Celebrating the World’s Largest Rakı Distillery
Expertise
Brand Positioning and Proposition
Branded Experience and Interior Design
Launch and Awareness Strategy
Construction
150 YRS
Showcasing Heritage
Distinguished Design Winner
2011
A Longstanding Partnership
Create a unique memorable experience that brings the rich story behind Raki to life.
Mey needed a fresh approach to inspire innovation and create trust and assurance in the brand quality. With a long history and strong cultural roots we need to express everything that Raki and the process represents in a modern and engaging way.
An immersive sensory journey to demonstrate the innovation and complexity of production.
Innovation Meets Tradition
We implemented a wholistic design approach to create a tasting area for craft Rakı. This was expanded to other areas of the factory, resulting in an overall transformation of the facility with an updated design language, an industrial look & feel, a brand story, and strong digital design components throughout the visitor journey.
Journey of the Grape and Anise
The design components embedded into the overall production journey of Rakı are aimed to reflect the function of each segment within the factory. Visitors are immersed in a sensory tour through the various production areas, arriving at the "Journey of the Grape and Anise" where they can smell the main ingredients and view the complete production process. The variety of the final product is showcased on the "Brand Wall" where each different brand of Rakı ever produced by Mey Diageo can be viewed.
Where Tradition Meets Exploration
In this innovation area visitors can read the production details and chemical formulas on the walls covered in tiles. Plywood wall coverings contrast the clean tiles and are decorated with drawings of the grape producing regions and the plant itself. This contrast tells the story of the natural ingredient and its transformation in the lab.
Paying Homage to the Masters
The “hall of masters” is an homage to the people whose work made Rakı the favourite drink it is today. Responding to the client’s request to create a locker space for storing personal belongings while entering the production areas, we created space that tells the story of the past evoking excitement for viewing the present.
Working around the 4C’s i.e. communicate, connect, contribute and create; the journey leads to an empathic brand connection by allowing the visitor to learn and co-create.
The Tasting Wheel
The tour ends, leaving time for many instagrammable spots along the way, with a favourite feature of allowing guests to taste the product generating deep understanding of the drink in line with the detailed effort and wisdom integrated in the process of bringing it from vine to table. Called the “Tasting Wheel” visitors are able to learn about the flavor profile of different types of Rakı with information reflected through video mapping on to the table.
