Craft beer branding trends: Positioning through visual aesthetics

I always looked forward to grocery shopping as a kid. As soon as we’d get to the store, I’d break away from my mom and brother and head straight to the beer aisle to look at labels. Granted, I had no idea what beer was aside from something my uncles drank a lot in their garages; I still loved how it all looked (that Spuds MacKenzie POP display, though). I’d ogle everything until inevitably getting confronted by a clerk who assumed I was up to no good. Despite my reassurances of, “Nothing to see here, ma’am, just an eight-year-old checking out beer labels,” they wouldn’t budge and I’d run off like the little punk that I was.

Fast forward to today: I still do the exact same thing. As a designer in the craft beer industry, I love beer branding. I get lost decoding messages, fondling label materials, reading descriptive copy, searching packaging for fun easter eggs and critiquing and overthinking all of these things in only the way someone who does this for a living can do. After a while, one minute turns into two turns into five turns into my wife sighing ever more loudly until I have to reluctantly break away to finish buying healthy food.

Everyone back at CODO is the same way. We all live and breathe craft beer labels. We regularly design them, study them, make fun of them, admire and collect them. Through all of this, and traveling across the country working with craft breweries, and writing and reading and talking about craft beer, we’re in a unique position to see a lot of branding and package design trends emerge (and die off) in real time.

We discuss these trends so often with our brewery clients that we’ve boiled them down to simple names and groups. This is an interesting way to view craft beer branding because beyond visual aesthetics, you’re able to see how someone is positioning themselves, and what story they’re trying to tell.

Here are some of the more common craft beer branding and package design trends that we’re seeing right now.

Nostalgic Regional

Then was better than now

We could write an entire book about the appeal of vintage design and all its trappings. Harkening back to the Golden Years (whether real or imagined) where service and a handshake were the rule of the day, this style taps into the temptation to believe that things used to be just a little bit better. Before Twitter. Before smartphones. Before Bieber. Everything was simple and the world was safe. This aesthetic rides an overall cultural reaction (zeitgeist even) against big box stores, the Big 3, and anything mass produced for the lowest common denominator. This has been going on for over a decade and in a lot of ways has driven the rise of the craft beer industry.

This particular angle (the more tactile, textural and blue collar, the better) centers around an area’s old, mostly bygone industry — coal, steel, automotive, lumber, agriculture — in hopes of evoking one of the most powerful emotions there is: Nostalgia.

Blue Collar Industrial

Zen and the art of brewing

With all the fanfare surrounding craft beer — the flashy branding campaigns, the headline grabbing acquisitions, and the rockstar treatment of anyone wearing rubber boots, it’s easy to forget that this is still a blue collar, industrial job. In an age where most spend their days in front of a computer “creating,” it’s easy to romanticize someone slaving away to create something that can be physically enjoyed.

Similar in tone to Nostalgic Regional, this aesthetic trend tends to be more contemporary and approachable. Inspired by machinery logos, uniform patches, and timecards, this can be a fun look and feel, very in-tune with the look of the machinery found within breweries themselves.

Premium & Luxurious

Sophisticated and understated

Some folks drive a moderately priced sedan. Others, a big pickup truck. And for some, it’s gotta be the fanciest, most expensive car on the lot. There will always be room for premium products. Whether the beer you’re making is truly more expensive to produce, or you’re just slapping a fancy label on and calling it good. Call it the “wine-ification” of beer, or the clear communication of value (and high price point). These tend to be in a bomber or 750 mL bottle where the different package alone serves to communicate luxury (think cork and cage, foil tops and even wax dips).

When you buy this beer, you’re not just buying something that took longer to make, or was more expensive to brew, you’re letting people know that you have good taste.

This is only the beginning of this awesome, epic piece on branding from CODO Design. To read the rest of this post, jump on over on CODO’s blog. It’s full of quality content that’ll take up the rest of your day.

This column was provided by the folks at CODO Design, a five-man branding firm based in Indianapolis, IN. They’ve spent years working with startup craft breweries on naming, branding and positioning, responsive web design, and package design. They’ve gathered their experience into a comprehensive Craft Beer Branding Guide to help startup breweries navigate the entire branding process. Check it out at www.craftbeerbrandingguide.com.