Assignment #4: Kiai Sports Drink for Ninjas (concepts)

The current market for sports drinks focuses heavily on sports like baseball, basketball, hockey, football (or anything else where a TV network is making money) right down to the illustrations on labels. Not nearly as much promotional consideration is given to martial arts.

But that's not even the problem I intend to address.

Ninjas (yes Ninjas) need a way to energize and refresh like the rest of us. And a sports drink provides a quick burst of energy when it's needed, because food takes time to prepare (time that enemies could take advantage of while the ninja is distracted). It wouldn't be the primary focus of this project, but the finished product would need to include all natural ingredients to provide a natural burst (without the bust). There's nothing worse for a Ninja's health and well being than Caffeine crash. It won't kill them but their adversaries certainly will.

I've come up with a design concept that would both appeal to them AND the general population that takes part in any other martial art (so long as the market isn't exclusive to Ninjas, they don't need to worry about their supply being cut off, tampered with or poisoned). As for marketing, vending machines seem most accessible. The ninja only needs crawl in a window and across the ceiling to the machine.

(Note: Kiai Sports Drink for Ninjas is an entirely fictitious product, and the ninjas portrayed in all design rationale are parodied based on movies and cartoons)

As for the design, I took 'Kiai' from the Japanese language. I've been a karate student for more than 6 years now, and 'Kiai' is the term for the battlecry used when throwing punches, kicks, or general strikes. While variations of the cry have been used, the word 'Kiai' is most recognizable among students and teachers hen referring to it.

The logo is designed to resemble Japanese calligraphy, while spelling out the romanizaion of the word 'Kiai'.