---
title: "New edition research for a spirits brand | antedote"
description: "Concept research for a spirits brand: how to bring a series of new editions to its core product, in two markets in two regions."
url: "https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/new-editions-of-a-core-spirit/"
author: "antedote"
---

# Bringing new editions to a core spirit without unsettling its drinkers

The more drinkers love the original, the more carefully its new editions have to be introduced. A spirits brand asked us to refine and evaluate its new series with drinkers, one market at a time, in two regions.

**Client**
Spirits company

**Industry**
Spirits

**Markets**
Two markets in two regions

**Kind of work**
Innovation and concept development

**Our role**
Refinement and evaluation of the series concept, with drinkers in two markets

## What happened next

The brand went ahead with the series, and two of the editions we researched later reached market.

## The question

The new series would build on the brand’s core product, the one its drinkers know best and would notice any change to.

The brand had already developed the idea and tested the concept. What it needed now was a way to bring drinkers into the series without unsettling the people who love the original, in more than one market.

## Our approach

We worked one market at a time, so each could be read on its own terms and the second could build on the first.

The first phase was collaborative. Drinkers saw a range of ways into the series, from close to the category’s familiar codes to furthest from convention, with the first edition and its pack beside the core product and a competitor. From what we heard, we rewrote the concepts and set out principles for presenting the range.

In a market in another region, we then evaluated the series idea, the candidate editions and their packs with drinkers of the brand and of its competitors, using the first phase’s principles as the reference point.

## What the team came away with

For the first market, the brand team had rewritten concepts for the series, a read on the first edition and its pack, and principles for presenting the range.

For the second, it had a report on the series idea, the candidate editions and their packs, with guidance on the packs.

Together, they gave the team one set of principles for presenting the series, with evidence from markets in two regions behind it.

Who we heard from

Drinkers of the brand and of its competitors, in online groups in two markets

## Related work

[View innovation and concept development case studies](https://antedote.com/explore-our-work/?work=Innovation%20and%20concept%20development#library)

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**What we do**
[Innovation](https://antedote.com/what-we-do/innovation/)

## Deciding where to grow, or what to develop?

Bring an ambition or an early idea, and we’ll talk through where to start.

[Talk to us](https://antedote.com/talk-to-us/) · [hello@antedote.com](mailto:hello@antedote.com)

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