How do we hone in on two concepts that’ll mix well?
We take into account all the background research, competitor visits, and stakeholder interviews to build our proprietary pairs game that’s tailored to the client. Starting with a set of 50 – 60 ideas that could be the basis of a concept, we play through multiple rounds to narrow down to just two ideas! It’s harder than you think, we swear. Now multiply that by four brands!
For Bonica, this could have been a whole host of romance, the founders’ marriage, shipping, travel, vintage, modern, Spanish, Mediterranean, ports, barrels, historical, ocean or mountain themes! So many possibilities, however together we reduced it down to charcoal cooking and 17th century Spanish trading ships. This became the basis of our brand concept.
From that starting point, we build a story, the identity and the interior design brief. Even the brief for food presentation comes from these two concepts.
The approach was the same for La Mezcaleria. This became a combination of spiritual plant medicine and gritty Oaxaca street art, giving a unique twist on a Mexican bar which could have easily been a cliché of day-of-the-dead skulls, cactuses and sombreros. It’s through this process that enables us to create a concept that stands out and is clear for designers and marketers to roll with.