Mt. Evervess

An un-medicated high.

Needing to quench my thirst, I bought this Indian carbonated water for the illustration and tagline combo as well. I was already in the Himalayas, heading to Bhutan or on my way back. So, there!

Next logo change, I’d move “Lehar” to the bottom or back and let the mountains and “Evervess” take the spotlight. The maker’s prominent display (on its bottles and snack packages) is akin to “The Coca-Cola Company” splashed center stage on every beverage it sells, regardless of whether Coke, Sprite or Dasani is inside.

“Evervess” is powerful. It’s evocative, fun to say and onomatopoeic. Starting off strong with the stressed initial “E,“ the name then softens out…much like any gaseous beverage action. What’s more, it’s suggestively descriptive: the drink is super-fizzy, as another fan attests. — ¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡! — I love the visual and verbal references to both “effervescent” and Mt. Everest. Bubble on!

Backstory: Lehar is a brand of soft drinks and salties owned by PepsiCo. From 1988, when the company entered the subcontinent’s market, until the ban on using foreign brand names was lifted in 1991, PepsiCo was forced to use an Indian name, even on its flagship drink. Pepsi Era? Not allowed. Lehar Pepsi (lehar = wave)? Approved. PepsiCo marketed its products under this former Indian joint venture label until it bought out its partners in 1994.

Sourced: Thailand/Bhutan.

Sl-ice water

Picklers vs. Slicers

Love, love, love cucumbers, especially when the sweeteners and preservatives stay away. This water is very deserving of its name: just the right amount of cucumber essence and oh so refreshing! The fruit’s lore is quirky but “cuke.” Stumped on the trivia question? A hint is right there!  Did you know that cucumbers were first cultivated in Bengal, India over 3000 years ago?

The “Drink water, not sugar”  tagline reinforces the product’s natural slant. A straight and true swipe at the colored-water, “good for you” posers. The name, tagline, logo, green “slice” highlighting the flavor and clear packaging all play nicely together.

Take a guess…an…

The thinking cap is on.

 

Educated Guess.
Yummier than science.

This winery saves the
fullness for the wine,
and keeps the formulas,
well, mostly to itself.
A twofer in the source:
Roots Run Deep.
Chemistry, indeed.

Hey, bartender, pour me
another glass Guess.

Sip to my ‘roo, my darlin’

Penguin envy.

Just looking at this happy bird cools me down. Nothing like incorporating these cute little creatures into your design to coax kids to drink what could be directly had from the tap, filtered or not. The name incorporated into the little guy’s eyes is clever. (Does that make him four-eyes?) The portability helps, but it’s not refillable.

Which brings to mind public water fountains. They must be lonely without all that gossip. And so quaint. Yet they are the best way to quench your thirst or wake yourself up with a splash on the face…when you can find one.

The whole bottled water culture is so over. Most is brought to you from the same public source via the good ole faucet. Yet, the continuing brand proliferation in this category never ceases to amaze me. In fact, I was involved in the industry in the early- to mid-1990’s, when I sought out U.S. distributorship for a prestigious Catalan producer of bottled carbonated mineral water. They were ahead of the times. It’s a shame; they’d have made inroads had management been more interested in carving out a niche space with spa clients (which is where their product best fit) or sat out things until the domestic market here became receptive to their offering.

Emergency landing deplaning practice.

Acerola anyone?

Back (roads) stage pass.

It doesn’t take much to get me out the door and exploring. Especially the storied Route 66, a lot of which I have covered…and more than once. I love the name, logo, tagline and shape of the can.

While not a nutritional label reader, I was curious (and all signs pointed to the side of the can). That little detour is where I learned of a new fruit: acerola. Didn’t sound like anything I wanted to pop in my mouth, let alone sip.

Lo and behold, it’s none other than the West Indian, Barbados or Puerto Rican cherry and related to the hawthorn, which the Chinese eat along with their tea. To my etymological surprise, the fruit name is rooted in Arabic al-zu’rur (al- = the + zu’rur = medlar) by way of Spanish. Yet the medlar itself is actually related to (but much smaller than) apples, pears and quinces and has an amazing story of its own. Bletted are its ways.

Thar she brews!

Portable Polynesia

I’m a sucker for packaging if you’ve not figured that out by now. I’d just had my first surfing lesson on Maui, and the waves were calling me back. Since I couldn’t get to Hawaii, I had Hawaii come to me, Kona-style and bottled. They brand the heck out of this carton, yet it still feels as free and open as being out on the Pacific. The story on the bottom of the packaging sets the mood, but it’s what’s on the top that makes me grab for the 6-pack in the first place: “Liquid Aloha.” Aah, Coca-Cola can’t touch that for “refreshing” and “happiness.” There was fun under the bottle caps as well, with each one teaching me a word in Hawaiian:

“Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna take ya…”

Moana = ocean
Kanaka – person
Wai = water
Honu – turtle
Mano = shark

‘ball or nothin’

As the top of the neck says, "Dive in."

I like the name, font, illustration style and how this wine introduces itself ‘round back. Reminds me of summers in Athens, GA. Green Hills Country Club, a few miles away from home, to which my neighbors and I would bike to and back, sans helmets. I take it that cannonball.com was taken, but drinkcannonball.com works. That is a command, right?

We’ve seen America in much freer, legs-tucked-under, uninhibited stances. Let’s get (back) on with those times. Happy Birthday, USA!

Trop and Do 50

Saw this ad/coupon for I guess what is a new orange juice beverage. It made me think that I had not seen too much alphanumeric food/drink naming. My curiosity took me on reconnaissance, where I made some interesting finds:

100% Grape
100 Grand
3 Musketeers
5^th Season
7J
7UP
8^th Continent
A.1.
Basic 4
Ezekiel 4:9
Fruit 66
G2
Heinz57
Nabisco 100cal
Product 19
V8

And then the almost alphanumeric:

Eight O’Clock Coffee
FiberOne
Five
Ichiban (mean “#1” or “first” in Japanese)
Ones

You can see images of some of these at http://www.flickr.com/photos/justback/

I like the use of alphanumerics in names if they are sufficiently merited. It can help when you must work within the sometimes narrow confines of packaging.

Back to the tropics and this brand. The name works for me. From a visual perspective, the round characters give you a sense that this will be filling… fulfilling not fattening. (You would not get the same effect if the drink were called, say, Trop42.) The “op50” — or 67% of the name — visually does that, which is interesting since normally the vowels “a,” “o” and “u,” as they are formed more towards the front or middle of the mouth, linguistically sound symbolize largeness or robustness or in the case of food, rich and caloric. Since the “50” aligns with offering you 50% less sugar and calories, this is good suggestive messaging. I also like the closeness of “trop” to the “drop.” A drop of something is small, appropriately sufficient. “Trop —” like “drop” —sounds quick and mobile, suggesting you can indulge without it costing you too much time or effort.

I was curious as to whether or not the naming was driven by the desire to secure a .com domain name. I don’t know Tropicana’s naming strategy as it relates to domains, but sure enough, the drink has its own: http://www.trop50.com/

I’m not crazy about the pseudo diacritical “leaf” over the “0” in 50. I know it is a nod to the “dotted i leaf” in the master brand name (which, by the way, waves at you on their site), but it detracts more than it adds. And more so on the packaging, since the “accent” bumps up to the horizontal “Tropicana.” The purpose of diacritics (cedillas, accent marks, tildes, umlauts, etc.) is to set apart or distinguish; such marks indicate a different phonetic value. This leaf is not phonetic; it is phony.

On a lighter note, something that came to mind (don’t ask me how)…a “rock steady” cheer:

Trop
Trop 50,
Trop 50 ifty ifty,
Shake your bottle, get ready.
Drink on up, yeah.
And drink up. Hmm!

Louder now!