25 km from Dahanu, and was instrumentally aided by Dominic Rivard, an award-winning winemaker from Canada.
While the current packaging did capture the strong fruit foundations, the brand's uniqueness wasn’t being communicated well. More so it posed a confusion as to whether it’s a fruit beer (as its packed in a beer like amber bottle) or is it a flavoured wine or its just another non-alcoholic fruit beverage. The fact was Fruzzante is none of these. Hence a clear brand positioning was the need of the hour.
Almond proposed to retain the Fruzzante logo identity as it is. The beer like amber bottle shape was also retained so as to keep the casual, easy-drinking style association intact. To clearly position the brand in the minds of the consumers and build its own strong identity, it was now defined as a “sparkling alcoholic beverage”.
While wine is derived from grapes and cider from apples, this mechanical engineering duo, Priyanka and Nagesh used the same fermentation technique to derive wines from fruits such as chikoo, mango, strawberries, pineapple, etc. The fact is that Fruzzante is first of its kind wine in India derived from real fruits viz a viz the other fruit wines that are typically fruit-flavoured.
In order to communicate the key aspect that it’s made of 100% pure fruit extract without the addition of any colours or preservatives, Almond sought inspiration from a seal of Authenticity that builds assurance. The focal point of the new Packaging Design is a seal construct that is half the real fruit imagery and half the USP claims of the brand that its 100% Fruit produce and it’s the pioneer in India.
The entire bottle label was divided in two halves with the bottom flaunting the real fruit over white and the top half depicting the variant colour backdrop, making the entire range look very bright and colourful on the shelves. The additional neck label going across the cap gave the Packaging Design an extra style quotient.
Chikoo was where it all started and hence Almond proposed a golden colour backdrop for this light golden-hued fruit, clearly making it to stand out as the hero variant in the portfolio.
Since the product concept is very new to India, its not uncommon for people to go by pre-conceived notions built over say a Chikoo milkshake or Mango based drink while picking up Fruzzante. However, its not a fruit pulp/juice but a fruit derived alcohol that they are looking at. To remove any iota of doubt, it was proposed to mention a line about the flavor profile so that consumer is aware of the taste to expect while making a choice among the variants.
Fruzzante had an incredible “Farm to Bottle” concept wherein they source all their fruits directly from the farmers and in turn help support the regional agro-economy. The entire business model that is beneficial to the farmers is their way of giving back to their farmer family origins.
Almond Branding saw an immense potential in communicating this concept to the consumers. This was captured with a tiny little illustration on the pack depicting a farmer with a bullock cart. A visual mnemonic was created that stated “Brewing for a cause” reinforcing how you are contributing your bit to the farmers every time you sip Fruzzante.
The intent of each flavor variant is to capture the character of the region. The fine quality Chikoos are from Dahanu-Golvad, the premium oranges are from Nagpur, the mangoes are handpicked from orchards in Konkan and the finest strawberries are chosen from Mahabaleshwar. Hence the place of origin of the fruit got a special mention on the pack.
The back of pack was designed to look equally interesting by covering the step by step process of brewing Fruzzante so that the curious consumer can be more aware as to what goes behind making Fruzzante.
Almond Branding is also engaged in extension of the Hill Zill Wines portfolio as well as the website and Point of Sales design for the brand. Almond is the exclusive Brand Design partner for Hill Zill Wines and is the true Brand custodian.