OVERVIEW
Coco Cubano was an established Cuban restaurant chain in Australia. Its identity leaned heavily into the political and historical side of Cuba, using revolution-era photography, black-and-white imagery and references that felt more documentary than hospitality.
The story was authentic, but it was not the reason most people walked into the restaurant. Customers were coming for food, drinks, music, color and atmosphere. The brand needed to feel more connected to that experience.
The brief was to refresh the identity without losing its Cuban character. The goal was to shift the brand from history to hospitality, making it feel warmer, more vibrant and more relevant to Australian audiences.
CHALLENGE
Building a brand around a culture requires careful judgment.
Cuba has a rich and complex identity, and not every part of that story is right for a restaurant brand. Leaning too heavily into politics made the experience feel serious and potentially divisive. But removing the cultural references completely would have made the brand generic.
The challenge was to choose a more inviting version of Cuba: one rooted in color, music, warmth, food and social energy.
It was not about simplifying the culture. It was about choosing the most relevant story for the customer experience.
APPROACH
We repositioned the brand around the idea of "Endless Summer with a Cuban Twist."
That gave the refresh a clear creative direction. The brand could keep its Cuban spirit, but move away from revolutionary imagery and toward a more optimistic, social and experiential expression.
The new visual system introduced bold pop-art collage, tropical illustration, bright color and playful compositions. Parrots, palm trees, music-inspired graphics and saturated palettes replaced the heavier documentary feel of the previous identity.
The system was applied across menus, posters, packaging, social media, in-restaurant materials and promotional campaigns. The goal was to make the brand immediately recognizable and emotionally clear: Coco Cubano was a place for a good night out, not a history lesson.
The work was intentionally bold. In a busy hospitality environment, the brand needed to be impossible to miss and easy to understand.
IMPACT
The refreshed identity rolled out across Coco Cubano's Australian locations and gave the brand a more contemporary, accessible and commercially relevant presence.
By shifting the story from political history to hospitality, the brand became more aligned with the experience customers were actually seeking. It also gave the business a more flexible system for campaigns, seasonal promotions and social content.
Nearly a decade later, the core identity remains in use, which is one of the strongest signs that the refresh found the right balance.
This project reinforced an important lesson: when a brand is built around culture, restraint matters as much as expression. The work is not to show everything. It is to choose the right story and commit to it fully.
