Brio Spirits Case Study
Canned Vodka Cocktails · DTC
A product built around a benefit it can't put on the label. We built a brand that showed it instead.
The Situation
Brio Spirits came to us as The Athlete, a canned vodka cocktail with a clear concept and a visual identity that worked against it. The original branding had no strategic foundation: the name in a generic typeface, soft wavy lines, an aesthetic that read as undifferentiated and off-target for the active, confident audience the product was built for.
The name changed early. Athletic Brewing, an established NA beer brand, was close enough to create real legal and market confusion. The founders landed on Brio, the Italian word for lively and joyful, and it fit the direction.
What stayed constant was the product: craft vodka, real fruit juice, electrolyte minerals, nothing artificial. Built for the person who plays hard and takes care of themselves without making a thing of it. Our job was to build a brand that looked like that person, not like a wellness drink with a sports reference bolted on. Then came the regulatory constraint. TTB restrictions meant the electrolyte benefit couldn't be stated on the can. The brand had to show what it couldn't say.
The Brief
Brand strategy, visual identity, packaging design across 3 SKUs, and a website built for awareness and retail discovery.
Brand Strategy · Visual Identity · Packaging · Website
The Work
Brand Strategy
We started with the origin story and used it to define what Brio actually was: the golf course halfway house drink, built properly. Not a health drink, not a party drink. The drink for the person who plays hard and knows what they're putting in their body.
Target: male millennials 25-45, active across golf, tennis, and pickleball, higher income, holding their ingredients and their experiences to the same standard.
We defined what Brio was not as clearly as what it was: not a seltzer, not a beer, not overly serious or unapproachable. A new category that needed to act like one.
Visual Identity
Two visual directions were developed and evaluated against the brand strategy. We landed on Smart-Casual: approachable, clean, polished. The aesthetic that belongs on a golf cart at 1pm on a Saturday.
- Color: Prussian Blue as the primary: classic, sophisticated, strong enough to own shelf space, neutral enough to let each flavor's accent color carry its SKU.
- Typography: Crisp sans-serif throughout. Polished and modern, with no heritage affectation.
- Structure: Minimalist layout, limited palette. The product is the visual.
- Tonality: Energy and vitality communicated through color and composition rather than through claims.
Packaging
The electrolyte story went through several iterations before landing. The original direction was listing the word electrolytes and the specific minerals on the can: magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium. Legal advised against this due to likely TTB push back. The next move was Himalayan pink salt: a recognizable, credible ingredient that nodded at the hydration benefit without crossing into health claim territory.
The rest of the story was told through lifestyle. Golf and pickleball icons on the can placed the product in context without making a claim. Paired with the active lifestyle imagery in the brand system, the hydration story became visual and cultural. The consumer on the golf course knows exactly what they're holding.
Three SKUs designed with full consistency: individual cans, 4-pack boxes, and a variety case. Each flavor carries its own fruit color accent within the color palette making it distinct on shelf and unified as a brand family.
Website
TTB rules out direct sales, so the site had one job: help someone understand what Brio is and find where to buy it. Built on WordPress with a clean structure that put product front and center, supported by the brand story and a clear path to retail. The age gate was integrated without disrupting the arrival experience.
Where They Are Now
Brio is building distribution steadily in the Chicago market, gaining traction through tastings and retail placements. The fan base is growing. For a startup working around the gap between what the product does and what it can say, the brand is doing exactly what it was built to do.
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