If the blend of Brazil and Mexico were a drink, it would be Quetzalli. Meet Mari and the challenges she faced in uniting the elements that make up the brand:
For the co-founder, drinking is a social experience. Experienced in marketing, branding , and communications, Mariana Migliano believed in the idea of bringing quality tequila to Brazil without knowing what it would be like. She was aware of the bureaucratic issues, but had never been involved in the product creation and import processes before. In other words, it was through practical experience that she learned to question, research, plan, and create a spirits brand that stood out from the norm. From the prototype to the suppliers, her involvement in Quetzalli spans every aspect. During its creation, it was through her love of blending culture and branding that she experienced market experiences.
Why tequila?
According to Mari, the choice of tequila as the base for the drink was made precisely because it has a very mixed identity in the Brazilian imagination. " People think tequila is premium, but there's also the issue of having a very bad relationship with it, right? Everyone has had a trauma in college, and they can't even smell tequila anymore... And we really wanted to change people's relationship with the drink ."
She herself always had a somewhat mixed relationship with the drink, before becoming directly involved in the story. " I worked with brand activations for several companies, one of which was a tequila brand. Ken accompanied me to several events , and we were shocked. People hated the experience, and we thought, 'There's no way you can't have a positive experience.' And then we realized that the real problem was the quality of the product, right? There are some very bad tequilas in Brazil. And we came up with the idea of making a drink with tequila, a more palatable version that would surprise people. From there, we started thinking about the details of the experience. "
The challenges in creating Quetzalli
“ Neither he nor I had any experience in the alcoholic beverage sector, and I think that's why we agreed to do it, because it's a very complex market in Brazil and if we had been aware of the scale of the challenges we would face, I think we would have given up before we started. ”
The bureaucracy involves everything from taxes and international agreements to logistics and transportation and storage costs. " So, we struggled a lot to get things done correctly, learning along the way, but I think in the end, it was super positive ." Especially because, in her experience, there's a whole separate world in tequila production and marketing : " The whole process is taken very seriously. There's a tequila regulatory body in Mexico that controls and truly oversees, supervises all tequila production and consumption worldwide, and we are the first Brazilian company certified by the CRT (the Brazilian tequila regulatory body) to bring tequila to Brazil in bulk. Because, obviously, there's no way to produce tequila here; we had to import it. And in our case, it was extremely bureaucratic."
There are other tequila brands already here, but it's always the final product. And in our case, it's really cool because it's something innovative. We bring it as raw material to make our product here. And this process was very difficult, very bureaucratic, because we're talking about two countries with intense bureaucracy, right?
Another point she points out is that some products sold on shelves in Brazil aren't regulated tequilas: " You find very cheap products that try to deceive consumers. They're agave aperitifs, but people think they're Brazilian tequila. And Brazilian tequila simply doesn't exist! It's cowardly of the market to let buyers think that. And the Mexican tequilas available in Brazil are very expensive and not necessarily of good quality. To drink good tequila in Brazil, you have to spend a lot of money, and sometimes you won't even get something of real quality. Our dream is to change this, educate consumers, and give them access to what's worth consuming. "
The know-how of a different team
“ Ken was already an entrepreneur, so in terms of entrepreneurship, he had his experience, which I didn't have, but I brought all my experience in branding and events that we focused on in the beginning, which was what I knew how to do. ”
And this union of cultures and skills was what made the barrier easier to break, even in the face of difficulties: " So we combined our skills and set out to explore this market where we had no idea how it worked. Today, obviously, we've acquired a lot of knowledge, but I still think it's a very complex market. With so many peculiarities, it's very difficult to be successful, but I think we're on the right track. We've managed to create a unique product that will shatter preconceived notions of tequila and ready-to-drink beverages in Brazil."
Cultural mix between Brazil and Mexico
Part of the process involved going straight to the source and consulting Mexicans about tequila. " We started traveling to Mexico looking for suppliers and other sources. We even enlisted the help of a certified tequila expert, who helped us schedule meetings and find the right tequila for our product. It was on these trips that we discovered how incredible and rich Mexican culture is. We saw a great opportunity to bring together two wonderful cultures ."
" Mexican culture is simply incredible. As we discovered it, we fell in love with it. Here in Brazil, we lack our own indigenous culture; we've lost a lot, but in Mexico, much of it has been preserved. So, for us, it's really cool to have this mix of cultures, even as a way to celebrate Mexico's cultural heritage and encourage Brazil to do the same ."
Not that the Brazilian side doesn't speak louder: " We couldn't make this product without Brazil, right? If tequila is the soul of the product, passion fruit is its heart. And it's one of the factors that makes the product global, something the whole world can appreciate and see value in. And we also try to strongly value contemporary Brazilian culture, supporting the arts of our country as a whole. All of this within the essence and values of the Quetzalli brand: we talk about cinema, music, theater, and everything else. The cultural aspect gradually transformed and became the essence of the brand, something we became deeply passionate about ."
What caught her attention in this process was the affection that people have for Brazil in Mexico: “ we thought it was a perfect bridge. ”
And there's also a desire to reverse the logic of the beverage industry, which prioritizes high-cost imports as the standard. " Brazil produces incredible things, but people often think that what comes from abroad is more valuable. And that's not necessarily true! We really want to work with other products using 100% domestic raw materials. Brazilians don't see this, but Brazil is international ."
Mari's tip for consuming Quetzalli
Want to hear what co-founder Ken has to say about Quetzalli? Check out his interview here !
