A brand so delicious...even their competitors want a sip

Sodalicious

Challenge

The “dirty soda” market in Utah and surrounding states has grown considerably over the past few years, and with it the introduction of several soda shop brands that offer convenient drive through locations to get mixed sodas and snacks. While Sodalicious is one of the original brands to offer a mixed soda experience, they came to Grand Prize looking for help standing apart from these other brands now providing similar offerings.

Approach

Like many drive-through food and drink concepts, differentiation isn’t within the product offering itself. While Sodalicious has some unique mixtures and snack offerings; these aren’t typically enough to beat the convenience of a competitor's store. We began by taking a deep dive into what would make a loyal customer drive past one of these other brands and come through the Sodalicious drive through, and from there find ways to express it throughout the brand messaging and elements in a more consistent (and exciting) way.

Services

UX/UI Design

Year

2024

Technology

Brand Development, Packaging, Signage

Website

https://mysodalicious.com

A modern take on the classic soda shop

At the core of the Sodalicious rebrand was a desire to tap into the nostalgia many customers hold for an old timey soda shop. Not only does the visual language feel inviting, but the people who worked and visited these shops created a community that Sodalicious is recreating in its own modern way. We wanted to take all of these feelings of familiarity, excitement, and belonging and explore ways they could come to life in the visual brand.

Versatility for more locations and years to come

In addition to creating a brand that made people feel fulfilled each time they visit a Sodalicious, they also wanted something that could be flexible throughout different locations, events, and specific uses. What resulted was a wordmark and shape that could remain consistent, while other elements could change to fit whatever the application.

For what customers are really buying

At the end of the day, it became clear throughout the entire branding process that people weren’t visiting Sodalicious just because they wanted something tasty and refreshing, but because they wanted a moment to feel connected and a moment for themselves. We wanted the visual brand and packaging to speak authentically to this desire so that the next time they saw a Sodalicious package, they’d feel that same comfort without even taking a sip…and look forward to the next time they pulled through their favorite location.

A timeless, yet timely, brand

By taking our time to create a well thought out system, the brand is able to feel both very modern and, at the same time, like it has always existed in some form. We wanted customers to feel a genuine sense of connection and belonging, since that’s often what their customers and employees were already looking for.

Creating for a packaging forward release

New brands will typically make their debut on a website or social media, but because of the nature of Sodalicious’s business, most customers would come in contact with the brand on a building, cup, or bag first. We worked to ensure each of these first impressions would be a good one and once that would always be a nod to the larger branding effort.