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As specialty coffee continues to move beyond the café and into broader beverage culture, Kiss the Hippo's Organic Cold Brew offered an opportunity to explore a different visual territory.

Working from the brand's monthly Mont Blanc brief and the evolving art direction of the wider campaign, I developed a series of premium serves that positioned the cold brew as the foundation for a collection of alcohol-free cocktails and coffee-led drinks.

Alongside Kiss the Hippo's existing Mont Blanc serve, I created and photographed several additional recipes, including a Negroni-inspired alcohol-free cocktail, a chocolate and coffee stout interpretation, and a Velvet Sunrise with orange and vanilla notes.

The project covered concept development, drink ideation, recipe creation, styling, lighting and photography. In addition to the finished serves, I produced a series of pouring sequences, ingredient-led compositions and product-focused still life images designed to support the campaign across social, advertising and digital channels.

The visual direction builds on the warmer coffee, caramel and earthy tones introduced in Kiss the Hippo's recent advertising work, creating a premium drinks aesthetic while keeping the product at the centre of the story.

For the technical side, the campaign was photographed on a Nikon Z8 with NIKKOR S-Line lenses. Lighting was created primarily with Dedolight DLH4 fixtures, DP1.2 projection attachments and a small TechPro Flexi LED for additional fill and diffusion.

A small note of appreciation for the Dedolights: despite decades of industry change and constant advances in lighting technology, the DLH4s remain some of the most adaptable, lightweight and practical fixtures I've ever used.