Horchata Liqueur. La Tradición Aguas Frescas Revisited.
Back in September, we featured La Tradición and their newly introduced product, Liqueur de Horchata. The Horchata Liqueur had just debuted at Comida Latina in Los Angeles and received rave reviews. Fast-forward seven months, it’s now April 2008 and La Tradición is an award-winning liqueur that is gaining popularity and getting stronger by the day. 

As La Tradición moves forward and the Liqueur de Horchata continues to show up to more phenomenal reviews (See the accompanying review of Horchata's win at San Francisco World Spirits), I want to revisit this project and feature the campaign we’ve been working on.

In September we discussed that Horchata; a vanilla and cinnamon tasting rice drink (think of it as a rice pudding beverage), is a drink familiar to most Hispanics as well as much of the general market in the western United States. This familiar white/tan beverage can be found in restaurants, mercados and Hispanic delis, alongside additional flavors including tamarindo, jamaica and piña. These products have great crossover appeal for both the Hispanic and general markets. Armed with this knowledge and a splash of rum, the Liqueur de Horchata was destined to be a hit and it is. All it needed was a little personality, and that’s where we came in.

What did we do?
First, we had to get this product out there for sampling. It needed a name; we developed the name for the company, La Tradición Aguas Frescas. Then we figured the product could use a little history to go along with the time-honored traditions of Horchata, so we created a story for the liqueur (which included a romanticized geography lesson), and designed the product packaging with a festive and traditional appeal.

La Tradición, is a company based on the traditions of family, friends and celebrations. To maintain this idea the presentation of the product needed to be recognizable to aguas frescas consumers everywhere. To convey this message we decided on a bottle style that would relate to the traditional aguas frescas appeal as a well as provide a unique new brand to the liqueur industry. The chosen bottle’s inspired shape comes from the traditional frascos (large ribbed glass jars) that these beverages are served from, allowing for a festive, yet meaningful design.

Next on the agenda was creating point of sale items (Case Cards, Floor Graphics and Hang Tags) at the retail level to show bilingual consumers that what La Tradición has created is the perfect partner to traditional aquas frescas. B2B Materials (Sell Sheets, Coasters, Table Tents, Retail Posters, etc.) aimed at both distributors and store buyers needed to convey that La Tradición is an exciting new blend of tradition with a splash of rum that will liven up any get together and that La Tradición gives their customers another reason to celebrate.

“Since the introduction of Liqueur de Horchata, the excitement and response has been phenomenal! It’s exciting to be able to actually develop a new category in this industry, which in many cases tends to be awash in sameness,” said Kent Boies, La Tradicion Brand Manager. “The fact that we have introduced something completely new into the market that appeals to both retailers and consumers is exciting, especially with the cross over opportunities (Hispanic and General Market) that this product has, is truly indicative of a demographic (and taste) change.”

What’s new and next for La Tradición? La Tradición is adding three new flavors of aguas frescas to the family, Tamarindo (tamarind), Piña y Coco (pineapple & coconut), and Jamaica (hibiscus). These are the same familiar flavors aguas frescas fans have loved for generations, now with a little fun and rum.

If you’ve never had an agua fresca to wash down your carne y frijoles, you’ve no idea what you’re missing. These flavors are staples at Mexican restaurants, stores, delis and dinner tables, the La Tradición rum based liqueurs carry the same memories as the traditional aguas frescas do, but now bring a little more fun to the party.

The Liqueur de Horchata is on grocery shelves now (select cities), go get some and get a smile on your face, and keep an eye out for the other flavors coming soon. ¡Disfrute!