Dan Graves Creative Direction

Work Drinkworks (Anheuser-Busch InBev × Keurig)

Drinkworks Visual Concepts

Multiple concept directions for the pods and tube sleeves of the Drinkworks Home Bar. Divergent thinking before convergence, with the shipped product staying close to the chosen direction.

Client
Drinkworks (Anheuser-Busch InBev × Keurig)
Year
circa 2018–2021
Role
Executive consulting·Concept design
Sector
Beverage / appliance
Drinkworks Visual Concepts — hero image

The brief

Drinkworks was a collaboration between Anheuser-Busch InBev and Keurig: a push-button at-home cocktail machine with single-serve pods and tube sleeves, roughly 2018–2021. The hardware and the logo were already in place. What was missing was packaging that could carry the story across pods, tubes, in-store, and digital, on a very tight timeline.

The shape of this contribution was different from Viva or Our Cellar. This was concept and direction work: move at warp speed to create months worth of engaging concept work to senior management for validation, then hand off the finishing.

The work

Sole concept designer. Multiple directions for the pods and the tube sleeves, ranging deliberately wide so the client could see the full space rather than three flavors of the same idea.

  1. Photography. The platonic ideal of each cocktail, presented straight. The most direct, consumer-facing route.
  2. Ingredient photography. Close-ups of the lemon peel, the mint, the muddled cherry. Recipe-as-identity.
  3. Geometric dot system. A more graphic, almost packaging-design-school read.
  4. Modern abstract painting. Each cocktail as a small abstract canvas, different from anything else on the shelf.
The four tube sleeves, each carrying a styled hero shot of the drink: Old Fashioned over orange, Moscow Mule over copper, Mojito over green, Gin + Tonic over lime. The chosen direction.
Direction 1: photography route The four tube sleeves, each carrying a styled hero shot of the drink: Old Fashioned over orange, Moscow Mule over copper, Mojito over green, Gin + Tonic over lime. The chosen direction.
Bold outlined dots scaled by mood, color-coded by spirit. The most graphic of the five.
Direction 2: geometric dot system Bold outlined dots scaled by mood, color-coded by spirit. The most graphic of the five.
Lemon, ginger, mint, citrus peel. Each cocktail told through its key garnish. Recipe-led.
Direction 3: ingredient photography Lemon, ginger, mint, citrus peel. Each cocktail told through its key garnish. Recipe-led.
The same four cocktails as small painterly canvases: moody blue gin, fern-green rum, citrus-lime, fiery orange whiskey. My favorite of the five.
Direction 4: abstract painting route The same four cocktails as small painterly canvases: moody blue gin, fern-green rum, citrus-lime, fiery orange whiskey. My favorite of the five.

On the shelf

The chosen direction as a finished retail and digital ad: three full tube sleeves on a green/black band, "Delivery + cocktails at the push of a button."
Production-stage piece The chosen direction as a finished retail and digital ad: three full tube sleeves on a green/black band, "Delivery + cocktails at the push of a button."
Direct-mail and promo execution alongside a print spec sheet. The chosen direction landing in a one-to-one consumer touchpoint.
Direct-mail and promo execution alongside a print spec sheet. The chosen direction landing in a one-to-one consumer touchpoint.
A Father's Day promotional ad ("Get a $50 prepaid card") built from the same system. Proof that the concept extended across formats without losing itself.
A Father's Day promotional ad ("Get a $50 prepaid card") built from the same system. Proof that the concept extended across formats without losing itself.
The Drinkworks Home Bar machine itself, staged against a repeating can pattern with a finished cocktail in hand. "Make joy" as the closing line.
The Drinkworks Home Bar machine itself, staged against a repeating can pattern with a finished cocktail in hand. "Make joy" as the closing line.

What I’m proudest of

Several things, layered.

The breadth of the concepting: multiple directions, real ground covered, positive feedback across the spread. The speed: done on a very short timeline. And the fidelity to concept: the shipped product stayed close to a major presented direction, even through the handoff to the finishing designer.

One honest reflection: the client picked the most direct, most commercially safe option, which wasn’t my personal favorite. The abstract-painting route would have stood out harder on the shelf, but the photography route was the right call given what each side actually valued. A creative director’s job is to present real options.