Simba Wild Guide
The guide was conceptualised as a part of strategic marketing efforts to create a broad array of brand assets and content that would establish and reiterate Simba’s brand positioning as craft. The idea was to tie the brand with the essence of a city (Delhi, Goa, Mumbai) through a guide that is curated and influenced by Simba Craft Beer. We chose a zine format as it felt more approachable and friendly.
I managed the research, copywriting, printing and overall execution of this editorial-esque project.
Industry
Food and Beverage, Hospitality, Travel
Scope
Strategic Marketing, Brand Artifacts, Brand Collateral
Team
Abhisek Sarda, Indranil Udupi, Priyanka Poulose, Mukul Soni, Tanya Kar, Vidit Agarwal, Shefali Ahir, Sanjana Hegde
Research
Each and every recommendation on the guide has been experienced by the contributors, hence curated. Research involved speaking to numerous people native to the city or those who have experienced the city in a unique way.
Formulated Content Buckets
Exhaustive research allowed us to create an array of content buckets that would become sections of the guide. We had to shortlist sections on the basis of what truly represented the city and how could we associate Simba Craft Beer to it seamlessly.
Content buckets in black background and information that each bucket would entail in green background.
Various sections of the guide in black background.
Pagination
Each section had to be clearly representative of its contents, the creative director and designer collectively worked on the pagination of the guide. My task here was to help guide the ideation to be more approachable and quirky than heavily design focussed.
Copywriting
The copywriting process was one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Simba's personality represented one that was aloof and I had to weave in the brand's tone of voice to the content to sound quirky and true to character.
Production
With all the work put in on designing the guide, the final physical product had to be what we envisaged of the guide. The production had to be on-point. This involved liaising with multiple print vendors and going through a number of samples to get the right quality of paper and ink to help it feel truly like a zine. The entire process was a wholesome experience, from digital to physical.
Marketing Strategies
Digital media was one aspect of marketing the guide but on-ground marketing was of utmost importance as the guide was a physical asset that people needed to hold and read. I collaborated with the Simba sales team to place the guides at outlets that were featured on the guide. This activity not only cemented relations with featured outlets but also was a big hit amongst their patrons.
Apart from generic Instagram promotions, the guide is also a part of the Simba website, where visitors can download pdf versions of the guide.
Guide to Making a Guide
I have now executed 3 versions of the Simba Wild Guide for the cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Goa. The exhaustive nature of the project led me to create a guide to making any such future guides. Find below a screenshot of the process.
Learnings
This was the first printed media project that I had executed. My take-away from this project was more than anything related to creative design and copywriting, but all about project planning. Projects end up being successful with thorough planning and meticulous execution. I felt that was where the success of this project lied. In fact, I ended up creating a “Guide to Making a Guide” with all steps and timelines associated to create the Simba Wild Guide for any city.