The Topo Chico Discovery Tour with Julius Randle
Background: In fall 2024, Topo Chico challenged Zeno to boost brand awareness and consideration in New York City — one of the country’s most competitive sparkling water markets, where the brand lagged in conversion. The assignment: create a culturally resonant, hyperlocal activation that would position Topo Chico as a “hidden gem” and authentically engage its “Truth Seeker” audience.
Leveraging primary research revealing New Yorkers’ deep affinity for the Knicks, Nina helped ideate a hyperlocal activation rooted in cultural pride. The result: a partnership with NBA All-Star and longtime Topo Chico fan Julius Randle.
Just days before his headline-making trade to Minnesota, Randle joined Topo Chico to host the “Topo Chico Discovery Tour” — a curated bus tour of his favorite hidden gems in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood, blending culture, community and personal storytelling.
Execution: Nina served as the strategic lead across the partnership, guiding talent coordination, event production, earned media strategy and creator engagement.
The one-day Discovery Tour brought top media, creators and fans to Julius Randle’s favorite neighborhood spots — including Taqueria Al Pastor & Bar, Black Gold Records and The Brooklyn Circus — with custom Topo Chico integrations woven throughout the experience. Nina layered in embargoed interviews and strategic celebrity photo seeding to maximize reach and ensure the activation landed across culture, lifestyle and entertainment outlets.
When Randle’s trade to Minnesota was announced just days before launch, Nina quickly helped recalibrate the narrative — repositioning the activation as a heartfelt farewell to New York. The pivot transformed potential disruption into an even more culturally resonant moment, framing the tour as a love letter to the city he had called home for five seasons and amplifying emotional relevance across coverage.
Impact: The Discovery Tour positioned Topo Chico as an authentic, locally attuned player in a critical growth market — deepening cultural relevance, introducing the product to a new cohort of urban consumers and embedding it within authentic New York storytelling rather than traditional sponsorship.
The partnership secured coverage in Time Out New York, Thrillist, New York Post, Page Six and People, achieving 94% key message pull-through and 100% neutral-to-positive sentiment.
By aligning talent, place and timing, and deftly navigating an unexpected trade announcement, Nina helped convert a hyperlocal activation into a nationally visible, rich cultural moment.
