Exclusive Cocktail for The Universe is Absurd's VIP Reception

Luciana Machado
Mar 4
2 min read

The Fever-Tree Partnership at The Universe is Absurd! With William Shatner and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Behind the scenes of Rocking: The Universe is Absurd! with William Shatner and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Head of Marketing Luciana Machado on the Fever-Tree cocktail partnership, the creative process, and the tagline that wrote itself.

Cosmic Cosmo

When the Fever-Tree partnership was confirmed, the first question wasn't "what drink" but "what story."

My initial instinct was a Cosmopolitan. Cosmic cosmo, Neil deGrasse Tyson, done. But clean concepts rarely survive contact with real constraints, and we had one: Shatner doesn't drink.

Three colorful posters of a cosmic cocktail with lime and orange garnishes. Text reads "Neil's Cosmic Cosmo" in bold, vibrant backgrounds. create by Luciana Machado, Head of Marketing for The universe is absurd with william shatner and neil degrasse tyson — First round of ideas with the Cosmic Cosmo. *All graphics, menus, and event branding created by Luciana Machado, Head of Marketing for FUTURE of SPACE and The Universe is Absurd! with William Shatner and Neil deGrasse Tyson.*

Supernova Sour.

Any cocktail that leaned too hard into one character risked the other becoming a footnote at his own show. So the brief quietly shifted. The drink needed to belong to the show itself.

Working with the ingredients available through the partnership, we built around a blue curaçao base and named it Supernova Sour. Cosmically legible, visually striking, and just unusual enough to make someone ask what's in it.

A blue cocktail in a glass with a yellow lemon slice, text reads "SUPERNOVA SOUR" and "The Universe is Absurd." Bright, vibrant background. by Luciana Machado,

My Role

I handled the full creative execution across menus, graphics, and the flower arrangements that carried Fever-Tree's branding into the physical venue space. Their identity was visible throughout the event, not as signage wallpaper but as something woven into the environment guests were actually moving through.

The tagline "Feverishly refreshing. Absurdly good."

Feverishly is doing three things at once: it nods to Fever-Tree by name, it matches the show's tone, and it earns its place next to "absurdly good," which is a direct pull from the show's own DNA. One sentence. Both brands. No seam showing.

I didn't want to just hand people a cocktail. I wanted them to feel like they were part of the experience. So we played around with the language, kept it fun, a little provocative.