Description:

A Brand Built on “Brutal Honesty” (and Broken Budgets)
Departed Spirits had too much high-quality vodka and not cashflow. Let’s face it, mezcal was having a moment and vodka wasn’t invited. Sales were slowing, a recession was looming, and two years into building a challenger brand, the budget was cooked but the ambition wasn’t. So, we did what any self-aware, semi-broke brand would do; we got brutally honest. Cashflow Vodka was born from lean times and a refusal to fake it, turning financial stress into design opportunity.

The strategy was simple. Stay in business. The idea was “brutal honesty”. In a category full of frosted glass and fake stories, we kept it real. Cashflow Vodka was made from surplus stock, no budget, and a team running on fumes. We didn’t hide it, we owned it. The story was the struggle. Because good product doesn’t need a big budget, just the boldness to say it how it is.

There was no time. It needed to be designed yesterday. The off-the-shelf brown bottle, intentionally wrong for vodka, became the perfect middle finger to the category’s sterile, frosted-glass sameness. The label featured brutalist type, inspired by a receipt. Deadpan copy. A name that says it all without trying. No gold foil. No fake heritage. Just a design that wears its honesty like a badge.

This wasn’t low budget. It was anti budget. In a world obsessed with craft and overdesign, Cashflow stood out by being proudly undercooked. It flipped the script, using lo-fi as a weapon, not a weakness. The tone was cynical. The execution, fast. But the result was clear; bold shelf presence, cultural cut-through, and a reminder that authenticity is refreshing.

Launched with no marketing spend and a broken wallet, Cashflow Vodka sold through quickly. It became a talking point and a proof point that a great idea, delivered without pretense, can still make noise. It bought the brand time, relevance, and a few extra months of rent.