Conceptual Design

With frequent visits to the headquarters of Big Red, I continually brought them new ideas for products that featured our flavor creation and technology. Every presentation was Trenz-driven and foresight-heavy, with a wrap-up slide that included a finished package design, and in many cases, when budget allowed, a little animation video for the concept that I was hiring Matt to create for me as freelance. The package design, complete with a brand name and logo, the video, none of it mattered. They, and no customer for that matter, would EVER use something ‘designed’ by their flavor supplier, no matter how good it was. And they were really good. Really. We were selling only the flavor element, and for every concept presented, there were always samples of it to actually taste. I was taking a signal, building a scenario, connecting it to their brand portfolio, having a flavor created, designing the packaging for it, and then presenting it to Big Red’s technical and new product development teams on such a regular basis that I quietly imagined being absorbed into the fold. Just being there was like being on hallowed ground.

I read somewhere that if you had the secret formula for their signature beverage, and the accompanying logotype to go with it, you could go into any bank in the world and borrow a billion dollars. Always thought that would make an amazing movie plot, in that National Treasure meets Oceans Eleven kinda way. Being in the visitor’s waiting area, just off the stately marble reception hall, there was a fountain and refrigerator full of their products free to sample, and it was all I needed to feel like a million bucks, as the team and I awaited our chaperone to bring us to the tasting or conference room. This place was so big, with so many employees, they had their own post office, dry cleaner, full gym, and a food court better than any mall’s, but my go-to was always - the company store. Once again, I was that kid in a candy store when it came to having that rare opportunity to spend my, just, hard-earned money in the company store. Didn’t matter who the customer was. It made me feel like an insider. Like I was on the same team as them. And I always spoke to them as if I was. Always in the we - as in, WE can do this together. And we did.