Nihilo takes on the rum category with their own premium brand, Esther

Rum carries baggage. Pirates, tropical imagery, vintage nostalgia – the category has been drowning in clichés while waiting for a breakout brand to elevate it the way Patrón transformed tequila or Hendrick’s revolutionised gin. Step in Esther, a premium Colombian rum brand designed to rewrite the rules of how rum looks, feels and connects with culture – created and crafted by creative agency Nihilo. Founded by creative directors Emunah Winer and Margarett Kerr-Jarrett, the Columbus-based team brings their experience from branding and co-founding Casa Malka tequila to solve a new challenge. “Most people don’t think they like rum; rum doesn’t hold cultural relevance yet in the way tequila or gin does,” explains Winer. “Esther is the brand that will change that. Esther is the rum that will rebrand rum.” The visual identity revolves around concepts of reflection, optical illusion and things being upside down – embodied perfectly in the brand’s primary logo. The roaring lion icon doubles as an optical illusion, revealing two faces looking outwards when turned upside down. “It’s weird, it’s confusing, and bizarrely masculine for a name like Esther,” Kerr-Jarrett notes. “That is the point. There is duality in everything, and nothing is only one thing.”