Craft beer’s challenge: People want something new

Craft beer is a complicated market to succeed within. Companies that may have had a relatively open playing field even a few years ago may now find the shelves crowded with fairly similar offerings. The pressure to design new and exciting flavors – and label them in ways that attest to their uniqueness – is always increasing. Large firms and small businesses exist side by side, dueling for consumers’ eyes and dollars. Beer labeling is just one of the elements of a successful branding effort, but it shouldn’t be ignored.

Keeping excitement up
Drinking one type of beer, week in and week out, isn’t a particularly common habit among craft fans, according to Calgary news source The YY Scene. Rather than going to stores to pick up a favorite choice time and again, people are trying out a huge selection of different offerings. This is a great environment to shop in, but what can brands do to keep profits consistent at a time when so many people are content to wander between companies?

The YY Scene noted that while loyalty to single varieties of beer is in decline, shoppers do tend to gravitate to single breweries over the course of years. A strong and consistent visual identity, letting people know right away who made a brew, may help lock in this type of loyalty. Of course, the beer inside the cans or bottles also has to taste good, or else all the marketing in the world won’t ensure repeat business.

Refreshing a brand identity
When it comes time for a brewery to take on a new look, it could pay to switch over its appearance on a grand scale, rather than just changing the labels of one variety or another. That’s the kind of wholesale shift Brewbound recently profiled, focusing on the rebranding of Highland Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina. The business celebrated over 20 years in business with a broad aesthetic reset.

Over the years, Highland has amassed a catalog of several varied types of beer, all of which will now feature new designs to reflect the rebranding. The new labels play up the brewery’s location in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with imagery of the natural landscape and a compass. The visual evolution also applies to marketing materials other than the bottles themselves, ensuring consistency.

Selling a fresh, consistent visual look may depend on print quality. Brands that print their beer labels in-house should ensure they have the right hardware for the job. Learn more on Optimedia Labs’ U.S. site or Canada page.