Australia will be the first market to release the new look bottle and secondary packaging for leading Belgian beer brand Stella Artois, locally brewed and packed by Lion.
The new packaging will be rolled out nationally from 1 November, to coincide with this year’s Give Beautifully campaign, which celebrates Stella Artois’ Christmas origins.
The updated packaging highlights the brand's 600-year-old brewing heritage in a fresh and contemporary way.
PKN spoke to the team at Lion to find out more about the design strategy and execution.
PKN: Which agency executed the redesign?
Lion: The design agency responsible for the Stella Artois packaging refresh was the London office of globally renowned JonesKnowlesRitchie.
PKN: Outline the brief and how the design strategy has met this.
Lion: The brief was to reinvigorate the Stella Artois bottle and secondary packaging design, ensuring the rich heritage of Stella Artois was conveyed in a fresh and contemporary way.
The bottle design features a new elegant shape with higher shoulders, an embossed Stella Artois horn, which is the symbol of the original Den Hoorn brewery, and a more prominent placement of the signature Stella Artois chalice. The six-pack and carton packaging also feature a new photographic style which results in a high-end finish.
The visual elements of the final design makes the premium lager even more appealing to those who appreciate the finer things in life, and the functional updates to the bottle and label improve the Stella Artois experience for the drinker.
PKN: The bottle sports a new neck label with perforations, tell us more...
Lion: Stella Artois is excited to adopt this innovation in labelling – to improve the Stella Artois experience for the drinker, the iconic white neck label has been refined with the addition of perforations to ensure a cleaner ‘rip’ of the paper.
We believe that this functional update to the bottle which provides drinkers with two options; ‘pry off’ for those opening the bottle and pouring the beer into a chalice, and ‘tear off’ for those drinking direct from the bottle. Both ensure the paper does not interfere with a drinker’s lips, therefore improving the Stella Artois experience for the drinker.
PKN: Where is the product packaged?
Lion: Stella Artois for the Australian market is brewed and packaged in Australia.
PKN: Why was Australia chosen for the initial roll-out?
Lion: As the completion of the new-look Stella Artois coincided with the summer season in Australia, we felt it an opportune time to kick start the global roll-out with this market.
