ABOUT

CHALLENGE:
Post-Covid, Madrid's bar scene was cautiously reopening into a landscape where people were craving connection, spontaneity, and experiences — not just drinks. The standard cocktail bar format — fixed menu, passive service, transactional interaction — felt hollow for a generation of young professionals and students who expected participation, not consumption. The Salamanca district, despite its affluence and proximity to IE University, lacked a bar that combined fun, quality, genuine personality and playfulness. There was no place that made you feel like a protagonist rather than a customer. A place like your own backyard.

IDEA:
Turn the cocktail menu into a living, crowd-sourced document. At MM28, the bartender doesn't hand you a menu — they ask you three questions. Three ingredients you love. Three you can't stand. From those six answers, they build your jug, on the spot, right in front of you. If the creation lands — if it's good, balanced, and the crowd agrees — it earns your name, gets written on the menu board, and you drink free for as long as it stays there.

The format was the jug: generous, colourful, shareable, and designed to be photographed. The pitcher is not just a vessel — it is a social object, a table centrepiece, and the primary unit of the MM28 identity. No two jugs look the same. No two nights are the same.

The brand name itself is both address and identity: MM28 — María Molina, 28. The location becomes the logo. And the claim, The Jug House, says everything about what kind of place this is — with pride, without pretension.

Create your experience. Create your Jug.
You name your likes & dislikes
3 ingredients you love, 3 you hate — bartender's brief.

Bartender builds your jug
Live creation, no script, full colour — your flavour profile becomes a drink.

If it's great — it's yours
Your name on the board. Free drinks every time someone orders it.

Swings inside
Artificial grass
Beer pong tables
Video screens & music (DJ)
Full-colour jugs

MY CONTRIBUTION - CREATIVE DIRECTOR:
As Creative Director, I conceived MM28 experience from scratch — concept mechanics, brand identity, spatial experience, drinks menu design and the full communications strategy:
-Concept creation: I built the entire premise of The Jug House — the pitcher as the product format, the 3+3 mechanic as the interaction ritual, and the living menu board as the loyalty engine. The name MM28 was a deliberate choice to make the address iconic — not a venue name, but a landmark designation. Just like a New York deli or a Parisian café, the address becomes the identity.
-Brand identity & visual system: I directed the full visual language — the bold typographic system, the colour-saturated palette that extends across merchandise, signage, and the jugs themselves.
-Experience & spatial design: I expanded and dimensioned the physical personality of MM28 — swings as seating, artificial turf, cushion zones, beer pong tables, video walls with curated content and music. Every element was chosen to make the space feel like a playground for young professionals, not a conventional bar. The environment was designed to be photographed, shared, and returned to.
-Menu design & bar identity: I designed the full cocktail menu system — including the live board where crowd-sourced jugs are named and added in real time. The menu is not static; it evolves with the clientele. This was a fundamental design decision: the product updates itself through customer participation. This experience is what led to MM28 becoming a bar sponsored and powered by Red Bull.
-#AfterCurro campaign & digital strategy: I pushed the concept and digital campaign AfterCurro — a culturally loaded term in Spanish meaning the after-work moment — positioning MM28 as the ritual destination around the zone between the end of the workday and the night. The campaign targeted IE University students and young Salamanca professionals across Instagram and TikTok, using jug reveals, name-on-the-board moments, and night-at-MM28 content as organic growth drivers.

-Brand identity
Full visual system — logo, colour, type, merchandise, signage, uniforms.
-Space design
Interior concept direction — swings, turf, beer pong, screens, jug display.
-University outreach
IE University proximity strategy — flyers, ambassador programme, student deals.
-Menu system
Static menu plus live board — design system that evolves with the crowd.
-Merchandise
T-shirts, tote bags, coasters, jugs — wearable brand identity for regulars and IE students.
-Instagram
Jug reveals, name-on-board moments, crowd energy — high-colour, native content.
-TikTok
Bartender creation videos, 3+3 challenge format — organic reach via participation.