Featured image for Hardpops Destined To Be The Shiniest Treat At Pool Parties This Summer

Hardpops Destined To Be The Shiniest Treat At Pool Parties This Summer

by Rudy Sanchez on 05/10/2022 | 2 Minute Read

For most adults, it’s been years since they tore into a brightly-colored ice pop. Sweet, refreshing, and tongue-painting, these frozen delights were a summer staple.

Ice pops tend to get left behind as we “grow up,” unfortunately—our tastes change as we get older, and we start to care about pesky things like artificial ingredients and sugar. Hardpops founders, Sheereen Price and Gabrielle Mustapich, recalling those youthful treats, decided to create an adult version of delightful ice pops spiked with neutral-tasting orange wine and made with all-natural ingredients but toned down in sweetness.

Editorial photograph

Price and Mustapich have been hands-on in all aspects of the boozy Hard Pops, including branding and packaging, designed by co-founder Gabrielle. The bootstrapped effort shines, literally, with big bright swaths of colors, inspired by the mojito and yuzu mango flavors. Layers of complementary colors dominate, with a playful wordmark that uses approachable typography. Small, simple graphics communicate the flavor and stand out in contrast to the color-forward outer packaging. Inside, pouches double down on the vibrant presentation with an added shimmer. Copy throughout gets presented in a relaxed tone, including a friendly reminder on one end of the pouches that says, “Hey, this is for grown-ups only.”

Editorial photograph
Editorial photograph

Hardpops’ identity matches the refreshing effect of an ice pop, remastered for an adult consumer. Similarly, the branding and packaging express that youthful elation with grown-up sophistication. There’s an obvious exuberance in Hardpops’ presentation that immediately hits the nostalgia chord. But the mature-yet-fun visual identity is also reminiscent of the contemporary flavors and alcohol content of Hardpops, leaving little ambiguity that this is a kids’ treat.

Hardpops are available in 8-packs, 24-count party packs, and an “ultimate” 96-pack, packaged in a gold-colored outer box, for when you just got to have plenty of boozy ice pops at the ready, for the most special of occasions.


Images courtesy of Hardpops.