Rankup Energy Drink
Developing an Advertising Campaign for a Vibrant Energy Drink Targeted Towards Gamers
Intro
Originally tasked with the creation of two beverages constrained to a predetermined bottle type and measurements, I revisited an old project to flesh out into a multi-media ad campaign.
Design Approach
In my second semester of my sophomore year, as a final project for my packaging class, I was assigned to design and develop a brand and package based on a bottle type supplied to me by my professor. I had long thin aluminum cans which I took as an opportunity to create an energy drink brand. Rather than a Monster or Red bull style of generic energy drink, I wanted to focus on the gaming energy drink market, combining my hobby of videogames with my passion of graphic design. I landed on the name Rankup because I wanted my audience to feel this energy drink would help boost performance while playing. One of the first things I wanted to think of was the product’s USPs, or unique selling points, that would separate it from the competition. To do so I designed a zero calorie, zero sugar, natural caffeine and natural flavored energy drink that focused on the consumers health while still providing tasty flavors and a boost in energy.
I explored a lot with the logo but ultimately landed on a wordmark accompanied by an arrow pointing up on a diagonal. The font I chose, Digibop, gives a retro videogame feel while still resonating with my target demographic of 18–30-year-old gamers. During the first project we were only required to create a series of two flavors, however when I revisited this brand for the ad campaign, I redesigned my packaging a little and added two new flavors for a total of 4 different flavors. For the ad campaign, we were required to create a total of 12 different ads across different media types such as print, social media, and OOH (out-of-home). I first tackled the print ads which needed to be a full page ad in a magazine along side two additional sizes, in my case half-page vertical and half-page horizontal. Using the media kit of PC Gamer to plan my sizes out, I began constructing my ads using Indesign. The campaign I came up with was the “Up Your Game” campaign focused on the inclusion of all different types of gamers. Each ad features a different headline, game, and drink, rotating through Rankup’s 4 flavors. I designed 3 different full-page ads to flesh out my concept before diving into the half-page versions.
Following the completion of the print ads, I turned my focus to OOH advertising and began researching creative billboard designs. For my billboard ad I designed two billboards that would be placed next to each other to tell a story. The billboard features a person who fell asleep at the desk and someone passing Rankup to them while gaming. I then converted the billboard to a bus stop ad using the same content but fitted for the new dimensions. Using the format and style of my designed ads, I continued creating the remaining deliverables.
Wrapping Things Up
The end of this project was different than any other as when presenting our deliverables, we had to do a pitch presentation, pitching our product and campaign to the class in under 2 minutes. This was my first time doing this, however I practiced and felt I executed it well. This project was the only heavily advertising focus project that I have had but I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. Advertising has been a more recent discovery of mine and one that has been fun to learn and explore. Looking back, I wish I had more opportunities in school to explore advertising design but even still this project was a creative exploration into it, and I am proud of what I designed.
Programs Used:
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop
Year:
2024
Fields of Focus:
Advertising, Editorial, Layout, Branding, Original Photography, Print, Typography, Packaging