Refresh your beer brand with labeling changes

If you’re thinking about changing up your brewery’s promotional strategy to either pursue a new customer demographic or simply increase your products’ appeal, don’t forget to change your labels. Your brews will be seen in the context of crowded store shelves and judged against other brands. If your products stand out there, it could make up for the fact that major beverage corporations’ marketing budgets likely dwarf yours.

Examples of rebranding
Changing a brand’s character isn’t something that should be embarked on lightly. However, once you’ve made the choice to change your look, it’s time to create an attractive and cohesive new combination of typography, colors and imagery, even if that means deviating from your past branding. The following examples show the varying degrees of change breweries can implement when seeking to refresh their appeal.

Milwaukee Magazine gave an example of a complete refresh, a process by which 3 Sheeps Brewing changed itself from a whimsical company to one more focused on the scientific processes behind beer production. The company’s founder, Grant Pauly, explained to the source that there was a gulf between how they saw themselves and their products’ branding. By closing that gap, they are able to provide a united face that could potentially sell more beer.

Pauly also provided an important perspective on the current beer industry. Today, there are numerous good craft brews within any category a buyer can imagine. That means each individual brewery has a reduced chance of being noticed. Creating immersive and interesting branding and marketing strategies, from the labels on up, is vital.

Sometimes, a rebranding process is about creating consistency between many varieties of brew. According to Retail Detail, this is what Belgian brand Rodenbach recently undertook, creating a new labeling strategy around its “R” logo and adding more English text to stoke international sales in the widest possible market. The standard brand has also been relabeled “classic” to emphasize why it is special.

Becoming a branding force
When you launch new beer labels, it’s important to have an objective. That’s a through-line between the examples above. The Wisconsin brewery wanted more unity between its founders’ attitude and its look, while the Belgian company hoped to unite its many products under one umbrella. Once you know which direction to take your brand, it’s simply a matter of committing to the change.

When you’re working on an important rebranding process, you shouldn’t skimp on technology. You can take branding in-house via a top-quality label printer such as the Afinia L801 – check it out in our U.S. store or on our Canadian page.