Ugly

Agency: Identica
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Client: www.uglydrinks.com Ugly Drinks
Location: UK
Packaging Contents: Flavoured Water

Ugly founders Hugh Thomas and Joe Benn were tired of buying products that promised to make them faster, stronger or more beautiful. Quite frankly, they still felt slow, weak and ugly. Everything was either unhealthy or boring, so they decided to launch their own brand with some help from Identica.

Ugly had a clear vision and a strong opinion. Here was a drink that had nothing to hide and so didn’t feel it necessary to dress itself up. Inspired by this product ethos Identica wanted the brand to be totally honest and transparent, avoiding marketing fluff and empty promises.

We came up with the name Ugly to create stand out in a very crowded market place and to catch the attention and imagination of the customer. Ugly pits itself against all those brands that are made to look pretty and good for you, whilst hiding a load of nasties inside.

To ensure that consumers appreciated the irony in the name, and to ensure Ugly still felt approachable and friendly, we created a fun logotype and locked this us with the core product message: ‘unsweet water’, again stressing the positive difference between this and competitor offers. Because the brand is all about transparency we designed the logo to be white out of the watercolour background. To keep the design simple and impactful, we changed the colour of the watercolour background to communicate the different flavours across the range.

Hugh Thomas says, “Ugly hasn’t been dressed up to look sweet, pretty and innocent. Refreshingly, it’s just spring water with a splash of delicious flavour. If you don’t love us, that’s fine, but hopefully you love what we are trying to do.”

Michael Nash, Identica’s Associate Creative Director says, “It’s exciting for a brand to be so resolute. Joe and Hugh ooze passion for what they do and the category they are in. It was obvious, we had to create a brand that captured this enthusiasm and the uniqueness of their product. In turn this boldness will give them standout and springboard them above the competition.”