| 65Jimmy’s Cocktails Jimmy’s Cocktails original minimalist design, feature bright-colored shrink sleeves with text in contrasting colors Jimmy’s Cocktails has launched three new product variants in cans“We are probably the only brand in India that has no logo at the front of the can. It was unique. We wanted to stay true to design philosophy and to let the product inside do the talking”without any gap. MOQs were an issue at the beginning with conventional ‘The key to our success was how we stood out on the shelf. technology. However, the brand scaled rapidly in the last 1.5 years Minimalism and simplicity in design are new to India. More and and its consumption of labels grew.more startups are embracing it in the last fve or so years.’Jimmy’s recently launched three new variants in cans - tonic Opportunity in adversitywater, ginger ale and lemon ale - which posed a unique design and The company scaled rapidly during Covid despite its challenges. packaging challenge. Designing cans required a different approach Jimmy’s Cocktails had just launched and was ready for lift-off than bottles. What worked with bottles did not translate well on a in March 2020 when a country-wide lockdown was announced can and still had to adhere to brand guidelines. in India. After months of R&D, the cans featured Jimmy’s logo vertically The brand faced several issues in those days such as supply with a white strip as background. The cans, following the same chain limitations, rising costs and unavailability of raw materials. design philosophy as bottles, come in bright colors with a Shipping the product and sourcing packaging was also a hurdle. minimalistic design. In addition, having started in a retail format, which was shut ‘We are probably the only brand in India that has no logo at during Covid, the company had to pivot to D2C model. At the time, the front of the can. It was unique. We wanted to stay true to the the company was run by just three including Vasesi.design philosophy and let the product inside do the talking. The ‘Since everything was shut, so were the bars. In those days, design needs to pop enough for you to be attracted. The cans look there was only one way to have a cocktail and that was Jimmy’s. better when kept together,’ he adds. So we started marketing Jimmys’ online with a tagline – “bring the The minimalist design of the bottles and cans allows for future bar home.”collaborations. ‘Since warehouses were shut, we stored the bottles at my ‘As a founder, I think ahead of time and have a vision. I residence and arranged shipping of the bottles that we packed constantly think of new ideas and already have a few ideas about ourselves,’ he says.the next product. My art team has a vision for collaborations and As soon as the pandemic subsided, the company scaled rapidly. if your packaging is too design heavy, where will you place the In FY22, the brand witnessed a growth of over 200 percent in its collaboration in your brand? We have a lot of space in our design,’ revenues and is now available at over 12,000 FMCG retail outlets, Vasesi says. wine shops in over 50 cities, and at leading e-commerce/quick Vasesi believes that the success of the brand is due to its product, delivery platforms such as Swiggy Instamart, Zeptos and Blinkit. not just its packaging and that consumers are savvy enough to The brand delivers from its website to over 400 cities in India. know what the brand is without needing to oversell it. Recently the brand has also started exporting to Australia, South ‘Someone once told me that the minimalism on your packaging Africa and ISC countries.design tells me that you are so confdent about your product that ‘The moment I realized that drinking cocktail at home becomes you don’t need to say anything and that’s what Jimmy’s stands for.’ easier, people will do it. We just needed to ensure that the The company hires experts from the beverage industry and its product was right. Packaging and branding can make you pick up recipes are created by the leading bartender in India. the product once but if you don’t like it, no matter how good the Jimmy’s labels are supplied by some of the leading converters in packaging is, you will not buy it anymore. The role of packaging India. It has in-house label applicators at its plant in Nashik. The is to attract the consumer once on the shelf. The reason for our long-run labels are printed on rotogravure printing technology and success is the product inside. We have a lot of repeat customers.’short-runs are produced on fexo. The company is planning to expand its presence in the For Jimmy’s can variants, the aluminum sheets are printed international market. Radiohead will also launch new brands with directly and converted in long runs. The company sources its cans new product lines. from two leading suppliers in the space. The company’s packaging design department is also actively For more information on Jimmy’s Cocktails, visit involved in R&D with its label supplier and can launch new favors www.drinkjimmys.comfrequently, including limited editions.Jan - Mar 2023