Creating a retro soda brand in a category split between Victorian heritage and generic bright.

The challenge

With healthy drinks booming, Zingara wanted to create a brand that would feel like a treat without the guilt. By putting taste and flavour first, whilst still communicating the health benefits of the product without feeling overbearing.

What we did

Brand Strategy

Visual Identity

Brand Design

Packaging Design

Market research

Clichés we rebelled against

Premium soda in the UK splits into two camps: heritage brands that lean on ornamental, Victorian-style typography and hand-drawn botanical illustration to signal craft, and mass-market sodas that lean on generic, bright branding with little story at all. Neither camp typically uses character-led illustration to carry flavour and personality.

The approach

We built a series of flavour mascots rather than reaching for either heritage ornamentation or generic brightness, giving Zingara a way to build brand equity that neither camp of the category currently uses. Bold typography and vibrant colour carried the “modern take on retro” idea the brand wanted, without borrowing the Victorian-signage look that heritage sodas default to.