Lipton Ice Tea: Sunshine Bottled

YEAR 2023

CLIENT Pepsi Lipton

AGENCY Design Bridge and Partners

MY ROLE  LookDev, Animatics, Animation, Rendering

DURATION 1 Week

TOOLS Cinema 4D, After Effects

CREATIVE DIRECTION
Alessandro Foschini 

BRAND DESIGN James Cooney

CAD Ed Mitchell

TEXTURE & UV Rodrigo Ortega

3D ANIMATION Gan Lin

 

New Bottle, New Label Following a global redesign by Design Bridge London, Lipton overhauled its packaging to modernize the brand’s iconic spirit for a millennial audience. The goal was to ditch the dated visuals—the brand’s first major update in over a decade——and stay true to its core: sun-kissed tea and fruit. The project introduced a new, ergonomic bottle shape and a “shoulder-high” label designed to create a literal sense of uplift on the shelf.

Collaborating from New York with the London team, I served as the sole 3D animator delivering five 3D shots for a 21-second mini-film based on a “napkin sketch” storyboard blocked out over a lunch break, which the Motion Director then integrated into the final edit.

Capture the Sun To evoke the feeling of a hot summer afternoon, we utilized a palette of “Lipton Yellow” against a saturated sky-blue background; every frame in this continuous sequence exudes a radiant, zesty, and thirst-quenching energy. Each scene was connected by the Circle Motif—the sun at the core of the brand. It acts as a symbol of optimism and the shared warmth that brings people together.

21 Seconds, 12 Transitions, 1 Continuous Motif Since the CAD models with updated labels were already created before I joined the project, my focus was entirely on animation, lookdev, animatics, and rendering.

• The Composite Sequence: The film integrates stock footage, 2D motion graphics, and 3D scenes via 12 hard cuts. I iterated several animatics in After Effects to make sure the end frame of each shot aligned with the start frame of the next across all visual mediums.
• More Sunshine: I created a consistent 3D environment and lighting to mimic a hot summer afternoon, purposefully setting it to cast sun-kissed reflections & visible glares on the bottles and cans, maintaining a unified vibe with the stock footage.
• Transatlantic Collaboration: To bridge the gap between New York and London, I maintained a tight feedback loop with the Creative Director. Having worked with the team on several previous projects, I was able to intuitively engineer 3D scenes that aligned with their vision, providing the kinetic energy required for a social-first launch.

A Flood of Extra Sunshine The final edit served as a high-energy “mood film” that defined the brand’s new motion language on Instagram.

• Depth in Simplicity: By leaning into the circle as an invisible framing device, we created something with more depth than a traditional commercial–those with a keen eye will catch and appreciate what they see.
• On the Horizon: The project was loved by the client for its ability to “simplify to amplify,” setting a new standard for how the brand’s iconic geometry could be used as a primary storytelling device in future motion content.