Craft beer is hot right now globally. With little money for traditional advertising, niche brewers are relying on striking packaging designs to win friends and influence beer (and wine) drinkers.
The number of craft breweries in the US doubled in the five years to July 2014 – largely due to craft beer, according to the US Census Bureau. Craft beer production grew 9.6 per cent in 2013 while overall beer production fell 1.4 per cent (Source: Technomic: 2014 Special Trends in Adult Beverage Report: State of the Industry). Craft beer now accounts for 10 per cent of sales in the US.
"We're seeing breweries open at about a rate of 1.2 per day,” Bart Watson, staff economist at Brewers Association, noted in March last year.
In Australia, craft beer is estimated to have grown by 13 per cent overall. The craft beer market, with more than 150 microbreweries, was worth $160 million in 2013 according to IBIS, and the number of craft brewers reached 175 in 2014 – double that of a decade before.
The craft beer picture is markedly different to that of traditional beer, which is only achieving 1.7 per cent growth globally. In Australia, traditional beer consumption has decreased from 141.7 litres a year at the start of the 1990s, to 93.1 litres in 2013.
Craft beer’s selling proposition is taste, and this is backed by its hand-selected ingredients and artisanal methods. But craft brewers don’t have millions of dollars for advertising campaigns that promote its messages. By and large (some craft brands are now part of the stables of multinational brewers) they do have creative freedom. And they are using that freedom to win friends and influence beer drinkers with quirky branding and packaging design.
Yubarta, for example, is a crafted beer that “was born in Central Mexico, cooked by expert hands with the purest ingredients”. The brand has targeted the new generation of foodies who drink beer rather than wine. Yubarta is the Spanish word for humpback whale. So the beers’ packaging design by Mexican design agency, Domingo Reyes, uses the whale as a mnemonic for the brand, with an enormous humpback whale punching out of the label, its tail wrapping around the bottle. The brown tinted bottle’s shape is modelled on the (rival) sake bottle and its bottle cap seal also positions the beer in sake territory.
If you’re a new parent, the story of the Three Little Pigs will be very familiar. You can perhaps, then, guess the target market for Barcelona Beer Company’s Cerdos Voladores craft beer. If not, its brand personality will give you another clue. This is how the brand talks to its audience:
“The Three Little Pigs are back in Beer!! Welcome to the world of the Cerdos Voladores, our rowdiest and most likeable craft beer. A beer to enjoy life’s special moments: a good meal, a good football match on TV, a night out with the mates. Your most potent and brazen craft beer for your merriest moments. With loads of hops that give it that lusty bitter flavour that will get you hooked. Join the Cerdos Voladores, rediscover your roguish side and remember that life is to be enjoyed. Be Cerdo, my friend!”
Spanish design agency Doodletown Designer has given the (one) beer three labels – one for each Little Pig. “The objective was to stay true to their brand promise of trust, honesty, quality, strength, and craftsmanship. Just like the beer itself, the design was hand-crafted. From the typography to the illustrations,” the agency explained.
Polish design agency, Nomono has not only created the branding and pack design for Piwna Stopa Craft Beer Pub and Birbant Brewery’s Miss Big Foot beer, it is co-owner of another craft beer called, Nomono. That Nomono is also an animation and 3D graphics studio is apparent in Miss Big Foot’s pin-up label design.
NOMONO New Zealand Freestyle APA by Browar Solipiwko & Nomono studio from NOMONO on Vimeo.
Nomono’s own craft beer is a New Zealand beer in the American Pale Ale style, crafted in Poland by Browar Solipiwko, with branding and packaging design from Poland. Craft brands without borders is an emerging trend.
