LALA is a dairy brand well-known in Mexico, but largely unknown to American consumers. After LALA U.S. was established, the brand sought to formally introduce itself to general market and bicultural Hispanics with a fresh aesthetic and approach that reimagined “tradition” for a Millennial mindset.
As we worked to design a brand identity for LALA, we found ourselves attempting to balance a highly interconnected ecosystem of cultures, perceptions, and behaviors. We needed to marry the vibrancy of LatinX culture with general market accessibility. We needed to exercise contemporary cues that celebrated our “delicioso” heritage. We needed to connect with an on-the-go consumer who balances fun and function in their post-pandemic food and beverage choices.
The question became, “Where could all of these evolving trends, iconic equities, and emerging tailwinds thrive?” Only in a fantastical land home to LALA’s inimitable smoothies, drinkable desserts, crema, and yogurt. A place we call, LALALANDIA.
LALALANDIA was the brand platform where we could not only introduce ourselves to general market and bicultural Hispanics, but it also served as the source of our brand’s lifestyle lexicon, our joyful point of view, and a point of departure as well as a content hub to inspire and welcome like-minded followers.
The primary objectives for the LALA’s brand identity launch included delivering an emotional connection between individuality and discovery, celebrating the rich heritage and vibrant spirit of modern Mexican flavors, and growing our Instagram presence (and engagement) as a demonstrable barometer of success.
Steeped in rich Mexican heritage with an authentic tapestry of familia y tradición dating back to 1949, our design approach to LALA’s brand identity wasn’t to replicate or reinterpret Mexican iconography for an American consumer. Instead, we choose to extract the passion, the excitement, the energy.
The Bold & The Beautiful
Our palette was vibrant and saturated – purposefully colorful to stand out in social media feeds. The brand’s colors were symbolic to our roots and paired with of-the-moment accents. Using our scroll-stopping palette as inspiration, we created bold product and lifestyle tableaus through a combination of sweeps, props and colored surfaces to transport people to the beautiful world of LALALANDIA where they could discover more.
Who Said That “Life Imitates Art?”
Oscar Wilde believed that our perception of life is shaped by the art we’ve seen (which may be true) but our team’s approach to the art direction for LALA was greatly influenced by active LatinX women who savor the moment and relish creating memories. From a joyful sip or a decadent spoonful, whether it's on the go or on the table, our brand’s muse is none other than a real, modern woman who embodies LALA’s lively spirit.
Sharing Is Caring
We understood that our brand’s muse is busy and short on time, which is why we wanted to introduce LALA with content and stories about recipes and shareable ideas that were worth saving on Instagram. Saving inspiration for later is second-nature for our consumers so we developed fresh and fun video and animated content that not only stopped the scroll, but also were worth the save to come back to and enjoy again.
LALALANDIA was a social-first brand identity that built the LALA brand’s presence in the U.S. market, and satisfied what our consumers were craving.
Our engaging Instagram video content maximized awareness and resulted in a 503% increase in organic Instagram video views compared to the previous year. Our program also increased our audience by 7%.
In measuring engagement, we looked beyond likes and honed in on saves (considered to be super engagements) as this metric not only indicates the value users place on our brand content, but it also drives views within Instagram's algorithm.
We increased our Instagram saves by 64% YoY with our delicious twists on authentic recipes that proved LALA was the vibrant brand that general market and bicultural Hispanic consumers couldn’t get enough of.
