Entering the premium light beer market, Mexican cerveza brand Tecate partnered with agency Pearlfisher, along with partner agencies The Mill, Duotone Audio Group, and Nomades, to create the name and design while executing the branding, communication, and advertising for a new sub-brand for the beer maker. Tecate Alta is a light “cerveza suprema,” lower in calories but still made with premium ingredients, and an expansion in Tecate’s product range with the Mexican-American market in mind.
Alta, Spanish for above or tall, also creates word associations with “alternative” or “altitude” in English. Alta could also allude to Alta, California, a Spanish colonial province that went back to Mexico after the Mexican War of Independence. The territory consisted of present-day California, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, another nod to the new beer’s focus on the Mexican-American consumer.
The packaging finds inspiration in Tecate’s Baja roots, with woven tapestry-like metal accents on Alta’s white can that includes nods to wheat and local flora and fauna. The Cuchumá mountain, a sacred peak for the Kumeyaay indigenous people of the area, also features prominently in the visual identity. As it so happens, the mountain, also known as the Tecate Peak, is a half-mile north of the Mexico-USA border, also making it Mexican-American.
“Tecate Alta is about embracing 200 percent of your identity,” said Belen Pamukoff, brand director at Tecate, via press release. “A premium light beer doesn’t mean scaling back. In the same way that being Mexican-American brings with it a duality and richness in combining cultures, the lightness of Tecate Alta and the specialness of its ingredients make way for more pairings and occasions.”
