dayguard

Your new post–work, pre–drinks routine.

It’s 2024 and co-founders Gene and Felix, both students at Brown University, have just won the Brown Venture Prize for young entrepreneurs. The goal? To bring a popular South Korean pre-drink ritual to the U.S. Fast-forward to Summer ‘25 and Day Guard partnered with Sprint Department to speedrun the next chapter of their brand identity (in 10 days).

Problem

Already a social-first and platform native brand, Dayguard knows how to show up on the internet. Attention was not the problem. It was their visual and verbal positioning that needed recalibrating to match their long-term vision.

Improving America's Liver Health

Dayguard was founded during university. Whether true or not, drinking culture at universities is still widely perceived as ‘full send’. Easy for launch events, live on-cam reviews and free giveaways…harder to widen your TAM. Dayguard’s brand mission is also to improve the liver health of America (you wouldn’t see that printed on a t-shirt at a frat party). Not to mention, co-founder Gene is set to attend The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. There was a clear alignment problem to solve, and Gene and Felix were already in the trenches.

Market

Drinking culture is becoming more health conscious, and for good reason. But the $543b+ U.S. alcohol market is going nowhere (except up and to the right). So the 0% alcohol alternatives are not the whole story.

Dayguard knew they wanted to capture the young professionals and social butterflies of the digital economy, with more entrepreneurial spirit than you can shake a sachet at.

Visual

The visual identity needed to align with the values of their health conscious, entrepreneurial ICP. The look and feel of the brand, as well as the sachets and the box, had to feel at home in a NYC apartment, on the bar at a founders event or in your pocket at a run club social.

“They’re very intentional about how they show up. They don’t shy away from posting content about the impact of drinking alcohol. Their no bullsh*t approach cuts through the noise and is a good zag play against the 0% alcohol market share.”, said Josh, co-founder of Sprint Dept.

Platforming the science-backed research and carefully calibrated ingredients was essential across the design systems.

The hard pivot away from pink boxes and cut-out fruit resulted in a stripped back, confident and minimal aesthetic. Not only allowing Dayguard to attract their new demographic, but execute consistently while their team is small.

“The rebrand has been a hit and our customers, investors, and mentors all loved it. They went above and beyond. We are thrilled with the results and everyone we have shown the work to has been thoroughly impressed.”

Gene Oh Co-founder

Verbal

In South Korea, the pre-drink jelly sachets are often consumed as part of a toast before drinking a shot of the traditional drink Soju. In America, the entrepreneurial spirit and hustle culture often finishes just in time for happy hour.

“The main question we kept coming back to was —can you own a moment in time?”, said Tristan, co-founder of Sprint Dept.

And the idea of “post-work, pre-drinks” emerged. Imagine: you’ve just won a pitch and now you’re on your way to birthday drinks. You’ve just closed the laptop, and you’re on your way to the rooftop. Post-this, pre-that. After you’ve worked hard, before you have fun. That on-the-go moment, that was the real estate we knew Dayguard could dominate.

Final words

If you want to be sticky, adding a ritual to your product is a long-term play that will pay off. Dayguard didn’t just see a gap in the market, they saw a gap in the American routine.

For good nights and better days @takedayguard.