It is a brand from Casa Tequilera de Arandas, a company founded in 1995 by Don Nicolás Martínez Lara and his family in the heart of the Jalisco Highlands; it has a presence in over 42 countries and has garnered medals at prestigious international competitions.
In Arandas, Jalisco, the soil is red. The blue agave takes between seven and eight years to mature on those mineral-rich grounds. Master Distiller Gilberto Jasso rests the spirit in American oak barrels and then subjects it to lightly smoked wood sticks until it achieves a color that exists in no other tequila in the world: the absolute black of Hacienda de Tepa Black (Milenio, 2025).
A product like that cannot live on the shelf the same way as everything else.
Tequila Hacienda de Tepa is a brand from Casa Tequilera de Arandas, a company founded in 1995 by don Nicolás Martínez Lara and his family in the heart of the Altos de Jalisco, present in more than 42 countries and accumulating medals at prestigious international competitions (Líder Empresarial, 2023).
Some tequilas look like every other one even when they are not. Hacienda de Tepa Black was born to be different: the world's first black tequila, produced from 100% blue agave, with a dark bottle and a flavor profile that blends artisanal tradition with an audacity few Mexican spirits have ever allowed themselves (LJA Aguascalientes, 2025). A product that, in a blind tasting, wins on originality before anyone even takes a sip.
The problem is that in the self-service channel and in spirits retail, the originality of a product does not always survive the journey from the warehouse to the sales floor. Surrounded by similar bottles, in a segment where visual competition is relentless, Hacienda de Tepa risked becoming just another tequila in a shelf full of tequilas.
Tequilera de Arandas consolidates a legacy projected internationally under one clear purpose: to produce ultra-premium tequilas, 100% agave, that reflect the cultural richness and character of their land (Líder Empresarial, 2025). That purpose needed a point of sale that communicated it with the same force.
The challenge Hacienda de Tepa brought to AIM was as precise as it was demanding: build a floor display as sophisticated as the product it was going to hold. Black, elegant, with the presence of a luxury exhibition piece, capable of stopping the shopper mid-aisle and telling them, without a single word, that what they are looking at is not a conventional tequila. And to do it in 208 centimeters of height with the restraint of something that does not need to raise its voice to be heard.
AIM designed, developed, and produced the Floor Display for Tequila Hacienda de Tepa: a high-impact vertical structure that translates the product's aesthetic into point-of-sale architecture.
The construction starts from a 2" × 1" steel tube with sheet metal finished in glossy black electrostatic paint and rod in a brilliant finish. That combination is not accidental: it replicates, in steel, the same contrast that defines Hacienda de Tepa Black — the dark bottle, the gold details, the minimalism that implies depth. The display does not try to compete with the product. It continues it.
At 57 cm wide by 47 cm deep and 208 cm tall, the display reaches a scale that commands respect without consuming too much space. Three display levels, each holding up to four bottles, give a total capacity of twelve pieces — exactly the right number to deploy Hacienda de Tepa's portfolio with breadth without overwhelming the visual read. In the premium tequila segment, where perceived scarcity is part of the value, twelve well-presented bottles communicate more than forty crowded ones.
The communication system is complete and interchangeable at three points: the upper header, the mid-section with graphic rails on both sides of the display, and the lower skirting panel. This 360-degree communication architecture allows the brand to speak from top — where the shopper looks first — to bottom — where prices and references complete the decision. And because every graphic panel is interchangeable, the same display can adapt to different campaigns, launches, or seasons without replacing the structure.
The result is a black column of over two meters that does in silence what most displays cannot achieve with all the visual noise in the world: create a brand microclimate inside the aisle. The shopper who approaches Hacienda de Tepa does not arrive at a shelf. They arrive at a space.
As LJA Aguascalientes (2025) notes, Hacienda de Tepa Black is "a masterpiece that merges tradition with revolutionary audacity," born in the heart of the Altos de Jalisco. That audacity, translated to the sales floor through the display, produced concrete effects on the shopper experience.
The first was immediate categorization. In a spirits aisle where most brands compete for the same type of visual attention, the black tower of Hacienda de Tepa instantly carved out its own territory. There was no need to read the brand name to know that what stood there was different from everything else: the color, the verticality, the brilliant-finish details against the matte black said it before the eye finished processing the scene.
The second was portfolio hierarchy. The three levels of the display allowed Hacienda de Tepa's references — Blanco, Reposado, Black — to be organized in a clear vertical read: the shopper who moves through the structure from top to bottom moves through the brand's portfolio as well, from its freshest expression to its most complex. That product narrative, built into the architecture of the display, is what turns a visit to the point of sale into the beginning of a relationship with the brand.
The third result was sustained premium positioning. With its distinctive design and refined flavor profile, Hacienda de Tepa positions itself as a product that reflects the link between history and modernity (Milenio, 2025). A display that replicates that aesthetic in its construction does not just present bottles: it builds value perception. The shopper who sees Hacienda de Tepa in a glossy black steel tower perceives it differently than if they found it on a shared shelf. The price of the tequila did not change. The willingness to pay it did.
The fourth result was campaign flexibility at no additional structural cost. The interchangeable graphics system across the header, mid-section, and skirting allowed Hacienda de Tepa to update the display's message according to seasons and launches — such as the positioning of Hacienda de Tepa Black around Mexico's National Tequila Day (LJA Aguascalientes, 2025) — without incurring new metal production costs. The display evolved alongside the brand's commercial strategy from day one.
What This Display Reveals for Your Brand
There is one certainty the Hacienda de Tepa case confirms: in the premium segment, the display is not a support for the product. It is the first layer of the brand experience.
A display that replicates the product's aesthetic in its construction — color, finish, proportion — does not add to the visual identity: it multiplies it. The shopper does not separate what they see in the display from what they will find in the bottle. They process both as a single experience. And that experience always begins on the sales floor, not in the consumer's hand.
The 208 cm of vertical height is not just a format choice: it is a declaration of intent. Brands that claim height on the sales floor also claim hierarchy in the shopper's perception. In spirits retail, where premium is built as much through design as through price, that visual hierarchy is a commercial asset as real as any media investment.
And the interchangeable graphics system across multiple points of the display turns the structure into a permanent activation platform: the same piece that launched the brand can carry the next campaign, and the one after that, and the one after that. For brands with long-term ambitions at the point of sale, that is not a technical feature. It is a strategic advantage.
Does Your Premium Brand Deserve a Point of Sale That Matches Its Stature?
At AIM, we design, develop, and produce floor displays for brands that understand the first impression does not happen when the shopper opens the bottle. It happens when they see it for the first time from across the aisle. Contact us and let's build together the sales floor presence your brand deserves.
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