Topo Chico | The Discovery Tour with Julius Randle

The Challenge: In fall 2024, Topo Chico faced a growth challenge in New York City — one of the country's most competitive sparkling water markets. While the brand enjoyed strong awareness, it trailed competitors in conversion among its target consumer. The brief: develop a culturally resonant, hyperlocal activation that would affirm Topo Chico as a “hidden gem” and meaningfully engage its urban “Truth Seeker” audience.

The Opportunity: Drawing on the brand's primary consumer research revealing a deep Knicks affinity among New York “Truth Seekers,” Nina helped ideate a partnership with NBA All-Star and longtime Topo Chico fan Julius Randle — building a curated bus tour of his favorite hidden gems in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood that blended culture, community and authentic personal storytelling into a brand moment that felt genuinely earned rather than manufactured.

The Work: 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. Nina layered in embargoed interviews and strategic celebrity photo seeding to maximize reach across culture, lifestyle and entertainment outlets.

  • When Randle's headline-making trade to Minnesota was announced just days before launch, Nina faced a pivotal strategic decision: pull back or lean in. She chose to lean in — quickly recalibrating the narrative, repositioning the activation as his heartfelt farewell to New York and casting the tour as a love letter to the city he had called home for five seasons. The pivot transformed potential disruption into the emotional heart of the story.

The Impact: The Discovery Tour bolstered Topo Chico’s presence as an authentic, locally attuned player in a critical growth market — embedding the brand into the fabric of New York neighborhood life and introducing the product to a new cohort of urban consumers.

By aligning talent, place and timing — and deftly navigating an unexpected trade announcement in real time — Nina converted a hyperlocal activation into a nationally visible cultural moment, reinforcing Topo Chico's hidden gem ethos in one of the brand's most valued markets.