Designing 200 Copas: Inside the Record-Breaking Launch
From a Parisian Cabaret to Sold-Out Shelves—The Story Behind One of 2025’s Most Successful Brand Collaborations
On a September evening in Paris, inside the legendary Crazy Horse cabaret, Karol G stepped into the spotlight to announce something unprecedented: 200 Copas by Casa Dragones, a luxury Añejo Cristalino inspired by her chart-topping anthem.
Within 48 hours, the tequila was sold out across Mexico. Within a week, shelves were almost empty nationwide in the United States. The launch video generated 15 million views, 822,000 likes, and 91,000 shares. A dedicated Instagram account gained 50,000 followers in its first month.
As the designer behind this collaboration, I had a front-row seat to what became one of the most successful celebrity spirits launches in recent history. This is the story of how we brought 200 Copas to life—the strategy, the challenges, the execution, and the lessons learned along the way.
The Challenge: Merging Two Worlds Without Compromising Either
When Casa Dragones decided to partner with Karol G, the challenge was immediately clear: how do you honor the artist’s vision while maintaining the uncompromising luxury standards that Casa Dragones has built its reputation on?
This wasn’t going to be another celebrity tequila with a famous name slapped on a bottle. Both Karol G and Casa Dragones CEO Bertha González Nieves were committed to creating something authentic—a tequila that felt true to the song “200 Copas” while delivering the premium quality Casa Dragones is known for.
The Dual Audience Problem
The project presented a unique positioning challenge. On one side, Karol G’s fanbase: young, vibrant, passionate fans of Latin music who connected with the celebratory energy of “200 Copas.” On the other, Casa Dragones’ existing audience: sophisticated tequila connoisseurs who expected nothing less than perfection in both craft and presentation.
The design had to speak to both audiences without alienating either. It needed to be festive without being loud, premium without being stuffy, authentic without being cliché.
Navigating Dual Approval Processes
Working under Creative Directors Mishele Wells and Rutherford Rodger, I was part of a process that required alignment between two major teams: Casa Dragones’ internal creative leadership and Karol G’s management. Every design decision—from packaging details to digital assets—went through multiple rounds of approval.
This wasn’t a constraint; it was an advantage. The rigorous validation process ensured that what we created would resonate with both camps. But it also meant that every element had to be intentional, defensible, and excellent.
The Strategic Foundation: Building on “200 Copas”
The song “200 Copas” wasn’t just a title—it was the entire foundation of the project. The track had already become a cultural phenomenon, with nearly 500 million YouTube views at the time of the collaboration. The music video featured Karol G and friends celebrating around a bonfire in Punta Mita, Mexico, raising glasses of tequila in a moment of pure joy.
Extracting Visual DNA
Our first task was translating the song’s essence into a visual language. What does “200 Copas” look like? What does it feel like?
We identified several core visual elements:
- The bonfire under the stars — warmth, celebration, intimacy
- Karol G’s iconic tattoo — personal authenticity, commitment
- Midnight in Mexico — the deep blue of the night sky, mystery, elegance
- Celebration and togetherness — joy without excess, luxury without ostentation
These elements became our north star. Every design decision was filtered through this lens: does it honor the spirit of “200 Copas” while elevating it to luxury status?
The Premium Positioning
Casa Dragones is not an entry-level tequila brand. It’s a luxury spirits house with a reputation for innovation and quality. The 200 Copas expression had to live up to that legacy while attracting a new, younger demographic.
The pricing needed to reflect the craftsmanship—an Añejo aged over 12 months in custom American Oak barrels, then filtered to Cristalino clarity. At $119.99 per bottle, this wasn’t an impulse purchase. The design had to justify that price point at first glance.
The Execution: Crafting Every Touchpoint
Over the course of more than a year, I worked across multiple disciplines to bring 200 Copas to life. Each element required careful consideration, multiple iterations, and constant refinement.
Packaging Design: The Midnight Sky in Your Hands
The packaging was the physical embodiment of the collaboration. I contributed to the bottle and box design, working to capture the essence of that bonfire scene under a midnight-blue Mexican sky.
The midnight blue became the signature color—deep, elegant, celebratory. Karol G’s tattoo, a deeply personal symbol, was incorporated into the bottle design as a mark of authenticity. Inside the box, hidden from immediate view, we included lyrics from “200 Copas”—a secret for those who purchased the bottle, a connection between artist and consumer.
Every detail mattered: the weight of the box, the reveal moment when opening it, the way the bottle caught the light. In luxury spirits, the unboxing experience is part of the product. We weren’t just designing packaging; we were designing an experience.
Digital Presence: Building Anticipation Online
While the physical product was being perfected, we needed to build a digital ecosystem that would support the launch. I designed and partially developed key pages for 200copasbycasadragones.com, ensuring the web experience matched the premium feel of the physical product.
The website needed to do several things simultaneously:
- Educate consumers about the product (Añejo Cristalino, aging process, tasting notes)
- Tell the story of the collaboration (Karol G’s vision, Casa Dragones’ craftsmanship)
- Create desire (premium photography, elegant design, scarcity messaging)
- Facilitate purchase (clear pre-order flow, retail locator)
The digital design language mirrored the packaging: midnight blues, elegant typography, generous white space. Every page was optimized for mobile-first consumption, recognizing that Karol G’s audience would primarily encounter the brand on their phones.
Photography and Retouching: Creating the Hero Visuals
Premium spirits live and die by their product photography. I was responsible for photo selection and retouching, ensuring that every image met the exacting standards required for both digital and print applications.
This meant dozens of hours of detail work: perfecting the liquid’s appearance, ensuring consistent lighting across product shots, removing any imperfections, and creating images that would work at billboard scale and Instagram thumbnail size.
The hero images needed to tell a story at a glance. The bottle had to look both attainable and aspirational, celebratory and refined, modern and timeless.
Campaign Assets: From Teaser to Launch Day
Creating anticipation was crucial. I produced the teaser video that first hinted at the collaboration—carefully balancing mystery with recognition, building excitement without revealing too much.
As the launch approached, I developed comprehensive social media asset packages across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Each platform required different formats, aspect ratios, and approaches, but all needed to feel cohesive—part of a unified brand experience.
The social strategy was Instagram-first but multi-platform in execution. We created:
- Feed posts optimized for engagement
- Stories designed for quick consumption and sharing
- Reels showcasing the product and the story
- Static assets for partner and influencer use
- Paid advertising creative across multiple formats
Visual Identity: Establishing the Guidelines
Beyond individual assets, I helped establish the visual identity guidelines that would govern how 200 Copas was presented across all touchpoints. This included:
- Color palette (the signature midnight blue, complementary colors)
- Photography guidelines (lighting, composition, mood)
- Graphic element usage (how and when to incorporate brand marks)
- Tone and voice alignment with visual choices
These guidelines ensured consistency as the campaign scaled, allowing other designers and partners to create on-brand materials without constant oversight.
The Launch: When Strategy Meets Moment
All the preparation led to one moment: the official announcement at Crazy Horse Paris.
Why Crazy Horse Mattered
The decision to launch at Crazy Horse wasn’t arbitrary—it was strategic genius. Crazy Horse is one of the world’s most iconic cabarets, a symbol of Parisian luxury and artistic excellence. By choosing this venue for the announcement during her residency “The Tropical Nights of Ivonny Bonita,” Karol G positioned 200 Copas in a context of premium experience from day one.
The launch generated immediate international press coverage. Major outlets including Forbes, Food & Wine, Rolling Stone, The Spirits Business, and hundreds of others covered the announcement. The Crazy Horse moment gave the story narrative weight—this wasn’t just a product drop; it was a cultural event.
The Social Media Explosion
Within hours of the announcement, content from the Crazy Horse event flooded social media. The 15 million views on the launch video weren’t bought—they were earned through genuine excitement and strategic amplification.
The dedicated @200copasbycasadragones Instagram account gained 50,000 followers in its first month. Individual posts averaged over 60,000 likes. Casa Dragones’ main account gained several thousand new followers. The engagement metrics weren’t just vanity numbers—they translated directly into purchase intent.
The 48-Hour Phenomenon
When 200 Copas officially went on sale in Mexico, it sold out in 48 hours. Within a week, the product was almost sold out nationally across the United States. The speed of the sellout validated everything: the strategic positioning, the creative execution, the pricing, the distribution strategy.
Retailers requested additional allocation. Consumers took to social media asking where they could find bottles. The secondary market immediately reflected the scarcity. 200 Copas had achieved what every brand dreams of: genuine demand exceeding supply.
The Results: Beyond the Numbers
The quantitative results speak for themselves:
- 48-hour sellout in Mexico
- One-week national almost sellout in the US
- 15 million views on the launch video
- 822,000 likes, 15,000 comments, 91,000 shares
- 50,000 new followers on the dedicated brand account
- 60,000+ average likes per post
- Coverage in Forbes, Food & Wine, Rolling Stone, and major global outlets
But the qualitative impact matters just as much.
Market Validation
200 Copas proved that celebrity spirits collaborations can transcend the “celebrity endorsement” category when done with authenticity and quality. It showed that younger consumers are willing to pay premium prices for products that deliver both cultural relevance and genuine craftsmanship.
The success also validated Casa Dragones’ strategic bet on innovation. While many luxury brands shy away from pop culture collaborations, Casa Dragones leaned in—and it paid off.
Cultural Impact
Perhaps most significantly, 200 Copas became part of the cultural conversation. It wasn’t just a product; it was a symbol of Latina empowerment, of craftsmanship meeting creativity, of tradition embracing modernity.
Karol G’s fans felt represented. Tequila connoisseurs felt respected. The collaboration bridged audiences that rarely intersect, creating something that genuinely appealed to both.
Lessons Learned: What Made It Work
After months of intense work and watching the campaign exceed every expectation, several key lessons emerged.
1. Authenticity Cannot Be Faked
The collaboration worked because it was genuine. Karol G was personally involved in approvals. Casa Dragones maintained their quality standards. The creative execution honored both parties. Consumers can smell inauthentic partnerships from a mile away—we gave them the real thing.
2. Every Touchpoint Matters
There wasn’t a single element that made 200 Copas successful—it was the combination of excellence across every touchpoint. The packaging, the website, the photography, the social media, the launch event, the retail presence—each had to be perfect because each contributed to the overall perception.
In luxury, there’s no such thing as “good enough.” If the packaging is beautiful but the website is mediocre, you’ve broken the spell. If the launch event is spectacular but the retail experience is disappointing, you’ve lost the momentum. Consistency across all touchpoints is non-negotiable.
3. Strategic Patience Pays Off
This project took over a year from start to launch. There were moments when moving faster seemed tempting. But the patience to get every detail right—to go through proper approval processes, to refine until excellence was achieved—that patience was ultimately what made the launch so successful.
Rushing a luxury product to market is the fastest way to undermine it. The time invested in perfection became part of the product’s value proposition.
4. Cultural Intelligence Is a Competitive Advantage
Understanding both Karol G’s cultural context and Casa Dragones’ heritage was crucial. This wasn’t about superficially adding some “Latin flavor” to a tequila bottle—it was about genuinely understanding and respecting the cultural significance of both the music and the craft.
Designers who can navigate multiple cultural contexts, who can translate between different aesthetic languages, who can respect tradition while embracing innovation—these designers create work that resonates more deeply.
5. Results Validate Risk
Casa Dragones took a risk partnering with a pop music icon. Karol G took a risk entering the spirits industry. I took risks in the creative approach. The extraordinary results validated those risks.
In creative work, playing it safe often means being forgettable. Calculated risks—backed by strategy, executed with excellence—are what create breakthrough moments.
The Broader Implications for Luxury Brand Design
The success of 200 Copas offers lessons that extend beyond this specific project.
Redefining Celebrity Collaborations
The spirits industry has seen a wave of celebrity tequila brands over the past decade. Many have been cynical cash grabs—a famous name on a mediocre product. 200 Copas demonstrated that when done with integrity, celebrity collaborations can create genuine value for all parties: the brand, the celebrity, and most importantly, the consumer.
The key difference is involvement. Karol G wasn’t just licensing her name—she was actively engaged in the creative process and product development. That authentic involvement translated into a product people genuinely wanted to buy, not just because of who endorsed it, but because it was actually excellent.
The Power of Multi-Channel Storytelling
Success in luxury marketing increasingly requires mastery of multiple channels simultaneously. The Crazy Horse launch generated traditional press coverage. The social media campaign created viral moments. The retail presence delivered on the promise. The website provided depth for those who wanted to learn more.
No single channel could have carried this campaign. It was the orchestration across channels—each reinforcing the others—that created the phenomenon.
Design as Strategic Differentiator
In a crowded tequila market, design became the strategic differentiator that made 200 Copas instantly recognizable and desirable. The midnight-blue packaging stood out on shelves. The visual identity created immediate brand recognition. The careful craft in every detail justified the premium price.
Luxury brands that view design as an afterthought—as decoration rather than strategy—will struggle to compete with brands that understand design as fundamental to value creation.
Behind the Scenes: The Reality of High-Stakes Design Work
While the results look effortless in retrospect, the reality of executing a project like 200 Copas is anything but smooth.
Managing Complexity
At any given time, I was juggling multiple workstreams: packaging iterations, website development, photo retouching, social media asset creation, and POS design. Each had its own timeline, stakeholders, and approval process.
Managing this complexity required systems. Detailed project management, clear versioning, organized file structures, and constant communication ensured nothing fell through the cracks. In high-stakes projects, organization is a creative skill.
Working Under Pressure
As launch day approached, the pressure intensified. Assets needed to be perfect, on time, and in multiple formats. There were inevitable last-minute changes, technical challenges, and unexpected obstacles.
The ability to produce excellent work under pressure, to maintain quality standards when time is short, to solve problems creatively when the obvious solution isn’t available—these are the unglamorous skills that determine whether ambitious projects succeed or fail.
Looking Forward: What’s Next for Luxury Spirits Design
The success of 200 Copas points toward several emerging trends in luxury spirits design.
Experience Over Product
Consumers, particularly younger ones, increasingly value experiences over mere products. 200 Copas succeeded in part because it offered an experience: the story of the collaboration, the Crazy Horse launch moment, the unboxing reveal, the cultural connection.
Future luxury spirits designs will need to think beyond the bottle to the entire experiential ecosystem. How does the product create moments worth sharing? How does it connect consumers to something larger than themselves?
Digital-First Luxury
While physical product design remains crucial, digital presence has become equally important. The 200 Copas website, social media presence, and digital campaign were as carefully crafted as the packaging—and just as essential to success.
Luxury brands can no longer treat digital as secondary. The digital experience must match the physical in quality, attention to detail, and brand alignment.
Cultural Authenticity as Premium Signal
In an era of mass production and global brands, authentic cultural expression has become a luxury differentiator. 200 Copas succeeded in part because it genuinely honored both Mexican craft tradition and contemporary Latin music culture.
Designers who can navigate cultural contexts with sensitivity and authenticity, who can create work that feels both rooted and contemporary, will be increasingly valuable in the luxury market.
Conclusion: When Everything Aligns
Great design projects are rare. Projects where the client has vision, the strategy is sound, the execution is excellent, the timing is right, and the market responds—these are exceptional.
200 Copas by Casa Dragones was one of those projects. The collaboration between Karol G and Bertha González Nieves created a foundation of authenticity and quality. The creative team brought vision and skill. The launch strategy was brilliant. And the market was ready for exactly what we created.
My role as designer was to ensure that every visual touchpoint lived up to the promise of that collaboration—that the packaging, the digital presence, the campaign assets, and the retail materials all worked together to tell a cohesive story of luxury, celebration, and cultural pride.
The results—a 48-hour sellout, millions of views, thousands of new followers, and coverage in major media outlets—validated the approach. But more than the numbers, what stands out is the cultural impact: the way 200 Copas became part of conversations, celebrations, and moments that matter.
This is what great design does. It doesn’t just make things look beautiful—it creates value, facilitates connection, and enables moments that people remember.
The Full Story Continues
This article offers a glimpse into the strategy and execution behind 200 Copas by Casa Dragones. For a more complete look at the visual work—including photography, packaging details, campaign assets, and web design—view the full case study in my portfolio.
Interested in working together on a luxury brand launch, spirits packaging, or digital campaign? Let’s talk.