Branding Brews Podcast

Rebranding Old Town Brewing with Jordan Wilson Find Jordan Wilson: Web: jordanwilsondesigns.com Carrying on with the topic of rebrands, this episode is looking at a very successful rebrand for Old Town brewing. You’ve might of heard of Old Town through a trademark dispute that the brewery got into with the city of Portland. That in itself is an interesting story with a happy ending, but the rebranding done by my good friend, Jordan Wilson, really has elevated Old Town in a number of ways. We dig into the how and why Old Town decided to approach a rebrand. As with any brewery that might struggle to keep up with the ever-changing market, Jordan and Old Town jumped into this rebrand to create a label and branding system that would allow them to be more nimble with their beer releases. The rebrand also brought more attention to the Old Town brand as well, establishing more of a connection with their customers. Besides an amazing rebrand, they have gone all in creating captivating and entertaining videos and photography for their products. The result of all their work saw overall beer sales increase by over 50% Merchandise sales are up 70% and community involvement and promotional requests have dramatically increased. Listen in as Jordan and I dig into his rebranding project and branding efforts for Old Town, on this episode of Branding Brews.

Fred Hart of Interact Boulder on the Packaging Rebrand for Dogfish Head Find Interact Website: interactboulder.com During my planning process for the Brand Forward design seminar at CBC, I had the pleasure of connecting with Fred Hart of Interact. Fred and his team do some great work, including the Dogfish Head packaging rebrand. After some insightful conversations, I thought Fred would be a wonderful guest to have on this show. There’s a lot that goes into a rebrand, and it was definitely fun to hear some inside details on this one. Dogfish Head, in all of its great history, had never worked with an agency. Looking back at their existing packaging, things were all over the place and did not have much of any consistent structure. Interact worked with Dogfish to dig deep into some core brand elements and brought those to life in an entirely new packaging system. The end result? 20% increase in year-over-year sales. Something that is pretty much unheard of for a brewery the size of Dogfish. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. Join in with Fred Hart of Interact on this episode of Branding Brews.

Using Brandfolder to manage your beer brand assets Find Brandfolder: Web: brandfolder.com We’ve talked on this show before about the importance of having a brand or media kit easily accessible. There are a number of ways to manage this, but there is a specific platform, Brandfolder, that was made just for this purpose. There can be a large number of assets that you need to manage as a brand. Logos, sales sheets, UPC codes, photography, point of sale and retail graphics, plus more. As a designer that creates many of these items, and needs to manage these assets in folders, it can become a challenging task to stay organized and up to date. Not only does organizing this stuff become daunting, so does distributing them. With Brandfolder, you can create special kits, containing items of your choice, that can be made just for certain needs. Have a kit for retailers, distributors, a kit for your sales team, press kit, a brand kit, or any other collection of assets you need distribute. Today we are joined by Luke Beatty, who is the CEO of Brandfolder, and has lots of insights on brewery brand management through a number of breweries that use his platform.

Refillable Beer Bottle program at Bottledrop Find Bottledrop Web: bottledropcenters.com Over time, the idea of convenience has been sold to, and taken a priority in our culture. Often, this convenience results in negative effects to our environment. One-time use items like plastic shopping bags, straws, coffee cups are all items that we can use daily and be thrown away. When it comes to the beer world and environmental footprint, the container is a big item to consider. For sure, cans and bottles are recyclable, which offers a reduced impact. There’s also been some debate on the idea that cans are better for the environment than bottles, which we touch on a bit in this interview. One thing that other countries are still doing, which has fallen off the American radar, is the idea of washing and reusing bottles for beverages like beer. This is not a new thing, and it makes total sense right? Enter Nick Munson-Phelps, the refillable program manager for BottleDrop Refill. Nick has been leading an effort in Oregon to design and implement a refillable bottle program that breweries have already started using. Join us on this episode to learn all about the sustainability and benefits of using refillable bottles on this episode of Branding Brews.

Craft Beer Market Research with DataQuencher Find DataQuencher Website: dataquencher.com // Twitter: @dataquencher As part of an industry that is creating a product for consumers, having insights behind those consumers can really help drive decisions, marketing, and of course your branding efforts. How aware are consumers of your brand, in your area? What kind of thoughts come to your customer’s mind when they hear your name? What are their political leanings? What kind of beers do they drink based on their lifestyle? Hopefully you are talking with customers and trying to extract insights that you can use to help drive your business. You can, of course, keep a pulse on what’s going on with your customers through Untappd or other review sites like Yelp or Google. These are all very helpful, but imagine pulling large amounts of this kind of data from a variety of craft beer consumers in your area. Rob Cartwright, Co-Founder of DataQuencher, comes from a background of market research. Rob took his passion for craft beer and decided to start his own business providing market research for the craft beer space. Let’s dig into some interesting insights and learn more about the beer market on this episode of Branding Brews.

Communicating Effectively with Jeff Alworth Find Jeff Web: beervanablog.com // Twitter: @Beervana Communication is an essential part of promoting your beer and your brand. It’s a major part of how customers understand who you are. The stronger and more concise your communication is, the better your customers will understand your beer. To communicate better, it’s important that everyone on your team knows and understands the solid identity behind your beer. If you ask your brewer, delivery driver, and marketing staff to explain your brand in one simple statement, would they say the same thing? In branding and marketing, communication is huge. From your labels and packaging, sales sheets, website, email campaigns, and of course social media. As a writer and author, Jeff Alworth has a deep background when it comes to communicating. Along with his great website, Beervana: The Blog, Jeff has written a number of books on beer and cider. Join us today as Jeff digs into some fundamentals of communication on this episode of Branding Brews.

Communicating your brand story with Jeff Pillet-Shore of Allagash Brewing Company Find Allagash Website: allagash.com // Instagram: @allagashbrewing // Twitter: @allagashbrewing There are many ways you communicate your brand, your values, and your story. Through your Intstagram feed, website, blog posts, videos, and of course through your beer. I’ve always been drawn to the Allagash brand because of how well they tell there story through so many touchpoints. They first drew my deeper attention from their amazing photography, but as I learned more about them, I really enjoyed how they tell their story using beer profiles, blog posts, and informational pages on their website. Allagash cares about the details, it’s all about making everything count and making it positive. They take the approach of using Instagram and their website as a virtual tasting room and they are very keen to sharing stories. They realize that not every social media post is going to appeal to everyone, but they put importance on sharing values visually, with words, and video if possible. Jeff Pillet-Shore from Allagash took some time to talk with us about their brand story, how every employee is apart of that story, and is excited to participate in that brand. Join us and Allagash Brewing Company today, to learn about communicating a brand story on Branding Brews.

Design for Beer Labels with Adam Feller Find Adam Web: aviditycreative.com // Podcast: Food Business Podcast To continue the conversation on beer label design and branding, today we’re going to dive a bit more into planning content and design elements for your labels and packaging. When you are creating new labels and packaging, there are lots of things to consider. What messaging should go on the label, placement and size of branding elements like your logo, how to utilize colors, and more. In previous episodes, we’ve discussed planning content for your labels, also tips and ideas for creative printing and label production techniques. This time around, I am having a conversation with another creative on covering many aspects of making new labels and packaging. Adam Feller, designer and owner of Avidity Creative, also host of the Food Business Podcast, joins us to discuss strategy of label and packaging design on this episode of Branding Brews

Beer Branding Photography with Roscoe Myrick Find Roscoe Instagram: @shotboxer // Website: shotboxer.com // Twitter: @shotboxer Photography is such an essential aspect in marketing and branding. A good photo can draw your audience in to your culture, taproom, and create stories for your brand. There’s the obvious needs for photography, like product shots of your beers for your website, sales sheets, brochures, and advertisements. Those are essential, and should be done well, but if you start thinking of capturing moments in your photography, you can really start to create engaging images. You may be fortunate enough to have a photographer friend that can help bring these photos to life and create a catalog of photos to use. In other cases, hiring a photographer may be your best bet. In both of these scenarios, you will likely be setting up specific photo shoots and hope to create a solid library of images to use in the future. There are so many moments in your day-to-day life at the brewery that can make great snapshots to help tell stories and reinforce your brand. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts on your website all benefit from good supporting images. If you can get some basic photography gear and start thinking about capturing these moments yourself, you can take this into your own hands and be able to regularly create these wonderful snapshots. My good friend, Roscoe Myrick, is a professional sports photographer, but he has also done photo shoots of all kinds. His photography style is unique, and really draws the viewer into the frame. Roscoe helps break down the basics of getting into photography, and starts digging into the creative aspects of taking great photos. Join us as we break down photography for your brand, in this episode of Branding Brews.

Designing and producing point of sale items When it comes to promoting your brand, especially when you’re distributing, tap handles are a crucial element. The Alison Group has joined our show before to discuss designing and producing tap handles, but they also design and produce a wide variety of point of sale items that can also promote your brand outside of your brewery or taproom. From metal tackers, to displays and signs, the possibility is almost endless when it comes to design and bringing your brand to life with the physical products. Budget is always a concern, and I am always a fan of creating more than one use for any design or product you create. Breweries have found a lot of success when it comes to selling apparel and merchandise at their breweries, and some of these POS items can be sold as merchandise or be used in your event booth setups. Jeff Schweiger with the Alison Group talks with us about some of the options for POS items on this episode of Branding Brews.