Key steps to beer branding success

Working in the beer and alcohol industry has its obvious perks – beer on tap (pun intended), invites to the best events and beer brand launches, and working alongside some pretty large and legendary personalities. But it can be a hard graft. The Australian Craft Beer Brewery list reported that in 2018, a new craft beer brewery opened every six days in Australia, and Statista estimates that there are currently over 300 beer brands available to Aussie beer lovers.

How do you create beer branding and packaging design that stands out and sells?

Know the person you want to buy your beer – really, really well

When you’re competing with 300+ other beer brands, you’ve got to really get inside the heads of the people you want to appeal to in order to understand what’s going to make them reach for your can over the competition when they’re dying for a cold one. How old are they? What socio-economic bracket do they fall into? What is likely to be their drinking occasion? Are they looking for a six-pack to take to a mate’s to watch the footy or a rich, dark pint to sip and savour after a long week in the office? What do they do in their spare time? Where do they live? All of this information drives the style, tone and positioning of your beer brand and packaging design.

Vonu is a great example of a beer that knows exactly who it’s speaking to – surf, ocean, and exploration lovers. Coca-Cola Amatil approached us to develop the Vonu brand identity and packaging into something that better reflected its pure, rustic, Fijian roots, and the aspiration of “living free”. See more here.

Tell your story and the story of your beer

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of branding and a story easily interpreted and shared amongst consumers goes a long way to people remembering your brand and product. Any beer brand can talk about hops, strength, and fresh and fruity flavours – it’s the brands that tell a compelling story that see the most success. Is there a story behind how you came into the beer industry? Is there some nostalgia behind your beer or a certain SKU? Is there a story worth telling in the way the beer is produced or where it comes from? Stories evoke emotion, and emotional connections can drive loyalty and sales.

Doyles is one of the oldest fishing families in Sydney and that story is brought to life in the brand identity and on the packaging for their Fisherman’s Lager beer. Check it out here.

Define your position in the sea of beer

Craft, mainstream, everyday, special occasion, old school, progressive, strong, light, safe? There is a multitude of ways to position your beer brand and what you choose should resonate with your target audience and help to tell your brand story.  

Yenda Brewing Co. has been around for a number of years and is the current sponsor of the Wallabies Rugby Union team. Over the years Yenda had lost its way and, due to a massive influx of players into the craft beer space, had also lost market share against its competitors. To help regain its position, Yenda needed new brand identity and beer packaging that would drive more of a mainstream craft beer positioning that appealed to a regional Australian audience. See how we helped Yenda regain its rightful position here.

Cut through with distinctive brand assets you can own

If we had a dollar for every beer that included a badge or crest in its beer branding, we’d have a lot of dollars. Sure, they’re a fundamental design cue within the beer industry and crests can signal heritage, but how can you make them work harder?

Vonu is a pure lager targeted at surfers that tells the story of living free. When redesigning their beer branding and packaging we crafted a crest that retained a key part of their brand – the turtle – and added two surfboards as discoverables. Clever touches like this give your beer branding depth and give consumers something new to discover every time they interact with your brand.

When redefining Yenda Brewing Co., we used the Y as a core visual brand asset to reflect the name of the beer and to ensure it is easily seen at a distance or in low light. The Yenda logo device is also a unique shape, crafted in such a way that it punches off the bottle and throughout all beer branding pieces.

There is so much more to successful beer branding and packaging than a nice looking label.

We’ve been branding beers and booze for decades for local breweries and companies like Lion, Coca-Cola Amatil, Campari, Casella Family Brands and more. You can check out more of our work here or get in touch if you have a project you’d like to discuss… over a well-branded beer.