64 | Jimmy’s CocktailsMinimalism meets mixology at Jimmy’s CocktailsJimmy’s Cocktails responds to the growing popularity of cocktails in India with colorful label designs, Akanksha Meena reportsinimalism meets mixology in the packaging design for Jimmy’s Cocktails, a line of premium cocktail mixers. The brand’s glass bottles are adorned with bold, bright colors, Madding a playful touch to the brand’s modern and sophisticated aesthetic. The minimalist approach to design allows the vibrant colors to truly shine, making these bottles stand out on the shelf.Jimmy’s Cocktail is a brand of low-calorie, non-alcoholic spirits mixers founded in 2019 by Ankur Grover Vasesi and Nitin Bhardwaj of Radiohead Brands. The brand was created in response to a shift in consumer preferences towards less sugary drinks and the growing popularity of cocktails in India. ‘I was in Bombay with my friends, and I noticed that everyone who frequented bars gravitated towards cocktails,’ says Vasesi. ‘A larger market that drinks at home was not able to make cocktails. The solution needed to be clutter-breaking since it was a new category. To stand out, you had to look and behave differently. That’s what gave rise to Jimmy’s.’ The brand has a head offce in Gurgaon and another in Delhi with production facilities in Nashik and Indore. The company has more than 150 employees in 20 cities. Vasesi has worn several hats during his career which started in (L-R) Founders of Jimmy’s Cocktails Ankur Bhatia and Nitin Bhardwaj2003. He worked at Motorola, joined a publication Maxim, and founded his online magazine MenXP which was acquired by Times “The key to our success was Internet. He then worked with the automobile company Mahindra & Mahindra. In between, Vasesi also worked in the alcohol industry how we stood out on the shelf. for six to eight years where he worked extensively in packaging. With a background in packaging and design, he recognized the Minimalism and simplicity in importance of the product’s packaging in standing out in a crowded market. He understood the importance of labels and packaging in design are new to India. More and the spirits industry in India and wanted to create a design that was unique and memorable. more start ups are embracing it With limited marketing resources during the early stages of the in the last fve or so years”start-up, Vasesi understood that the product label had to play the role of a salesman.He chose to use glass bottles with shrink-sleeve labels, which was unusual in the alcohol industry but allowed for more space to communicate information to consumers. Jimmy’s in-house design and packaging team created several designs, but in the end, the brand stuck to its original minimalist design, featuring bright-colored shrink sleeves with text in contrasting colors. The label has a QR code at its back with information on cocktail recipes. ‘When you think of a cocktail such as a margarita, it reminds one of a beach bar with salt-rimmed slim glasses and lemon on the side. But if I remove the label and look at the liquid of the cocktail mixer, you will just see a green liquid which is not as inspiring as the cocktail in my head. It was one of the reasons I chose to put a shrink sleeve on the bottle. Your memory of the cocktail is a stronger marketing weapon than the actual color of the liquid. The liquid will eventually look like a cocktail,’ he explains.The brand’s packaging was recognized for its impact and won an award from Kyoorius. Vasesi uses the ‘MECE’ principle for his designs. MECE stands for mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. Mutually exclusive means no overlap between each piece, while collectively Jimmy’s Cocktails use shrink sleeve labels for its bottles of cocktail mixersexhaustive means all the pieces combined form the original item labelsandlabeling.com