Unlocking the Core of Us: How Dakota Ross Helped Bring CORUS Sparkling Rum Punch to Life

When you are entrusted to help create something from scratch - to name it, shape it, define what makes it unique, and watch it come to life - it’s a profound honour.

That’s exactly the journey we’ve been on at Dakota Ross with CORUS Effervescent Cocktails and their first RTD - CORUS Sparkling Rum Punch. An idea that had no brand name, no liquid, no packaging, no identity. From a spark of an idea to a fully launched brand and experience, it’s been over two years of collaboration, creativity, and a commitment to unlocking not just a product, but a personality - a living, breathing brand, rooted in a deeper purpose: to elevate your vibe, connect, and belong.

At Dakota Ross, we believe in unlocking the brilliance and potential of the people involved.

From the start, we focused on the people, especially as there was no product even to focus on as it did not exist yet! Our job was to uncover the personality already inside founders Sam Neilands and Isaac Bryan Brown - and every team member who joined along the way - and bring that to life through the brand.

From day one, Sam and Isaac’s vision was bigger than “just a drink.” They wanted connection, authenticity, and a taste of home. Rum punch - and more importantly, the spirit of Caribbean hosting - was the answer. As a flavour, as a symbol of generosity, community, and celebration.

We listened closely - to ideas, to stories, values, and the moments that mattered most to us all. CORUS became about bottling the feeling of liming with friends, sharing something special, and making people feel at home anywhere in the world.

The Effervescent Spirit at the heart of CORUS comes from its founders - natural hosts and cultural connectors. Together, we believe we found the perfect name, the perfect liquid, and a look that reflected its roots. The can design captures a classic Barbadian moment: the beach lime at Paradise Beach. Here's the side story on the design...

Our Can Design & The name CORUS

I, Alex Weetch, was at Paradise Beach, with my feet in the water where the sand met a rock pool filled with clear blue water. I was looking at the shades of colour that went from the golden sand to the horizon. The sand and shallow waters with their amber hues looked like aged rum or champagne, then the colours turned to turquoise blue and deeper blues as I looked to the horizon. I took a pic and shared it with our creative agency MAD in Florida. They actually took samples of the colours at Paradise Beach to create the can we love so much (and others have told us they love too). To me, when I look at the can, it creates a feeling of wading into the Caribbean Sea with a cold CORUS in hand. Paradise.

As for the name, well this was a true team effort and really for me illustrates that the approach of listening with purpose is truly powerful. Here's what I remember. Isaac during the first ever workshop brought up the word "coruscation" which means a sudden flash or gleam of light, or a striking display of brilliance. Later on in the process (probably 8 months later) we were coming up with lots of different names for our product. I created a list of about 1,000 names I had been capturing. One page of names was music themed... looking back I see it there "Chorus" which I added to the slide amongst 100 others. Chorus made it onto the final shortlist and it was Olivier that said the word had roots in latin which meant "to sparkle".

In the end, the word "Chorus" changed to "CƆR:US" first (the phonetic spelling because it was legally easier to register and trademark haha)... then to "CORUS", which is now fully trademarked in the USA and beyond! CORUS stands for the "Core of Us", which is what to us rum punch represents in Barbados as a cultural connector. It also is the moment in a song where all people sing together in harmony, regardless of who you are or where you come from. To us it seemed just right.

Building A "Round Table" Culture

We worked as a team at a round table, in every sense. Sam’s precise, engineering mindset shaped production. Isaac’s drive and energy kept things moving. Our role was to help them express what mattered most in every part of the brand - strategy, product, storytelling, and community. And for us at Dakota Ross, Lou Fuentes 's job was to keep Kodi and me on track with the inevitable ups and downs that come with probably every startup journey.

As we grew the brand, so did the team. We brought on Olivier Brémont (Ex Red Bull Global) and Raphaël Grisoni who ran Mount Gay Rum for about 15 years and who I had worked with for about 4 of those.

On a personal level, CORUS reunited me with a long time friend I worked with in Australia, Eran Thomson 🥇. Eran was in the USA at the time and came down to visit us in Barbados to help out for a bit on the creative side of the brand. He ended up staying in Barbados for 3 months and was an integral part of the CORUS launch, and who's energy gave life to every activation and interaction we had while having fun working together again.

On the production side, Isaac connected with Charles Mackenzie and his team at Dreadhop Brewing and with the invaluable help of Nick Bynoe , built out our local production abilities. I real triumph as we had always set out to produce locally first, before expanding out to the world.

The result is a brand that invites you into a moment. CORUS speaks through the language of hospitality, joy, and cultural pride. From beach limes in Barbados to gatherings around the world, it’s a chorus everyone can join.

Setting CORUS Sparkling Rum Punch Up for the Journey Ahead

Through the Dakota Ross approach, we supported the team to build a brand, a liquid, and a network of experts that bring the team’s DNA to life and help it connect far beyond Barbados.

We all helped in raising the investment to launch at home (serious hats off to Jonathan "Kodi" Lewis for really leading the charge on this front), brought new awesome talent into the family ( Rasheeda Hinds), and set the brand up for long-term success. We believe in CORUS so deeply that we’re vested partners, committed for the long run as it grows into the USA, the Caribbean, and beyond.

The hosting culture, the power of rum punch, and the joy of sharing who you are - that’s the essence of CORUS. And together, we’ve built something ready to carry that spirit wherever it goes.

We hope you, like so many have done, will try it for yourself and, as we say, come Join the CORUS.

Sparkling Rum Punch in its natural habitat