Think Like An Artist: Scaling Cult Classic Topo Chico
Tasked with scaling cult classic Topo Chico, HAYMAKER’s challenge was to do so without losing the “soul” of the brand. Taking a very non-traditional approach, the collaboration centred around thinking “like an artist” and amplified the creativity of the Topo community - including creatives across fashion, music, art, food and wellness. This strategy allowed for huge creative freedom, leading to concerts, premieres, bespoke portraits and more.
To uncover the rich creativity and ideas that went into this project, LBB’s Sunna Coleman speaks with HAYMAKER CD Richard Fischer Estrada, senior creative producer Sophie Emma Taylor, and art director Eric Trujillo.
LBB> Tell us about the campaign and concept behind your work with Topo Chico. What was the problem you had to solve?
Richard> We had to scale a beloved brand without losing its soul. Their brief to us was simple: ‘don’t fuck it up.’ As people who strive not to fuck up, this resonated with us because it meant they wanted to stay true to who they were and not just make ads.
Sophie> I saw this as a massive opportunity to use our platform to support an entire community of artists, musicians, chefs and fashion designers who love Topo and make great work together.
Eric> Topo Chico prides itself on its non-traditional marketing approach. So we did everything we could to not make ads. It was an open invitation to use our platform to put our friends on. And that’s exactly what we did.
LBB> What were your initial ideas?
Richard> Most of our ideas were centred around amplifying the creativity of the Topo community and creating new and interesting ways for people to discover Topo. One idea that comes to mind was an impromptu bodega concert series that we called Chico Concerts, that would stream live on Instagram. Maybe we’ll still get to make that down the road.
LBB> Your solution involved helping the brand behave more like an artist - tell us about this idea and how it played out.
Richard> Topo Chico has built a brand different from most. They’ve mined a century-old mineral water recipe and bottled it at the source. They’ve created an artful and iconic bottle label. They’re a beloved cult-classic. And they’ve crafted a brand ethos that’s more aligned with the spirit of artists than your traditional mineral water brand. They just didn’t know it yet. So HAYMAKER took the opportunity and presented a strategic framework that positions the brand to ‘think like an artist’. Through that lens, it gave the brand permission to be more like their friends and partners in the world of visual art, fashion, music, wellness, and of course food. Permission to be spontaneous, always put your friends on, and put on a show.
Sophie> From a production POV, “Think like an artist” means creating quickly and at the pace of the culture. Topo has a rich history of supporting their friends in the art community. So we just used the foundation they built and connected with their network of artists and ours as well to amplify Topo even more.
Eric> We channelled our inner Tom Sachs in every decision we made. We kept our photography organic and didn’t overthink it. We captured only what we saw without editing. We partnered with people who had real respect in their communities and used our platform to drive business their way. We used language that was unapologetically direct, telling people to eat at our homies' restaurants.
LBB> How did you approach this with both creative and strategy combined?
Richard> ‘Think like an artist’ is a strategic insight and creative invitation wrapped in one thought. It was never consumer facing. Just an internal mantra, designed so that the brand could behave differently from all other brands and show up authentically. Because we could…
Sophie> Honestly - all of us had a love for the brand already. So we asked ourselves what we (personally) would want to make and see on their channels and we took branding out of the equation for a sec, because the premise is art. We worked with our strategy family to find really fun ways to treat the bottles/branded elements as characters themselves that felt authentic to our artists and our client and our team.
LBB> For Friends of Topo you collaborated with a range of artists, how did you make your selection?
Richard> HAYMAKER was inspired heavily by Jonathan Gold's approach to food. He shined a light on unknown culinary gems and helped put them on the map for others to discover. So we worked closely with Topo Chico’s field marketing team and identified seven under-the-radar eateries across the country. The talented photographic duo Shaughn & John and documented each location’s dishes, and chefs. We created social content that asked fans to dine and drink at these locals and gifted each restaurant a library of assets that they used to promote themselves. We also created restaurant merch like tees, special Topo Chico bottle labels, and posters with the help of the portrait artist Saddo. We gave Saddo pieces of each chef’s story that informed his bespoke painted portraits for them. Each is layered with personal meaning, heritage and unique iconography for each of the chefs.
Eric> Shout out to Topo’s field marketing team. Together, we were able to determine who the realest restaurants in town were. Eateries that were if-you-know-you-know staples in the community. Chefs and kitchens that cared more about feeding their neighbourhood with great food than how many followers they had on their Instagram. Those are the people we wanted to give shine to and help drive people to try their cuisine.
LBB> You then helped the brand continue their support of artists through Topo Premieres. Tell us about this idea and the creative and strategic challenges you needed to overcome during this work?
Richard> Shortly after the success from the ‘Friends of Topo’ initiative, Topo Chico challenged us to create a sustainable social initiative that could continuously support musicians. So HAYMAKER came up with TopoPremieres, an idea to use our social platform to promote hundreds of different indie musicians and their music videos. We noticed that lots of musicians had slept-on music videos with criminally low view counts. So we took inspiration from MTV’s golden era to create a robust library of artful, weird, and unique branded music video bumpers to rebroadcast these slept-on music videos out into the world. Each bumper was meant to make you stop scrolling and pay attention to the music videos that needed to be unearthed by a wider audience. For one of our TopoPremieres we even took existing footage from an artist’s live session, animated the whole song, and launched it as a full on music video for Sam Evian.
Sophie> Music is my life and I direct music videos on the side, so this specific project was a dream come true for me. We worked with Topo Chico’s field marketing team to select a few underground musicians to feature, and the rest of the musicians we organised from HAYMAKER’s personal networks. I even got to work with two childhood friends, Pearl Charles and Christian Lee Hutson, and a few of my other friends in cruza - so that was a special treat. The fact that the ask for the project was to give exposure to these musicians and their music videos - especially coming from a big brand, where the brand itself isn't trying to be the star, is pretty rare and astounding. The idea was set in stone - we want to feature our musician friends who deserve more shine.
Eric> Our talented animators brought so much creative fire that picking a direction was always difficult.
LBB> What have been some of your personal highlights across the Topo Chico work?
Richard> It’s rare for a brand to want to behave like an artist and embrace taking the backseat to put the shine on others. Especially when the majority of its marketing budget is dedicated to these altruistic endeavours.
Sophie> My highlights have been working with these incredibly talented, underground artists and musicians. Also - the whole entire process has been so collaborative - everyone cares very deeply and has an opinion, and there’s never a dull moment. It’s a true art project, it’s not heavily branded client content. The opportunity to work on this kind of a project I feel is quite rare - especially coming from a background of live action production.
Eric> Being able to do something truly soulful for those who have dedicated their lives to their craft. A craft that is rooted in service. It was also really cool to bring so many creative people together.
LBB> What feedback have you had so far from the client, artists and audiences?
Richard> Both campaigns have had great results. Friends of Topo has helped restaurants hit hard by the pandemic sustain and even open up new locations. TopoPremieres has exposed both musicians and animators to a wider audience, creating lots of new leads for shows and new business opportunities. With our client, we’ve created activation playbooks that are soon to be used to replicate the success from these campaigns in Latin America.
Sophie> We’ve curated such a cool list of unique, independent artists with special niches, and we’ve carefully placed them with our other artists, fashion designers, chefs, musicians etc. I love the rush of sending a first pass over, because we typically get very little feedback (if any) and we’re able to let these artists really shine. It’s definitely a proud moment for everyone included.
Eric> Once the creative went live. We noticed how much love it was getting from other well known artists and chefs. It further reinforced that our work was interesting. Interesting enough to gain the attention of the people who are at the heart of culture. We behaved like artists and were accepted by them.
LBB> Any other interesting insights to add?
Richard> Love to see commerce in support of the arts, where it matters the most, exposure.
Sophie> Props to Topo for understanding the importance of underground art and their community.
