Pearlfisher puts passion into Alizé cognac range

Pearlfisher has redesigned the identity and packaging for passion fruit-flavoured cognac range Alizé, a favourite tipple of Brooklyn rappers.

New York-based client Kobrand Corporation is relaunching the drink across the US this month. It is set to roll out in Canada and the UK later this year.

Its target audience includes African American and Hispanic women ‘with a carefree attitude to life and living’, says Pearlfisher managing partner Mike Branson.

The news comes as Pearlfisher has appointed former client, Seagram global vice-president of new product development Sam Ellias, to head up its embryonic New York office, who became head of US operations last week.

The consultancy’s brief was to modernise Alizé. The design work focuses on the brand’s ‘exotic joie de vivre’ and features an embossed motif of passion fruit flowers, revamped typography and a redesigned label.

The bottle structure has also been redesigned to have ‘greater feminine allure and feel sexier in the hand’, says Pearlfisher creative partner Jonathan Ford.

The brand is huge in New York clubs and bars, says Branson. Rappers have even penned lines in deference to ‘yak’ (cognac).

Pearlfisher won the Alizé work following a credentials pitch around 18 months ago.

The New York office is Pearlfisher’s first full service office outside London.