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Nº 06 Hookah & Lifestyle 2021

Shisha Stories

Brand programming and product photography for a Delhi-based shisha and lifestyle label — hero blends, packaging-led social tiles and a studio shoot that fed the catalog.

Role

Account Lead, Brand Programming, Product Photography

Year

2021

Location

Delhi, IN

Timeline

Ongoing

Shisha Stories — brand mark on a navy patterned ground.
Hookah & Lifestyle · Hero Shisha Stories
§ 01 · Challenge

The brief.

Shisha Stories is a Delhi shisha label with a catering arm that runs at corporate events as much as at retail. The brief was a comprehensive rebrand built to lift the label from generic-shisha shelf into a premium, considered choice — both for individual buyers and for event procurement.

Shisha is a category where almost every label looks the same on a shelf. The marketing job was to make Shisha Stories visibly different in the time it takes a buyer to scan a shop, and to give event procurement a credible reason to choose this brand for their floor.

Shisha Stories — Summer Dreams jar with hookah on the studio set.
Studio · Hero Shisha Stories
Shisha Stories — Summer Dreams blend on a gold drape.
Exclusive Blend Shisha Stories
Shisha Stories — Candy Dandy blend on a cream stage.
Exclusive Blend Shisha Stories
Shisha Stories — Summer Dreams on ice with cherries and leaves.
Lifestyle Shisha Stories
Shisha Stories — Exclusive Blends launch banner.
Campaign Shisha Stories
§ 02 · Approach

The work.

We led with the packaging — moving the line off generic paper and plastic and onto elegant glass jars, with intricate label work that pulled from the cultural and social register of shisha rather than the genre's neon. The jar itself became the brand's first ad, sitting differently on a shelf and on a coffee table from anything else in the category.

We led with packaging over social or paid because a category where every label looks the same on a shelf gets won at the shelf, not in the feed — the jar would do the marketing the post couldn't. A studio product shoot built the photo library that ran the digital channels — every blend got its own hero shot on a colored stage, and the calendar moved between exclusive-blend launches like "Summer Dreams" and "Candy Dandy" and the always-on flavor catalog. Account work covered packaging direction, photoshoot conceptualization, the social calendar and the corporate-events pitch deck that took the brand into procurement conversations.

Shisha Stories — Exclusive Blends menu story creative.
Menu Shisha Stories
Shisha Stories — gift box and blend jars on the studio set.
Studio Shisha Stories
Shisha Stories — hookah and blends on the studio set.
Studio Shisha Stories
Shisha Stories — Stay Home campaign social creative.
Social Shisha Stories
§ 03 · Outcome
“I moved the line off generic paper-and-plastic onto elegant glass jars with intricate label work, betting the rebrand would land on the shelf before it landed in the feed — and the jar became the brand's first ad in retail and on the coffee table. The packaging refresh shifted shelf presence from generic to recognized across multiple seasons, the studio photo library carried the social calendar without re-shoots through roughly 3–4 quarters, and Shisha Stories became a top selection for both retail and corporate event catering across Delhi. ”
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