How one beverage founder transformed her marketing with a simple tool
Save time, cut costs, and launch your products with confidence.
Bringing a new beverage to market is a massive effort. For fast-growing brands, the excitement of a launch often comes with pressure to create top-quality visuals across every channel:website, retail, distributors, and social media. Traditional photoshoots, however, can drain time and budget. What if you could generate every image you need, fully branded and ready to deploy, before production even wraps?
That was the challenge facing Maya, the founder of a fast-scaling beverage brand based in California. With multiple new SKUs ready to debut, she felt buried under the cost and coordination of photoshoots. Then she found a tool that changed everything.
Maya’s story shows how fast-growing beverage brands can gain complete control over visual marketing, reduce production costs, and launch faster. By using the Outshinery Plan Calculator, she built a clear, actionable roadmap for an entire year of marketing visuals.
The overwhelm of traditional product photography
Like many beverage founders, Maya wears every hat: from production to branding to retail strategy. As her brand prepared to launch three new products: a sparkling water, a low-ABV spritz, and an energy drink. She knew high-quality visuals were essential to stand out on crowded shelves and screens.
But the old way of doing things presented major hurdles:
High costs: Professional photoshoots require photographers, stylists, and studio space, often adding up to thousands.
Time delays: Scheduling and executing shoots can take weeks or months. That’s time fast-growing brands can’t afford.
Production dependencies: Traditional photography requires finished bottles or cans, creating a bottleneck that delays marketing until physical products exist.
Maya needed a faster, smarter, more scalable solution. She found it when she clicked “Find Your Plan” on Outshinery’s website.
The Outshinery calculator: your personalized beverage visual planner
The Outshinery calculator greeted Maya with a simple promise: to match her with the perfect plan after just a few quick questions. What began as overwhelm quickly turned into clarity and control. Here’s how she did it.
Step 1: Define your product lineup
The first question: “How many products are you launching or managing each year?”
Maya entered her three new beverages. The tool then asked if she needed back-can or back-label images. Thinking about e-commerce listings and distributor needs, she selected “Yes.” Instantly, her plan included front and back Product Shots, ready for online retail, marketplace listings, and sales decks.
Step 2: Plan for future updates
Product packaging is constantly evolving: vineyards and appellations shift, alcohol percentages vary, and rosé shades differ year over year. The calculator reminded Maya to factor in these updates.
The good news is that with Outshinery Studio, changes to liquid color, vintages, and alcohol percentages are complimentary. Even minor adjustments, such as vineyards, appellations, or closures, are offered at half the cost. Maintaining up-to-date product visuals has never been simpler.
Product packaging is constantly evolving: vineyards and appellations shift, alcohol percentages vary, and rosé shades differ year over year. The calculator reminded Maya to factor in these updates. The good news is that with Outshinery Studio, changes to liquid color, vintages, and alcohol percentages are complimentary. Even minor adjustments, such as vineyards, appellations, or closures, are offered at half the cost. Maintaining up-to-date product visuals has never been simpler.
Step 3: Unlock creative visual possibilities
This is where the real magic happened. Maya moved beyond standard product renders and explored visuals that tell a story. The calculator offered creative options such as:
Lifestyle Images: Products featured in dynamic, aspirational scenes, ideal for ads, social media, and influencer campaigns.
Portfolio Images: Clean, cohesive arrangements for websites, sell sheets, and retail catalogs.
Beauty Shots: Close-ups showcasing label design, texture, or can finishes.
Product Videos: Short looping clips that bring beverages to life in motion.
For her launch, Maya chose five Lifestyle Images for social and email marketing, two Beauty Shots for trade presentations, and one Product Video for her brand’s homepage.
Step 4: Visualize beyond the product
Modern beverage marketing extends far past the bottle or can. The calculator also asked about packaging and point-of-sale (POS) visuals. Maya realized she’d need imagery for an upcoming multipack box and a retail floor display for a national demo tour. She easily added both to her plan.
With Outshinery, you can create visuals for packaging and displays long before they exist physically, perfect for pre-selling, retail pitching, or seasonal campaigns.
Your customized plan and transparent pricing
After finalizing her selections, Maya entered her brand name and email. In seconds, the calculator generated a personalized plan:
- 6 Product Shots (front and back for 3 SKUs)
- 5 Lifestyle Images
- 2 Beauty Shots
- 1 Product Video
- 2 Packaging & POS Images
Total: She will need 30 Shine Credits to complete everything. From here, she has two options based on her budget and immediate needs:
1. She can opt for a monthly plan of 2 Shine Credits, allowing her to steadily accumulate credits in her account. This works well if her need for imagery is spread out over the year. She can also purchase additional top-ups as needed to cover any extra requirements.
2. Alternatively, she can choose a yearly subscription of 25 Shine Credits upfront. This option offers better pricing and enables her to access more imagery right away, without waiting for credits to accumulate. Top-ups can still be purchased if necessary, and at the end of the year, she’ll have the chance to reassess her visual needs before renewing, ensuring she can adjust her plan by upgrading or downgrading accordingly.
Maya decided to go with the monthly subscription, transforming what was once a logistical headache into a seamless, scalable, and cost-effective content solution.
The Outshinery advantage: clarity, control, and confidence
Maya’s experience highlights how the Outshinery Plan Calculator empowers fast-growing beverage brands.
- Clarity: Turns vague goals like “we need more visuals” into a concrete, step-by-step marketing plan.
- Control: Transparent pricing and asset tracking make budgeting simple, no surprises.
- Flexibility: Quickly update visuals when packaging evolves or flavors rotate.
- Confidence: Launch with the assurance that every visual will look premium, professional, and consistent across all channels.
By the time her new line hit store shelves, Maya’s visuals were already live across retail platforms, social feeds, and investor presentations. The result? A cohesive, elevated brand image that made her products stand out from day one.
Ready to find your perfect plan? Take control of your visual marketing today and see how easy it can be to make your beverage brand shine.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Outshinery Plan Calculator?
It’s a free online tool that helps beverage brands create a personalized roadmap for all their visual marketing needs. By answering a few quick questions about your products and campaigns, you’ll receive a detailed plan with transparent pricing.
How is this different from a traditional photoshoot?
Photoshoots require finished products, scheduling, and large budgets. Outshinery delivers photorealistic, on-brand visuals before your packaging is even produced, saving time, money, and stress.
Can I update visuals when packaging changes or new flavors launch?
Yes. You can easily refresh visuals for new flavors, packaging, or formulations without redoing the entire shoot. It’s fast, affordable, and ensures consistency.
What types of visuals can I create with Outshinery?
In addition to Product Shots, you can add Lifestyle Images, Portfolio Images, Beauty Shots, Product Videos, packaging renders, and POS visuals. The calculator helps you choose what fits your goals.
Do I need a subscription to use Outshinery?
No. You can buy visuals à la carte using Shine Credits, but many beverage brands prefer a subscription for the cost savings, rollover flexibility, and year-round creative support.
What if I need a large volume of visuals immediately?
This is a common situation that our calculator is designed to address. Whether you require a rapid influx of visual content, perhaps due to a recent rebranding or the launch of a new direct-to-consumer website, or if your needs will grow more gradually each month, your response will guide the results. Based on this, the calculator will recommend either a yearly or monthly plan that best aligns with your specific requirements.
Is this just for wine brands?
Not at all. Outshinery works with beverage companies across categories: spirits, beer, cider, RTDs, non-alcoholic drinks, and beyond.
