Rebranding helps craft beers… and sodas

The craft beer market has not only become a juggernaut in food and beverage circles, but it has also proven highly influential on other industries. Companies are taking their cues from craft brewers and their quirky, bold take on branding. This has led to other beverage brands promoting themselves with exciting new looks, from wine to soft drinks and beyond. The core tenets of beer branding today – making a big impression and expressing a lot about the product via label imagery – are solid and translate well to these new sectors.

The following are a few recent examples of brands changing up their looks to improve their appeal to customers. Instead of exact demonstrations of styles for other companies to steal, they should be seen as general lessons about aligning imagery with branding. Every company is different, and thus exactly copying another firm’s strategy may yield disappointing results.

Craft beer brand Scofflaw doubles down
Leaning into a cheeky and rebellious image, the Georgia business Scofflaw Brewing Co. is rolling out new, goat-adorned cans and carton designs that have a colorful, handwritten look to them, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Not only do the new cans have eye-catching and extremely bold pictures on their fronts, but they also possess veritable walls of text that describe the company’s character and the particular brew contained within.

While common wisdom about getting customers’ attention may favor clearer designs that are better at telling the eye where to go, Scofflaw’s busy approach is tied to its off-kilter style. The Atlanta Business Chronicle did point out that the brand has taken one conventional step – each of its four flavors will bear a unique design, tied together by a common element – the goat portraits.

Soda company goes for youthful energy
Creating bold, color-coordinated can designs isn’t just for beer – just ask Virgil’s, a subsidy of Reed’s Inc. This line of sodas has received a change of appearance in a prelude to big shifts in other Reed’s products, according to Bevnet. The company took the relabeling as an opportunity to introduce a new line of Virgil’s flavors, too, adding Zero Sugar options designed for health-conscious customers. Bevnet reported that Reed’s CEO Val Stalowir directly cited the influence of craft beer on the new Virgil’s cans, which possess colorful text and light imagery that gives an “otherworldly” look.

When it’s time for your company to rebrand – whether it’s in the craft beer world or merely inspired by it, reach out to OptiMedia Labs to learn more about label printing in house, via our U.S. site or Canada page.