Montreal and LA-based studio Wedge has been behind the brand evolution of Mott’s Clamato Caesar, “Canada’s Cocktail”, since 1969. If you’re not a local, think of this drink as the Canadian Bloody Mary – the cocktail you always saw your parents enjoying growing up at every BBQ, holiday party and brunch special.
After its successful modernization of Canada Dry, the Keurig Dr Pepper team brought Wedge on to refresh Mott’s Clamato Caesar, another icon in its portfolio awaiting revival. Appealing to a new generation of cocktail lovers was central to the brief and – with the rollout of new flavours from Pickled Bean to Lime and Extra Spicy – the identity needed to support Mott’s ambition to go beyond the classic original cocktail and expand the expression.
Having already achieved great results for the client, Wedge was confident that they would work well with the internal creatives. “A strong relationship is mutually collaborative, never dictatorial, where solutions come with strategic rationales, thinking is shared, and curious questions are asked,” says Wedge founder and chief design officer Justin Lortie. “The Mott’s team behind this one deserves a round of applause.”
In Canada, there are polarizing opinions on the Caesar cocktail; people love it or hate it. When Wedge conducted ethnographic studies across the country, it quickly became clear that flavour was at the heart of why people love drinking Caesars, including the new generation.
In homage to its distinctive taste, the brand platform, ‘Bring on the Flavour’, informed the strategic narrative and visual world.
Competitor analysis also revealed that there are few similar options out there, aside from more “craft cocktails” and less accessible offerings. Instead, Wedge turned to the food category for inspiration, tapping into a world of flavours to express Clamato’s unique portfolio of taste offerings: Spicy, Salty, Savory, Zesty, Peppery, Fiery, Umami, Limey, Tangy, Briny, etc.
“It’s a rich universe that allowed us to not only evolve the brand world but add more richness to it, standing out from the category with the permission to own a bold, tasty and personality-filled universe,” says Lortie.
Heritage will always have its place in a brand as iconic as Clamato, but its identity has gone unchanged for decades and started to become a little bit dated. To reach the new generation and solidify its reputation as “Canada’s Cocktail”, it needed a boost in perception, relevancy, and desire, and so Wedge refreshed the brand holistically across the full experience.
According to Lortie, the most important asset the brand has carried over the years is the classic and iconic Caesar cocktail image. He says: “There’s a researched effect they call ‘the Caesar effect’ — when you see one, you want one.
“We embraced the glass but modernized it, knowing it had to play a central role and, beyond this, other key assets were honoured to maintain strong brand recognition, including the navy brand colour,