Juan Neira
Transform a small, locally-loved charcoal burger restaurant in a quaint town in Guanajuato, Mexico, with monthly sales ranging from $3,000-$6,000 USD, into a professionally branded and marketed establishment.
Client:
A&V Burgers Al Carbón
My Role:
Art Direction and Design Lead
Year:
2023
Service Provided:
Brand Strategy & Identity
The Problem
Despite having a Facebook page with 1,200 followers, the restaurant's online presence appears amateurish and lacks a clear marketing vision. The goal is to establish a strong foundation for a comprehensive marketing and branding strategy.
Must consider the unique target audience in this small town, which includes a significant population of Mexican-American residents who frequent the area during vacation periods. Additionally, the task needs to keep in mind the long-term vision of expanding the restaurant's reach to nearby cities within two years.
Process
I've adopted a user-centric approach, iterative design, and reliance on interviews with the restaurant owner, ensuring that the final brand identity solution met the audience's needs and preferences effectively.
We've conducted interviews with the owner to understand the audience's finances and preferences through research, giving us valuable insights.
Lots of sketching and quickly removing ideas that didn't meet the brief succesfully.
I created moodboards and stylescapes based on research insights, refining the designs with my main stakeholder feedback to improve the overall brand proposal.
Solution
I facilitated interviews with the main stakeholders to determine pillars and values. Consequently, this allowed me to create a logo and brand identity based on the strategy. I delivered a thorough 80-page guideline document for the brand to continue developing and supporting in Mexico.
Outcome
The client was pleased with the brand and deliverables. It was a 10-week project. We worked on buyer personas, mission, vision, brand positioning, and more. It was a comprehensive exercise that gave room to the creation of a consistent, fun and welcoming brand identity. Since its launch on September 15, its Facebook page has organically gained 200 followers, and engagement in posts has increased.
Customer Review
"Working with Juan was an absolute game changer, he understood perfectly our desires and most importantly our needs (even if it was for a bi-cultural target customer base), and he pulled all the ideas we had in mind (that even we didn't know how to express them), structured them down and gave us back an incredible work, I can't stop looking at the Brand Guidelines he wrote for us, every time that we're working in new creative marketing ideas we look back to the book. It is clear enough for me, that I have no marketing experience. it's helpful enough to new freelancers who would work with us in the future.
I can't recommend Juan enough.”
Alberto Trinidad, Owner, A&V Burgers Al Carbón