Morning. 

Today, I want to discuss an important, and often overlooked, deliverable from the branding process: Brand Guidelines. 

This is a crucial tool for maintaining a consistent brand identity over time, creating compelling follow-on assets and building your brewery's Brand Equity.

In our work over the last 16+ years, we’ve seen these be as sparse as a 1-pager and as unwieldy and useless as 200+ page docs.

We think there’s a happy medium, so let’s talk about that today: What are brand guidelines, what do they include, why are they important and… why hardly anybody uses them.

Let’s get to it.

(Above): Brand Guidelines for Alewerks Brewing.

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What are Brand Guidelines?

Brand guidelines are a document (usually a PDF or a microsite) that outlines your brand identity system and usage guidelines. 

At CODO, we view these docs as having two halves:

The first half of your guidelines is utilitarian and outlines the nuts and bolts of your brand identity, including things like:

– Your Modular Brand Identity System (main logo, secondary and tertiary assets and iconography, taglines, etc.)

– Logo system usage guidelines (e.g. don’t stretch the logo, don’t make the logo green and replace the ’S’ with dollar signs and also put a bunch of cool lightning bolts behind it, etc.)

– Typography palette (including instructions for purchasing correct licenses so you’re covered to use everything legally)

– Color values for print and web applications

– IP guidance (e.g. which elements need R balls, vs. TM marks).

This section also includes application examples, such as: 

– Merch (hats, shirts, stickers, patches and pins)

– POS materials (tap handles, coasters, posters, tin tackers, floor stackers, shelf talkers)

– Environmental (signage, murals, billboards, vehicles)

– Digital considerations (favicon, social avatars, etc.) 

– Imagery & photography art direction guidance (e.g style of photos you should use, where to purchase / capture them, what channels they can live on)

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The second half of your Brand Guidelines outlines all of the Brand Strategy work you’ve defined through your branding or rebranding process. So things like:

– Your brewery’s positioning 

– Your brand voice and personality

– Your brand values (all 3 tiers)

– Your Key Messaging Pillars

– Your Brand Essence


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Both halves of your brand guidelines are important.

The style guide keeps your identity system consistent. But the Brand Strategy portion can be used to keep your business itself on track: You can use the messaging and positioning and values work to onboard and initiate new employees, vet partnerships, shape your copywriting, decide which beer styles and product categories you expand into, and on and on.

We could wrap this issue up here, but I'll give you a few more insights into how CODO views this tool, in case you don't have a proper set of guidelines yet.

(Above – Lost Nomad Brewing): Proper Brand Guidelines will outline your brand identity system as well as your broader Brand Strategy itself. 

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1 

Why doesn't anyone read their Brand Guidelines?

I’m half joking here, but I do think that your XYZ_Brewing_Brand_Guide_FinalV1_FinalFinalV2.pdf file is, in almost all cases, immediately filed away and forgotten about. 

The rate at which this filing-away-and-forgetting happens is directly proportionate to how long and bloated your brand guidelines are.

If this is a 100 page PDF—hell, if this is a 50 page PDF, it’s going to be too unwieldy for your team to use in a practical, day-to-day way. 

A fun example here is Pepsi’s brand guidelines from their 2008 rebrand. View the original doc here and listen to an early, almost deleted segment on the Beer Branding Trends Podcast where Cody and I roast this monstrosity. 

Bloated brand guidelines are interesting. Or at least, why this phenomenon exists. I think it’s a holdover from big agency days where brand guidelines would be a physical artifact — so a big binder filled with usage examples and hundreds of pages. Agencies would do this, and charge handsomely for it, so bigger became better. 

At CODO, we try to keep our guidelines as concise as possible — all killer, no filler.

Ours usually clock in around 12 – 20 pages. You really only need 5 or 6 pages, but we like to include lots of context (mockups, etc.) and other examples so people who weren't in the room with us during the branding process can understand what story we're all telling. 

(Above): You know you're in for some *primo* bullshit when your agency starts dropping the Golden Ratio during a presentation.

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2 

Why your brand guidelines are important 

Brand guidelines are important because they:

Protect your investment: Your identity and packaging are never as pristine as when they first launch. Your aesthetics will start to wander almost immediately as your team takes over and starts using it. That's not an indictment on anyone's abilities or talent or intellect — it's just how this works in the real world. 

Further, your branding process wasn’t cheap, and if you’re not actively and correctly using all of your identity components, you’re not taking advantage of all the work that went into getting your identity where it is today. 

Brand Guidelines help to maintain this "new car smell" as long as possible and protect your investment. 


Build your Brand Equity: If you build a consistent brand, you will build valuable visual and Brand Equity. This helps to build goodwill and name recognition — so, staying top of mind with your customers. But it also builds enterprise value, a churched up way of saying that a stronger brand will give you something that has more value (later on, in the event that you decide to sell the brewery). 

Make your life easier: Proper brand guidelines means you won’t have to re-invent the wheel every time you have to create a new can, or event graphic or piece of merch. Most of the heavy lift here has been done earlier in a formal branding process and then outlined through your guidelines. This means you can develop new assets on a quicker timeline and with less stress. 

Can increase revenue (via merch): This point is a bit of a stretch, but hear me out. If your agency creates a bunch of killer stuff for you — iconography, tagline builds, illustrations, etc. — and you don’t have a central place to look through these assets, they might as well not exist. A clear (and again, concise) set of guidelines gives you a snapshot at all the different pieces you can use to build your brand, which means you can more easily create cool stuff (like merch) that your fans will gladly spend money on.

Maintains a record of your Brand Strategy: One of the most important things your brand guidelines do is clearly outline the core elements of your brewery’s Brand Strategy — things like your key messaging pillars, your brand voice and personality, your Essence and positioning and values. You should be revisiting this information regularly, and unless you’ve got them printed on a motivational poster on the wall (I joke, but not actually a bad idea…), your brand guidelines are a good place to house this info. so it doesn't get lost.

(Above): Brand Guidelines for Mission Brewing.

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3

How are Brand Guidelines used?

Brand guidelines are used to ensure that any new thing you create — new packaging, a social media post, merch, signage, etc. — adheres to your brand identity standards. 

This keeps your identity consistent and attractive overtime, building your visual and Brand Equity as well as protecting your investment. 

You can send them to a vendor to ensure glassware is printed correctly. Or an intern who is handling your social media. Or a freelance designer. Or simply in-house with the work you’re creating every day. 

And we’ve got several clients who have included the Brand Strategy info from their guidelines into their new employee / partner onboarding process. This is our story, this is why we exist, these are our values, etc.

4

An important related tool: The DAM 

One piece to touch on here is how you manage your brand identity assets. You might see this referred to as a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. 

Common platforms here include something as simple as Dropbox or Drive and as purpose-built as Brand Folder. 

Germane to our conversation today, this system will house your brand identity files and guidelines themselves. But over time, you can also use this as a central hub to collect, and easily share, all of your other assets as your brand identity expands— sale sheets and other POS materials, photo and video library, podcast files, misc, production files, etc. 

In this way, you can almost use a DAM like a portal wherein you password protect certain documents so that only people with specific permissions can access them (e.g. a retailer or distributor downloading a sale sheet with specific pricing info that the public doesn’t want or need to see). 

 

5 

What is a style guide? (And how does packaging fit into this picture?)

I probably could have included this point up near the top, but let's just run through it quickly here.

A style guide is a super lean document — usually 2 or 3 pages — that outlines your logo usage. It doesn’t carry any of the broader Brand Strategy and messaging info. 

For reference, every set of Brand Guidelines contains a style guide, but hardly any style guides contain brand guidelines. 

These are useful in a few ways:

– As packaging guidelines: Style guides can include guidance on how to create additional specific packaging formats (e.g. a seasonal or in a series). This can include the template files along with instructions on how to drop in and change info from can to can, how to execute a specific illustration style, etc.

– When working with a vendor: To wit, a glassware company just needs to know which logo file and Pantone value to use. They don’t need to understand your key messaging pillars.

(Above): Brand Guidelines for Cold Drinking Beer.

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Wrapping up

Your brand is an investment 

*Time for some uncomfortable candor*

CODO has rebranded 55 breweries to date (out of 95 total brewery clients).

And while we're proud of all of this work, some of those earlier projects don't really show up in our portfolio anymore. 

This is because the brand guidelines clearly weren't referenced or used when creating follow on work internally.

I'm not pointing fingers, and I'm obviously not going to give you any examples, but this is an important illustration of the points we've outlined in this article. 

Your brand is an investment. And even more so when you work with an external agency to help you shape it. 

And you should protect this investment by trying to stay as consistent as you can moving forward. 

Your team is ultimately accountable for maintaining this standard, and your brand guidelines are an important tool in achieving this.

Morning. 

We had a question come in from a subscriber recently that was so good I thought it warranted its own issue. 

As an aside: You can reply to this email — or any issue we send out — if you have your own questions and/or want to discuss working together. 

Anyway, here’s the question in all its glory (shout out to Alexandra in Cali for sending this in):

“Is there a best season or time of year to launch a rebrand? Curious to hear the pros and cons of, say, an earlier launch vs. a later one and what CODO has seen work best in your experience.”
 

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I love this prompt and don’t think we’ve ever actually examined this. So let’s do that today. 

We’ll start by laying out the usual deadlines we see in our work along with a few thoughts on which of these we think work best and then wrap up with some other important things to consider as you plan your rebrand launch.

Let get to it. 

(Above): Craft Beer, Rebranded and its companion workbook are a step-by-step guide to help you map out a successful strategy for rebranding your brewery. The 22nd person to email me with the subject Evolution vs. Revolution gets a free copy.

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Common deadlines we see in our work
(in no particular order)

1

Rushing to hit your ABP (or some other important chain retail and/or wholesaler presentation) 

ABPs (annual business plans) have driven a lot of our project work over the last few years. Not the formal rebrand launch itself, but an emphasis on having a first look at whatever it is we’re tackling (usually a brand and package refresh, a new innovation / brand launch, etc.) ahead of an important meeting so our clients can get their wholesalers bought in and excited. 

Sometimes these are formal pitches, i.e. we’re launching this new brand, are you in? But more often than not, it’s just a glimpse at what’s to come — a core package refresh, introducing a new variety pack, some exciting innovation, etc. 

Deliverables we’ll kick out for this can include:

– Packaging renders
– Vehicle, tap handle and billboard comps
– Merch mockups (and/or physical samples) 
– An ABP deck design (usually a simple template that allows our clients to customize and drop in content as needed)
– And if you want to ball extra hard, you can get digitally-printed cans and bring actual packaged product to the meeting (Virginia Beer Co. did this when pitching their Cold Drinking Beer brand and it was warmly received — turns out your 14th ABP meeting of the day can be enlivened with a few cold beers.)

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Again, the ABP deadline doesn’t usually mark the beginning of the formal rollout, but is an important step on the path towards that end. If your wholesale partners are bought in, then you can figure out whether an early year launch, spring launch, etc. makes the most sense from there.

(Above): Alewerks' refresh was timed to reveal internally during a crucial chain pitch. We made dozens of interim mockups for this meeting and got all their partners hyped (as hyped as a chain buyer can get, anyway).

Once we hit that deadline, we were able to leisurely wrap up their packaging for production in time for a January rollout. 

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2

Rolling out for the Spring / Summer selling season 

If the timing lines up, launching your rebrand, or starting to roll it out, during spring can be a good way to get your feet under you as you head into your prime summer selling months.

We see this approach a lot with staggered launches that center around an anniversary, e.g. you’re planning a big launch party this fall for your anniversary, but plan to roll the new look out sooner 

I think this is a great approach that can give you a lot of flexibility in how you shape your broader announcement.

3

Celebrating a big anniversary 

Launching your rebrand to coincide with a significant anniversary is common approach we see in our work. This can be for a major round number milestone — 10, 20, 25. Or, it can just happen on whenever your next anniversary is. (There is nothing wrong with celebrating your 9th or 16th anniversary. Especially in today's market.)

This is a fun approach that allows you to celebrate your business and your team and your community and fans. Thank people for their support and get them excited for what’s to come. 

A few thoughts here: 

A. You might consider a special anniversary version of your logo. This can lend itself to merchandising and a broader campaign that celebrates your business. It also turns a single day occurrence into a year long event if done right.

B. Depending on your brewery’s size and age, you can extend your anniversary as long as you can get away with. That can be a weekly celebration, a month, a season or even an entire year of programming (again, if you’re old enough. The mayor probably isn't showing up for your 4th anniversary extravaganza). 

(Above Top): AleSmith's 30th anniversary logo is a good example of supporting your refresh rollout with a specific mark. This is a great way of turning what could be a 1 day event into a year long celebration full of programming.

(Above Bottom): Our KettleHouse rebrand was one of the first staggered launches we planned. Their reveal centered around a big release day party across their three locations with the rest of their flagship packaging rolling out in tranches as painted cans and cartons came in.  

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4 

New year new me

Rolling out your rebrand at the start of the year feels right. It’s a nice clean break — out with the old, in with the new. Even if this is just a mental thing, launching your rebrand in January does seem intuitive. 

But beyond that, this also lets you get the new look out in the wild during a traditionally quiet time. This means you can possibly see a more immediate bump in sales, or just consider this a nice and easy, rolling soft launch up to spring when things start to heat up and your sales really kickoff. 

Another note here (and an obvious one): January is a natural time to launch an NA product — NA beer, Hop Water, etc. as Dry January gobbles up all the oxygen during the month.) So this could be a good time to launch your rebrand itself, if you have an NA line coming out around at the same time. 

5 

Get that new look out ASAP

We’ve seen some breweries launch their packaging and identity as soon as they received it. I mean, one of our Sr. Designers will send over Brand Guidelines and we’ll see the new logo up on their instagram account later that day.

I appreciate the enthusiasm and do think there’s something A.) funny, and B.) actually kind of refreshing about just sending it. 

Here’s the thing: It’s easy to overthink things — this entire newsletter is built for people who overthink their brand and Brand Strategy and positioning and marketing and on and on. And this approach — getting your new look out the door ASAP — just throws caution to the wind and builds the plane in the air. 

And I think there’s some merit here. 

There could be an opportunity cost in waiting for an extended period of time to reveal your new look. 

A quick example we’ve shared in the past: 

A rebrand is an investment in your brewery’s future. As with any investment, you do this with the intention of reaping a larger (hopefully compounding) return than you put in.

So let’s say you see an increase in sales of 30% YoY in year 1 after rebranding. For argument’s sake, let’s say that a 30% bump comes out to 600k in additional top line revenue earned in year 1. If you wait 4 months to launch your rebrand, that pencils out to 200k you won’t see in new revenue over those 4 months. 

Now this is a heavy-handed, and obviously flawed way to calculate your ROI (I hear you—beer sales aren’t consistent year round, you likely won't see a dramatic increase on day 1, etc.).

But this does highlight the fact that your rebrand is an investment. And that you’ll want to see a return on that investment as soon as possible.  

So if that means you can launch your rebrand today and start building awareness and good will and increased velocity sooner, then maybe you should consider that.

(Above): One of my favorite parts of our Forest Road rebrand was how excited they were to get the new look out into the wild. It was awesome: We'd send packaged identity files their way at 11am and their social handles would be switched over by lunchtime. 

After carefully planning and executing dozens of staggered rebrand launches, this was kind of refreshing. Why wait when we can go now?

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To (finally) answer our original question here, no. There is no best time of year to launch your rebrand. As with any of the strategies we’ve outlined today, your best path depends on how you’d like to tell your story along with a handful of production parameters. 

Here are a few more considerations to wrap us up.

A process of forward thinking / backward planning 

Ultimately, whichever of these dates (or any other time that suits your brewery) will depend on a handful of other moving parts we haven’t covered here today. 

The biggest of these will usually be your packaging stock. This isn’t that hard to work through, but it’s kind of an art of…

– Determining how much current stock you have on hand (e.g. how many printed cans or labels or cartons have we already paid to have printed and therefor need to use)

– Projecting how long it will take to work through those and then  

– Getting a firm idea of how long it will take to get your new packaging ordered and in hand. 

Ideally, you’d run your last can through the line right as that delivery truck is backing up to your dock (though, that’s probably cutting it a bit too close.). But you get the idea. 

This complicated dance is another reason why CODO has come to recommend a Staggered launch with most of our clients. 

On the Staggered Launch 

Whichever launch date(s) you decide to aim for, I want you to consider the merits of a “Staggered Rebrand” Launch.

This means that you will have old (or current) packaging in the market at the same time you are rolling out your new packaging. There’s going to be some period of overlap, but this is by design and it’s really by necessity because it’s hard to have a clean changeover today. 

So this is an actual rollout plan. But beyond that, it’s also a mindset shift. This approach isn’t a compromise, or confusing (if handled well), or lingering. Instead, it’s an opportunity to continually stay top of mind and celebrate every time a new package design hits the market. You can message around that and send out press releases and have a big release party, over and over and over (though, let’s not wear out your welcome here, yeah?).

In the interest of not expanding this issue by another thousand words, here are a handful of links on this topic if you’d like to dig deeper: 

> Embracing the Staggered Rebrand Launch – [ BBT Issue ]

> Embracing the Staggered Rebrand Launch – [ BBT Podcast ]

> When to Refresh, Rebrand or Stand Pat – [ CODO x BrewBound Podcast ]

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While there's no universally best time to launch a rebrand, the key is to choose a strategy that aligns with your brewery's goals, production capabilities and storytelling opportunities. 

Whether you opt for a January 1 launch, an anniversary celebration or an extended staggered rollout, your most important factors for success are thorough planning and clear communication with your team, distributors and customers. 

Ultimately, successfully launching your rebrand depends less on the specific launch date itself and more on how well you execute the transition and leverage it to reinvigorate your brand in the market.

Hi, there.

It seems like our name development work comes in waves. 

We’ll go a year without much action, and then all at once, we’ll end up naming 4 or 5 brands and products over the course of a few months. We’re in one of those heavy waves now, and since it’s been a minute since we last talked about naming, I wanted to revisit this topic. 

Plus, given all the Brand Architecture and new brand development work we’re helping our clients work through right now, I bet you likely have name development on the horizon sometime soon as well. 

So today, I want to give you a quick rundown on how we approach this problem, including:

– How we weigh preliminary considerations and frame and project context. 

– How we define themed “buckets” and develop hundreds of really shitty upfront ideas. 

– How we winnow down to the best choices

– How we share these with our client partners

– How we manage the trademarking process

– Our *top secret* method for naming legacy beer brands

To make this more concrete, we’ll walk you through our recent naming work with AleSmith Brewing to name, brand and launch their new flagship Pilsner. This isn’t a formal case study, but it will help to illustrate the different steps in our process. 

Cool? Let’s kick this off by discussing the Creative Brief. 

(Above): Revisit our case study on naming and branding Birdsmouth Beer Co.

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Building the Creative Brief 

Before we develop anything — Brand Strategy, name options, design concepts, etc. — we have to understand your objectives. We do this with a Creative Brief.

A Creative Brief is a document that captures the broad strokes of the project you’re working on at an executive summary level, as well as what you’re trying to accomplish. So, things like product attributes, intended audience, positioning, how this brand fits into your broader Brand Architecture, messaging, visual art direction, brand voice and personality cues, etc. 

For AleSmith’s new flagship Pilsner brief, we defined the following parameters:

– This is a German-style Pilsner, though AleSmith doesn’t want to focus on the German aspect. 

– This has been a best-selling beer in their taproom for several years. This will be the first time they can it.

– They foresee this becoming a #3 or #4 brand in their portfolio within a few years.

– They want the name to sound vaguely European.

– They want the design to be European-inspired as well, vs. the more Americana “Nostalgic Regional” aesthetic you see across American lagers.

– They want to tie it to AleSmith’s parent brand in some way (because it’s a flagship).

– They don’t want the name to geographically limit the brand — e.g. San Diego Pils — since this beer will end up in all 16 states where AleSmith is sold. 

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A few things to pull out here:

You need to clearly define your “buckets”

A “bucket” is how we collect themes that we can deep dive on and explore. This can be one idea, or multiple ideas that, if combined, could be interesting. 

Some examples: Lager, Springtime, A European vacation, Feeling empowered, Midwest work ethic, Contemporary cannabis, Outlaw Country, etc.

You want to frame 3 or 4 buckets at a minimum, though more is okay as well as long as they align with your objectives. 

Without these guardrails in place, you have no idea where to even begin looking for a name. Most of the time, when we start working with someone who has struggled to find a name for their brewery or product, it’s because they have’t done this initial work. 

How important is this brand? 

It’s important to consider how important this thing you’re naming will be. 

If you're naming your overall brewery, brand, business or hospitality group itself, then this is about as important as it gets.

If this is a new flagship, or a brand in another category that will add real revenue to your business, then the name — and the work that goes into it — is more important than naming a quick limited time only (LTO) release that will be gone in a month. And this includes everything that follows: How many options you initially consider, how (or if) you trademark the name, etc.

If the product isn’t really important to your overall business — again, say a quick, one-off LTO — then you don’t need to invest as much time and energy into this. In this case, as long as you’re not clearly infringing on someone else’s trademark, especially in your market, you can use whatever name you want. (*This is not legal advice, obviously. I’m wearing jorts while typing this.)

Style names as positioning tools

Again, this isn’t an AleSmith case study, but I do want to note how their team is thinking about this beer’s style as a critical positioning tool. For a beer that could be as big as #3 in their portfolio (for a brewery that already sells 65k+ bbl per year), it makes sense to go more mainstream. 

While this is a German-style Pilsner, they felt that focusing on that would only add unnecessary friction for people who might not know what that means, but would otherwise enjoy a beautifully made Pils. 

So this will be billed simply as a “Pilsner.”

Read more about the idea of style names as positioning tools here.

(Above): At CODO, we bake the Creative Brief into our larger Brand Strategy process. This creates a nice, rolling conversation where we gather all relevant project context, differentiators and buckets into one place. 

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What makes for a great name? 

Let’s quickly revisit how we judge name options so we know what we’re aiming for. A great name should accomplish a few things:

– It should be available to trademark (first and foremost).

– It should be reflective of your differentiator. 

– It should be easy to spell and recall.

– It should be likable and fun to say (with a great mouthfeel — bonus points for alliteration).

– It should be flexible (think of it as a platform upon which you can scale later on). 

– It should be portable — not geographically-limiting — unless there's a specific opportunity you're moving on.

And finally…

– It should be a phenomenal “bar call.”

The Bar Call 

The bar call heuristic is a simple way of putting a potential name in context. 

Someone walks up to your taproom bar and orders the beer. How does that sound? 

– “Can I get a Cold Smoke?” 

– “805.”

“Two Banquets, please.” 

– “Old Fashioned.”

– “Make it a Cold one.” 

– “Can I get two Shy Giants.”

– “Hop Drop!”

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After the ability to federally trademark a name, we believe a great bar call is the most important quality you should aim for. 

A great name is a platform. 

And you can build an entire world — on-trade programming, POS, campaigns, Co-branded products and other extensions — around a great bar call.

(Above): Make it a cold one. (How's that for a bar call?)

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What does the naming process actually look like?

Every agency will have their own process here. After we’ve worked through Brand Strategy and built the Creative brief, CODO’s unfolds like this:

We develop hundreds of options between two or three team members. Out of those, 90% (95%?) will be junk (though important from a process standpoint — the creative process is iterative and you’re not hitting home runs every time you’re at bat. Or at least, I don’t.).

Nine of the remaining 10% will be unavailable from a trademarking standpoint. 

And there are still some options that, while available, might not hit the mark for some other reason — doesn’t tell a story, too limited, too esoteric, hard to spell, etc. So we'll cull these as well. 

What remains is a tight list that meets the criteria we laid out above. 

While we don’t have a hard and fast number for the amount of names we share, it usually clocks in around 15 to 20 options. 

And while we build time into our schedule to allow for a second round, this is rarely needed. 

That’s not a subtle flex, but a reflection of how much emphasis we put on Brand Strategy and building the upfront brief itself. If we don’t get really close to a few final contenders in this first round, then our original brief is likely off in some way and we need to get that dialed in before heading into round two. 

A quick note on pre-vetting options 

Lawyers are an important partner in the naming process. 

Having them review options is such an important step that we won’t move forward with a name until an attorney (your’s or CODO’s) has verified that it’s available. They have to make the final decision.

(This was a very painful lesson Cody and I learned earlier in our career.)

Anyway, an attorney will run a knockout search on any name options you’re considering in order to unearth potential conflicts. This can cost several hundred dollars (or more) per inquiry, so we want to make sure we’re not presenting obviously unavailable options and wasting your time and money. 

This is straightforward on our end, and we do the following:

– We Google the name.

– We ensure the URL is available (if applicable).

– We check Untapped and major social channels.

– We check the USPTO database (for relevant classes, e.g. 032 / 033).

If a name passes these preliminary checks, we’re comfortable presenting it to our client. 

But an attorney will still have to make the final-final call. More on this in a moment. 

For now, let’s get back to AleSmith’s pilsner.

(Above): After you've defined your buckets, your job is to dive headlong into rabbit holes to generate as many words and ideas as possible. Don't swing for the fences at this stage (i.e. think you're gonna solve this problem in one go), and DO NOT EDIT. You're aiming for volume at this stage. 

Bonus tip: One of my favorite ways to find cool words is to look through online glossaries. The grungier and more home-brewed the better. I'm talking hard-coded, typo-ridden, schizophrenic and MySpace-looking. 

There's some guy (a webmaster?) in Iowa who's really into katanas (or in AleSmith's case, Blacksmithing). And he developed (literally, hard coded) a website to share his passion back in 2006. That site is (somehow) still live. So when you go to name a new flagship in 2025, thank him.

—

 

Naming AleSmith’s Pilsner 

The big buckets (collection of themes) we explored for this new brand included:

– AleSmith’s parent brand and Blacksmithing.

– Bright, airy and refreshing (on the beer itself).

– German / European-inspired names.

– Wild cards.

These are all self-explanatory, so we can fast forward a bit here. 

We ended up sharing 16 options. AleSmith liked three of them for this Pilsner and another one for an upcoming brand. 

This is common in our work. You might pay for help naming one product but end up with 3 or 4 killer options that you can use later on. (AleSmith actually used one of the names we proposed during this project — Sun Path — for another beer. Check that out here.) 

We recommend trademarking anything you think you’ll actually use from this process, even if that means you need to get an intent-to-use filing in place for now. We discussed this topic at length with CODO’s IP attorney, Matthew McLaughlin, on a recent podcast. 

Back to your attorney (“your lawyer makes the final call”)

I tee’d this up a bit ago. Let’s bring it home now. 

AleSmith liked a few of our proposed name options for this Pilsner. They shared these with their attorney and found them all to be available. This is actually rare. 

Usually, an attorney will come back and tell us that there’s a clear conflict with at least one of our options — something they found that didn’t show up in our pre-vetting work. (They have access to databases and tools that we, as lowly designers, don’t.)

This is why we say the lawyer makes the final decision. If you like two names and your attorney determines you can’t use one, then you go with the remaining option. 

Easy. Peasy. 

(Above): Sorry for the obnoxious redactions here. AleSmith paid for this work, so we can’t share it.

—
 

A few notes:

Are you an older brewery? Check your archives

If your brewery has been around for 15, 20, 25+ years, you will have brewed and named hundreds of beers. And you will have (hopefully) trademarked a good number of these. 

This is one of our secret weapons when naming products with older breweries. 

If you’re not currently using a particular name and feel like it could work well for this new project, repurpose it. 

Clients are often surprised when I suggest this. But I’m equally surprised they’re not doing this by default. 

What good does a solid name do for you sitting on the sidelines?

We can’t use that name. It was a Hefeweizen we brewed back in 2016. 

No one remembers. And if they do, I’m not sure it matters. (They’ll catch on. Your fans are smart.)

Using the best name available is what matters here. 

—

So, which name did AleSmith choose?

Anvil Pilsner. 

This name checked nearly every box on our Creative Brief. 

– It ties to AleSmith and blacksmithing. 

– It is memorable. 

– It is easy to spell. 

– It is flexible. 

– It’s a killer bar call. 

And to prove my point from above, this is actually a name AleSmith had used years ago for an ESB. 

And bonus points: They have the name federally trademarked. 

How did we discover this? We asked Brandon and Kristen to name the most on-brand AleSmith beer name they could think of during our kickoff conversation. “Anvil” came up and was an immediate contender right then and there. 

It doesn’t always work out this way, but when it does, it can expedite things nicely. 

(Above): We’re focusing on name development in this issue, but I don’t want to leave you hanging. Here's Anvil Pilsner in all its glory.  

—

What have we learned here? 

Context is important. Without a solid Creative Brief, you're swinging in the wind without any direction.

You need to nail your bar call. How will people order this beer? Gleefully and proud, or sheepishly mumbling into their chest? The difference can make or break your brand.

Check your archives. If you're an established brewery, you might be sitting on a goldmine of old names. Sometimes your best option is already in your back pocket.

Bring in an attorney. If this brand is important enough to trademark, you need to go through that process properly. If you don't wan to go through that effort, imagine building this brand for 4 years, it becomes your best seller and is transforming your business. Then one day you receive a C&D. We've seen this happen. 

Trust the process. Naming is creative and fun, but it's also methodical and iterative (and frustrating). Build your brief, generate hundreds of options, work through the bad, find the good, pre-vet everything, and always — always — get your attorney's sign-off before moving forward.

—
 

Want help naming your next product? Shoot me an email and let’s make that happen.

Hi, there! 

This is the fourth and final exclusive topic we’re covering here in our newsletter as part of the broader 2025 Beer Branding Trends Report. 

We aren't publishing these insights in the main article, so if there’s someone on your team who you think would benefit from reading these, please forward this email to them or have them sign up here.



Thanks so much for being a BBT subscriber.



Let's get into it.


—

There are hundreds, if not thousands of older breweries across the United States right now quietly having similar, pressing conversations behind the scenes: 
 
– How do we recruit new, younger drinkers? 
– How do we make our packaging stand out in retail?

– Should we release a beyond beer product?
– Is it time to build a Sub Brand? 
– How can we get our distributor(s) to care about our brand again?
– How do we stand out from the dozens (or hundreds) of local options?
– What even is our story today, XX years in?


 
—

 
 
This weariness is particularly prevalent amongst older, mid-market breweries: Outfits who are ~10 to 20+ years old and making anywhere from ~5k to 15k+ bbl per year. In many cases, they're no longer seen as a cool, romantic or sexy brand. They're no longer seen as relevant, especially compared to their younger counterparts.
 
But, perhaps most painful of all, you have a growing number of lapsed fans — folks who have moved on to drink beer from other breweries, or beyond beer products, or less alcohol in general.
 
This leaves you at a crossroads, unsure where to go from here.
 
We have all this history, this legacy. We have this volume (though it's slowly eroding). What do we do?


(Above): Here's a behind the scenes look at how Mission Brewing breathed new life into its historic brand.

—


You could lay down and die. Watch the rest of your volume disappear and hope someone swoops in to buy you.
 
Or you could roll up your sleeves and build something on the strong foundation you already have.
 
I’ve been heartened over the last year through our project work with Legacy and Regional Breweries across the country who are making smart moves aimed at shoring up their flanks and better positioning their business for the long term.
 
This issue focuses on a few compelling through lines we’re seeing in our projects and field work with this cohort. 

Note: Click here to read our full definition of a Legacy Brewery. This is semantic, but we consider any outfit that was founded before 2010 to now be a Legacy outfit.

(Above): After more than 20 years in business, KettleHouse felt that it was time to clean up their brand identity and overall presentation. This was an important move that set this popular Montana brewery up for continued growth (including through the last several challenging years). 

Read a deep dive case study on KettleHouse's brand refresh here.

—


How can we court lapsed fans and younger drinkers? 


 
This is the most common refrain we hear from older breweries. Yeah, your packaging needs to be refreshed, your identity could use some work, a new website would be nice, and on and on. But why? Why do you want to make these changes? To reach more people and sell more beer.
 
(And while we’re here, this is how you should view any investment in your brand.)
 
You don’t have to be 25+ years old to have lapsed fans. We’ve worked with a few ~10 year old breweries who were facing this issue.
 
Recruitment of younger drinkers is a category-wide problem (we’ll speak to this more directly later), but this is acutely felt amongst older breweries who are already fighting the dusty-old-dad-beer perception.
 
So how do you do this? Can an older brewery reach out to older, lapsed fans and speak to younger drinkers at the same time or is this like having your cake and eating it too? 
 
This is a steep hill to climb. But here are a handful of things your brewery can do to help pull it off.

(Above): How can you honor your past and speak to long time fans, while also courting younger drinkers? It starts with your brand and story itself, and extends to what types of products you create, what sorts of stories you tel and where you show up.

—


1

Define your Brand Strategy to get a lay of the land 
Strategy as a diagnostic
 
Upstream Brand Strategy work is crucial for framing all downstream design and business decisions. It’s how you understand your positioning and differentiators, key messaging, values, personality, voice, vision and essence.
 
CODO is fielding a lot of dedicated Brand Strategy and Brand Architecture mapping engagements right now with regional clients to help take stock of their brand and figure out where to go from here.
 
This is a fun process that can unearth pain points to address, opportunities to move on and other strategic recommendations (e.g. naming conventions, portfolio suggestions, co-branding opportunities and merch ideas). 
 
This is a great opportunity to bring in an outside set of eyes to size up your situation, tell you where you sit relative to your competition and make recommendations that you might explore based on what we’re seeing.

(Above): We regularly work with breweries who are 10, 15, 20+ years old and brew 10's of thousands of barrels per year who have never gone through a proper Brand Strategy process. This work is always fun, and challenging, and completely revelatory. And it's also a good diagnostic step if you're not sure what your next move should be. 

—


2

Define your Key Communication Pillars (and your brand voice & personality)
 
Back to our core idea here: How can an older brewery court lapsed fans and new, younger drinkers alike?
 
A big part of this, and something that we work to frame during our Brand Strategy process, is defining your Key Communication Pillars. 
 
That’s a churched up way of saying which big ideas you want people to associate with your brewery’s brand. What do you want people to think about when they hear your brewery’s name? How do you want them to describe your brand to their friends? What big ideas and differentiators do you want them to remember?
 
One of our favorite ways of sussing out compelling ideas in our work is to have everyone on your team answer this question: 
 
If you could go into someone’s head and put three or four big messages about your brand in there, what would those be?
 
(That’s it. Really.)
 
Here are some examples we’ve seen emerge from this exercise:
 
– We are one of Canada’s original craft breweries.
– We are the quintessential Upper Peninsula beer brand.
– We source all of our ingredients directly from Germany. 
– We are one of San Diego’s most beloved breweries. 
– We are your go-to fridge stocker beer.
– We are the no-frills Midwest cocktail company.
– We use tech to grow the best cannabis in Michigan.
– We are Oregon’s original craft brewery. 
– We are the iconic Wisconsin / New Glarus Supper Club. 
– We deliver wild Alaskan seafood directly to your door.
– We make cider from apples grown on our 75 year old family farm. 
– We build our own whiskey barrels in-house at our cooperage.
 
Your first attempt will likely result in dozens of ideas. Work with your team (or branding partner) to winnow this down to 3–4 big ideas. Why 3 to 4? 

Because people have limited bandwidth, so less, but better, is the goal here.


—


Move beyond table stakes 
 
It’s important to challenge yourself to think beyond table stakes when revising these messages. 
 
We see this come up constantly when defining brand values and Key Communication Pillars. These are the sorts of ideas that, while maybe true for your brewery, can also be claimed by (a lot of) your competition. A few examples:
 
– We make high quality beer.
– We only use the best ingredients.
– We’re community-focused.
– We’re environmentally responsible.
 
(I’m still waiting for the day a brewery hangs its hat on brewing objectively flawed beer for people they don’t like. “Flawed beer for flawed people” …)
 
Again, these things (high quality beer) are likely true and should guide how you act behind closed doors. But we’re looking for true and compelling differentiators around which you can build your brand.
 
Once you have a grasp on these big ideas, you can start to frame out what brand personality and voice best fits your brand.
 
Here’s a recent Beer Branding Trends Newsletter issue that dives more fully into this entire process, including how to define your brand personality. 

(Above): Key Communication Pillars are crucial for long-term brand building and developing a differentiated, compelling brand voice. Read more about how to frame your brewery's communication pillars here. 

—


3

Brewery to Beverage Company 

At this point, I probably don't have to mention that consumers are looking for Fourth Category / Beyond Beer products. (But I will anyway, because they are.)

That can include seltzers and other FMBs, or spirits and RTDs, hard cider, Hop Water and other non-alcoholic and/or whiz bang functional beverage. 

The Legacy Breweries we're working with today are all embracing this and creating a variety of products to stay relevant with their fans.

If you're interested in this idea, have your team take the Beverage Extension Assessment Tool (B.E.A.T.). This will help you quickly figure out how you could position, name and brand a non-beer product. 

4

Consider Co-branding: A tactical way of authentically connecting your brand to a region 
 
Co-branding with another beloved local institution is a fun way to signal-boost your brewery, reach new audiences and authentically tie your brand to your region.

It's also a great way to show your brewery in a new light.
 
We explored this idea in last year’s annual Beer Branding Trends report. Read our Quick & Dirty Guide to Co-branding if this idea interests you.

(Above): Co-branding is a fun way of energizing your brand and speaking to a broader audience.

—


5

Build Sub Brands (and have a broader focus on your Brand Architecture)
 
We talk about Sub Brands in more detail in the Brand Architecture section of this broader report. But for the Legacy Brewery, this remains one of the most important opportunities you can consider. 
 
The problem is this: Can your parent brand credibly reach out to a twenty-something drinker? (Compelling brand voice notwithstanding.) This will be challenging for most Legacy outfits. But if executed right, you can slide right in there with a well-positioned Sub Brand. (Bonus points if you’ve got a compelling Lifestyle Brand positioning angle.)
 
Prominent examples of this strategy include Voodoo Ranger (New Belgium), Little Thing (Sierra Nevada), Beer Hug (Goose Island), Hearted (Bells), Dead Guy (Rogue), Dale’s (Oskar Blues). 
 
We’ve written extensively about Sub Brands over the last few years. Here are a few resources if you’d like to learn more about this: 
 
> Are fancifully-named beers Sub Brands? – [BBT Newsletter]
> Sub Brands vs. Endorsed Brands – [ Podcast ]
> How to Scale the Sub Brand Ladder – [ Podcast ]

(Above): Sub Brands are one of the most pervasive trends in beer branding right now. If you've got a flagship (or two) that comprise 50% or more of your revenue, consider whether it could make sense to continue building that brand via the "Sub Brand Ladder."

—


6

Consider a brand and package refresh (You gotta knock the dust off)
 
We’re putting brand and package refreshes at the end because these sorts of investments should only be made after you’ve ironed out everything else we’ve covered here: Framing your Brand Strategy and positioning, defining your Key Communication Pillars and brand voice and personality and Brand Essence.
 
If you’ve got these all squared away, then a proper refresh can be the last remaining piece to pull this all together and really make some dramatic changes in your market.

(Above): Alewerks invested in a brand refresh to solidify their positioning, define their key messaging pillars and bring consistency to their overall portfolio. Read a deep dive case study on this project here.

—


7

Can you use scarcity as a nudge? 

I think more Regional Breweries could consider how to introduce measured scarcity into their business model. 

Thought exercise: Spotted Cow is a wonderful beer. But would it be as revered if you could roll into any big box grocery store across the country and grab a case?  

My point here is that scarcity can be an important part of brand building. How can we apply this idea to your flagships? 

Consider whether all of your beers need to be in every market you’re in. Pore through your sales data and see what insights it can provide. If your Kölsch over-indexes in one state (out of the four or five you’re currently in), double down there. If your Pils isn’t doing as well in another market, work to understand why and/or pull those dollars and reinvest in an area where it is performing.

As a Legacy Brewery, you possess unique intangibles that your younger competitors can't match: A sense of history, established brands, proven recipes, years of community involvement and industry experience. Your challenge lies in figuring out how to spin all of this together in a way that resonates with people.

You’ve been around 15, 25, 30+ years… so what? What does that do for me?

Here’s how you start figuring that out:

– Conduct a thorough Brand Strategy process to understand your current position and identify opportunities. 
– Define your Key Communication Pillars to highlight your unique strengths and resonate with both loyal and potential new customers.
– Consider co-branding opportunities to authentically connect with your local community and reach new audiences.
– Explore whether or not a Sub Brand could help you reach a specific demographic (or occasion) without compromising your core identity. 
– And when that’s all done, refresh your branding and packaging to reflect your renewed strategy and appeal to contemporary tastes.

Remember, your history is an asset, not a burden. By embracing your legacy while innovating for the future, you can reconnect with lapsed fans and attract younger drinkers.

Show up in ways that matter to your community — through meaningful events, partnerships, and initiatives that demonstrate your commitment to both tradition and progress.

Your story isn't over — it's evolving. And the next chapter could be your most exciting yet.

Hi, there! 

This is the third of four exclusive topics we’re covering here in our newsletter as part of the broader 2025 Beer Branding Trends Report. 

We aren't publishing these insights in the main article, so if there’s someone on your team who you think would benefit from reading these, please forward this email to them or have them sign up here.



Thanks so much for being a BBT subscriber.



Let's get into it.


—

CODO is fielding a few cannabis beverage branding projects right now and we’re having a lot of fun. 

Our team is drinking from a fire hose, figuring out label compliance and regulatory considerations, positioning and category canon, consumer education levels, Brand Architecture, and on and on. 

This space (hemp-derived beverages) feels a lot like the early days of the Beer Boom. It started small and ultra niche but the segment is expected to grow to nearly $750 Million over the next 5 years.  

So we’re seeing a lot of breweries flock towards this segment (attracted by high margins and the opportunity for incremental growth).

We’ll develop robust case studies for our current projects later on. But today, I wanted to outline a few of the recurring themes we’re seeing in our work, branding, positioning and helping breweries bring these cannabis brands to market.  

 
—


 
A few points and caveats: 
 
– What we’re going to discuss here will apply broadly to cannabis beverage branding. We’ll set aside all the nuance between the different types of THC derivatives (e.g. hemp-derived, CBD, CBN, THC, D8, D9) and speak more to the emergent category itself. I think this will be more useful because the regulatory environment is changing so rapidly that by the time you read this, a particular product may be legal / illegal in your market anyway. 
 
– Our current projects involve helping breweries launch canna-beverages (a THC-infused NA beer and a seltzer). That doesn’t mean we’ll end up positioning these as being from these breweries, but this does matter when we discuss Brand Architecture. More on this in a moment. 
 
– Federal legalization of cannabis seems inevitable. So if you’re holding off on exploring this category due to it currently being illegal, that might not be a sound excuse for much longer. 

(Above): The Beverage Extension Assessment Tool is a purpose-built diagnostic for quickly positioning, branding and launching your next beverage. We use this on every new product launch with CODO clients.

—


Here are a few things your team might consider if you’re interested in launching a cannabis-infused beer or beverage.
 
 
1

Should your brewery put out a cannabis beverage? (on early adoption)
 
Timing is crucial when considering entry into a market like this. In our last issue, discussed when it makes sense to jump on new trends, and those principles apply here as well. 
 
The cannabis beverage category is poised for excitement and growth in the coming years (the only cannabis segment forecasted to see double digit growth over the next 5 years).

However, due to varying legal statuses across the country, it's likely to become a top-heavy market dominated by a few clear winners, similar to hard seltzer and non-alcoholic beer.
 
This presents a dilemma for your brewery:
 
– Enter too early, and you risk burning resources in an underdeveloped market.
 
– Wait too long, and you might miss out on gaining crucial market share.
 
Our advice? Set FOMO aside. It's often beneficial to observe and learn before diving in. Consider these approaches:
 
A. Move now to be an early adopter, potentially gaining a first-mover advantage. But only if you've got the capital (and the energy) to confront all the challenges this presents.
 
B. Let early entrants wrestle with the initial challenges, then join once the category takes better shape. It may be harder to gain wider traction, but you may have an easier path to market overall thanks to the work of others. 
 
Both strategies can be effective but know that your location may significantly impact your starting position in this race.


—


Food for thought: With a nascent category like cannabis beverage, you will have to simultaneously build your brand and the broader category itself. 

Beverages aren't currently a popular way for people to enjoy cannabis, lagging far behind edibles, flower, pre-rolls and vape.

This doesn't mean cannabis beverages won't become more common — they certainly will — but you're going to have to build broad consumer education while also building your own brand.

2

On Brand Architecture
 
One of the most important decisions you’ll have to make when positioning and branding your cannabis beverage is to what extent your parent brand acts as a purchasing driver. This choice will significantly impact your product's positioning and Brand Strategy.
 
Key Considerations:
 
1. Endorsed Brand or New Brand?
 
– Should the product be a direct extension of your brewery's brand?
 
– Should it be an entirely new, standalone brand with minimal connection to your parent brand?
 
– Or should it fall somewhere in between, with its own unique brand, but with some connection with your parent brand? 
 
2. These questions are exactly why we built our free Beverage Extension Assessment Tool (B.E.A.T.). Have everyone on your team take this quiz to quickly determine your options here.
 
3. I usually don’t like to make concrete recommendations on this sort of thing in our newsletter because every business out there will be different. Your brewery’s brand (and positioning, culture, competitive set, regulatory environment…) will all dictate the strategically-sound approach. 
 
However, I do feel strongly that for most breweries, building a new standalone brand will likely make the most sense. However, if you’re making a cannabis-infused beer vs. a cannabis beverage, that might change the conversation. More on that in a moment.
 
I say a standalone brand will likely make the most sense because the regulatory issues and stigma surrounding cannabis might make that approach “safer” for your parent brand.
 
But a more compelling reason to consider positioning your cannabis beverage as a standalone brand is…

3

Built to sell (the real opportunity at hand)
 
If you’re inclined to move on a category as nascent as cannabis, I think the real opportunity here is to build a brand that you can scale up and sell. 
 
This would be another vote for building a standalone brand vs. bringing it to market connected to your parent brand.
 
There are a lot of groups, much bigger than your brewery (e.g. Tilray, Diageo, KDP, Monster — even larger craft outfits), keeping an eye on this category. And for them, it’s far easier to buy a brand than it is to build one. 
 
If you’ve built your brewery, or brand, from the ground up, the idea of selling it off can be anathema.
 
But I don’t think you need to be as precious about a non-beer category like cannabis. Especially if you already operate a brewery. This category seems tailor-made for M&A activity (it's young, it's buzzy, it's better for you). So lean into it. 
 
If you agree and are interested in building a canna-beverage brand to sell, you need to really knock it out of the park with:
 
– A phenomenal name
– A differentiated product and unique POV
– A gorgeous brand identity and packaging
– A fun website
– A compelling brand voice and personality (continually executed well across all channels)
 
All of this will drive sales and build a strong brand, which in turn, will make you more attractive to a would-be buyer.

4 

On cannabis IP (how to protect what you build)
 
You can't currently trademark cannabis products at the federal level. Why? Because the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) doesn't register trademarks for goods and services that aren't legal under federal law. 
 
Since cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance federally, that leaves your shiny new cannabis brand in a precarious position. This trademark limbo creates a situation where, without the benefit of federal protection, you're relying on a patchwork of state-level protections and common law rights to protect your IP. 
 
This doesn’t mean you can’t build brand equity and overall enterprise value by trademarking your key assets, but you do have to get creative and often register in adjacent classes to do so. This becomes even more important if you’re building this brand to eventually sell. 
 
I’ll stop here because this is where my lane ends. But we did discuss this idea at length with Matthew McLaughlin (Partner, McLaughlin PC + Founder & CEO, Fertile Ground Beer Co.) on a recent BBT podcast. Listen to that conversation here (the cannabis trademarking thread starts around the 10 minute mark).

5

Cannabis-infused beer vs. a canna-beverage

When bringing a cannabis beverage to market, you face a fundamental strategic choice: Create a cannabis-infused NA beer that leverages your brewing expertise, or develop a completely new cannabis beverage that stands apart from beer entirely (a seltzer, a tea, a tonic or cocktail, etc.)

This is a positioning challenge and an opportunity.

Cannabis-infused NA beer offers a clear value prop that beer drinkers can easily grasp. 

Ah, it's a beer that gives me a buzz without a hangover. Is this magic? 

This makes infused NA beers an easier entry point in the near term. And while cannabis-infused alcoholic beer will likely become legal eventually, the NA version presents a more immediate, coherent and for our money, compelling opportunity.

The cannabis beverage market is already jammed with products, many lacking a distinctive reason for existing. (I'm always amazed at what we find during competitive set audits — who funded this? Who wants this?)

This doesn't mean you can't venture beyond beer, especially if you identify a specific opportunity in your market. However, a premium, THC-infused NA beer provides an accessible concept for consumers to grasp.

One challenge worth considering is that the beer category is in decline. This raises an important question: Does it make strategic sense to connect something fresh and innovative to a category that itself needs some repositioning?

The real potential here lies in new drinker recruitment. While cannabis drinks currently represent only a small percentage of overall cannabis consumption compared to other formats, this segment is likely to resonate particularly well with younger, legal drinking age (LDA) consumers.

If your brewery is exploring fourth category products and aims to attract younger demographics, non-beer cannabis beverages could be a worthwhile consideration for your future portfolio (especially for someone who hasn't yet developed a taste, or may never will, for beer).

But in the meantime, it might be easier to make an infused NA beer.

(Above): Canna-beverage vs. cannabis-infused beer. Why contend with one set of onerous regulations when you can tackle two at the same time?! 

I'm personally intrigued by the idea of an NA beer that drinks like a beer but still gives you a hangover-free buzz. However, I'm not sure how widespread this desire is.

—

 

Food for thought: Embrace your inner carny Meet people where they are 

This is unscientific, but most of the cannabis-infused beverages we’ve seen on the market, or worked on ourselves, have been lighter and refined. Think seltzers and sparkling waters or cocktail-y beverages. 

And this makes sense — you (and everyone else at your brewery) probably prefers more nuanced, complex flavor profiles. You like dank IPAs, dry wine, dark chocolate, straight liquors and/or boozy-cocktails, lighter roast coffee and so forth.

But if you look at the local cold box, especially a channel where something like cannabis beverages might be likely to show up (convenience), what do you see? 

Flavor bombs. Juice bombs. Big, noisy, cloying sweet beverages. 

Buzz Ballz. Beat Box. Juice Force. Twisted Tea. "Punch" seltzers. Spiked lemonades and iced teas. Hard Mountain Dew. Sugary canned coffees.

We haven’t seen too many cannabis beverages in this vein and I think that’s a huge missed opportunity. 

Don't take my word for it. Check out this research article on consumer preferences for CBD- and THC-infused beverages.

More people are willing to try, and pay more money for, sweeter THC-infused beverages (juice, tea, coffee, etc.).

And note cannabis-infused NA beer all the way on the right side. It ranked least interesting to consumers. Or at least, those surveyed for this study.

Wrapping up 
 
The cannabis beverage market is exciting. While still in its infancy, early indicators from legal markets suggest a growing consumer appetite.
 
Regulatory challenges remain a significant but rapidly evolving hurdle. However, there could be a lot of opportunities here for the right group. 
 
If your brewery is geared for innovation and brand building, and you’re always looking to see what’s around the next corner, cannabis beverages might become a pivotal part of your future business strategy.

Hi, there! 

This is the second of four exclusive topics we’re covering here in our newsletter as part of the broader 2025 Beer Branding Trends Report. 

We aren't publishing these insights in the main article, so if there’s someone on your team who you think would benefit from reading these, please forward this email to them or have them sign up here.



Thanks so much for being a BBT subscriber.



Let's get into it.


—


Spirits. Hard Cider. Non-alcoholic. Cannabis. Functional. Energy. Coffee. Sodas. Seltzer. Tea. RTDs. FMBs. Hop Water………

Breweries of all sizes are releasing Fourth Category products today, and looking at shifting consumer preference trends, it’s clear that this is the right move. The brewery of tomorrow needs to be thinking Beyond Beer. 
 
But consumer preferences shift fast, in some cases, seemingly overnight. This creates a constantly moving target and begs the question: When should your brewery wade into a trending segment and release a new product? 
 
Is now the right time to release a line of cocktails? How about a hard cider, or a hard tea, or a non-alcoholic beer? Some of these segments are more established than others, but how about more nascent options like cannabis beverages or Hop Water?
 
This is what we're going to discuss today:
 
– How should your brewery think about new product development? 
– How can you decide if a new category makes sense for your brewery? 
– And more importantly, when does it make sense to pull the trigger and develop a new offering, vs. sitting back and waiting for a category to continue taking shape?
 
We’re regularly making recommendations on this front through our Brand Strategy and Architecture work, so I want to give you a rundown here on how we think about and discuss this topic with our clients.

(Above): Hop Water, NA Beer, canned coffee, RTD cocktails and all manner of functional beverages are trending right now. But are they right for your brewery's brand?

—


1

Brand Architecture (Where can your brand credibly go?)
 
This entire subject is, first and foremost, a question of Brand Architecture.
 
Before launching a new product, you must determine where this brand should live within your broader Brand Architecture. 
 
Does this overlap heavily enough with your current customers, values, intended experience and occasions that aligning it closely with your parent brand makes sense?

 
 
Or is this a flier — something that could confuse your longtime fans and partners? 
 
This boils down to where you can credibly take your parent brand. Does it make sense for your brewery to release a particular product? What does this move say about your business?
 
If it doesn’t make sense for your brewery to release this product tied closely with your parent brand, that’s no sweat. You’ll just have to move further to the right on the Beverage Brand Architecture Continuum into Endorsed or standalone brand territory. 
 
We’ve written extensively about Brand Architecture (including our latest book). Here are a handful of resources for more info on this topic:
 
> The Beyond Beer Handbook – [ Book ]
> The Role of your parent brand in Brand Architecture – [ BBT Newsletter ]
> In defense of the Branded House – [ BBT Newsletter ]
> 14 questions to ask before you launch a new brand – [ Podcast ]

 
—

 
Once you’ve figured out where a product should be positioned within your portfolio, you can discuss whether now is the right time to launch it.

(Above): The Beverage Extension Assessment Tool (B.E.A.T.) is a purpose-built diagnostic tool that will outline the correct path from your initial concept to finished, positioned product.

—


2

Where are you located? 
 
CODO works with brewers across the United States and Canada as well as (currently) half a dozen other countries around the world. Through this work, we’ve heard a variety of takes on where a particular market sits on embracing new trends. And it’s always relative to another market. 
 
– “Yeah, we’re always 3–5 years behind the coasts in terms of trends.” – A brewery in the Midwest
– “We’re always a few years behind America when it comes to new styles.” – A brewery in Australia
 
—
 
If you’re in a more progressive beer market, then everyone around you, including other breweries, retailers and drinkers alike are wired to be early adopters. 
 
– So, a cannabis brand might do better in Minneapolis than, say, Albuquerque. (Legal considerations are obviously at play in this example…)
 
– Or a non-alcoholic beer will do far better in California than, say, Topeka. (At least at first.)
 
So, if you’re somewhere in the Midwest — no shade here, I’m typing this from beautiful Indiana — then it might make sense to not jump on a new trend the first time you hear about it. 
 
This doesn’t mean you can’t launch a new product, but you do need to be aware of the risk of being too early without sufficient consumer education in place.

Category building is serious, and expensive, business. If you spring a new brand onto a public that still doesn’t understand what XYZ-product segment even is — Oh, you can *drink* cannabis now? — then you might miss the mark and burn yourself out before you have a chance to gain traction.
 
There’s a lot of lead-up and consumer education needed to be done in these cases.
 
Speaking of…

 
3

Is there an 800-pound gorilla in the segment yet? 
 
I want to stay on consumer education for a moment — you cannot discount how important this is in CPG brand building. And a lot of this education happens as two or three major first movers battle it out for share of mind. 
 
A few examples:
 
– White Claw and Truly spent hundreds of millions of dollars to teach consumers what hard seltzer is and cement in their respective shares.

– Athletic Brewing is putting on a clinic in category building, scaling from startup to top 10 brewery in the US in just seven years.

– Liquid Death gave CPG water brands permission to innovate on format and move away from plastic (and fully embrace branding and advertising).

– And as we speak, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada and HOP WTR are all working hard to educate consumers about HopWater and securing as much market share as possible.


 
—


 
My point here is that sometimes it can be better to let someone else break the ice and do the hard (expensive) work of building a category before you throw your hat in the ring. Especially if you don’t have endless resources to throw behind your brand. 

(Above): On 800-pound gorillas — Category building (consumer, retailer and distributor education + fighting for and unlocking new PODs) is hard, expensive work. Depending on where you see a new category's current standing, and trajectory, you have to decide whether or not you have the resources to build your brand while also building the category itself. 

This is a *major* consideration (along with your geography) if you're thinking about getting into the cannabis segment today. 

—


4

Are you passionate about this category? 
 
Quick story here: We helped a brewery bring a hard seltzer to market back in 2019. And the head brewer hated the product. He despised making it, though he realized it was an important opportunity. 
 
This isn’t that great a story, because they released the product and it’s still selling well (as well as hard seltzer can sell in 2025). But I’ve often wondered how much better the brand would perform if their team was as passionate about seltzer as they are with beer. Instead of accounting for 8–10% of their sales, could it have otherwise become more like 15–20%?
 
Look, you gotta keep the lights on and pay your team. And we’re all in business to make money, after all. But if your heart’s not in something, I do think that this will show up downstream. Your marketing won’t be as passionate as it could be, your reps won’t push the brand as hard as they could, and there just won’t be as much energy and buzz as there could be with a product you care about. (And your customers will pick up on all of this.) 
 
So, if you’re not genuinely passionate about a product or segment, then maybe now’s not the time to get into that new space.


5

Could you give it a slow boil?
 
Before diving headfirst into a new category, consider taking a "slow boil" approach. This strategy allows you to test the waters without committing to a full-scale launch (complete with name development and Brand Strategy and positioning and brand identity and package design, and on and on).
 
Start by releasing your new product in your taproom. This controlled environment gives you a perfect testing ground to gauge interest, gather feedback, and refine your offering. It's a low-risk way to come to market and start learning without breaking the bank.
 
I think a lot of the pressure from these decisions centers around the idea that this requires an all-or-nothing approach. We either spend $50k–$75k (whatever the number is) for branding and packaging and do this right or we don’t do it at all.
 
And while there is something to be said about coming to market all at once with a big splash, this also might not be the best move today. 
 
A slow, measured approach isn't just about saving money. It allows you to observe how trends and the competitive set plays out in other markets, potentially helping you avoid costly missteps. 
 
Consider your local competitive landscape as well. Remember, innovation and positioning doesn’t always mean being first. Sometimes, it means being smart about when and how you enter a new category.

Or, making a meaningfully differentiated product…


6

Remember the Law of Category
 
If you decide to slowly tinker with your recipe/brand while watching a category take shape, use that time wisely. Continuously look for opportunities to differentiate your offering.
 
Consider the evolution of IPA over the last 15 years: English-Style IPA > American IPA > West Coast IPA > Grapefruit IPA > Session IPA > New England IPA (Hazy) > Milkshake IPA > DDH IPA > Brut IPA > Wet Hop IPA > Imperial IPA > Cold IPA > ???


 
Each step represents a new opportunity for differentiation. By observing how a category develops, you can identify gaps in the market and potentially leapfrog competitors with a more refined or innovative product.
 
In this way, you’re not releasing another cannabis beverage, you’re releasing the first sparkling cannabis soda with electrolytes. Or the first cannabis digestif with probiotics. Or the first cannabis with [insert whatever magic elixir of the day is trending in CPG beverage].

Subtle moves like these help you carve out defensible positioning in someone's mind.

(Above): Law of Category — this isn't a fruited beer, it's Smooj. This isn't another hard seltzer, it's Ranch Water. This isn't wine, it's Beat Box. (Or, as one of our clients called it, "A BORG with cute packaging.")

—


Wrapping up
 
Let’s skip ahead in this timeline to after you’ve launched a new product. This is tangentially related to the idea of jumping on new trends, but product lifestyle and churn is important here as well. 
 

How long a runway do you give this new brand?
 
Once you launch a new product, how much runway do you give it before either doubling down and re-investing or pulling the plug?
 
Today's market moves at breakneck speed. Gone are the days when you could give a product a year or two to find its footing, methodically building the brand on-premise. 
 
In our work, we’re seeing closer to 90- to 120-day windows to prove viability, especially with our larger brewery partners.
 
Your brewery and wholesale partners will already have clear key performance indicators (KPIs) in mind, like:
 
– Is your rate of sale where it needs to be?

– Are you hitting your rebuy hurdles (are retailers reordering)?

– What feedback are you hearing from your retail and chain team?

– How many new accounts / Points of Distribution (PODs) are you bringing online each week / month?


After a quarter or so, or maybe early fall following a spring reset, you should have a clear idea of what is or isn’t working. And don’t lose sight of the old school brand building work during this time either. Yes, you need to have beautiful branding and package design — and a killer name — but other things to keep your eye on include:
 
– Sampling (getting out there and getting it into people’s hands)

– Field activation (showing up wherever your people get together — festivals, shows, events, etc.)

– Merchandising (making sure you have proper POS out in the market to support the brand)

– Pricing (making sure it’s priced right for your market)

– Connecting your on-premise programming with off-premise 
 
I do think a slow boil approach works well for dialing in your recipe and plan. But when you decide to take the leap and brand, position and package this new product, you need to get it right. 
 
And you’ll need to get it right quickly. 

Hi, there.

I know we’re right in the middle of our 2025 Beer Branding Trends rollout right now, but I wanted to drop you a quick note to talk about the Craft Brewers Conference.

If you're not attending, feel free to skip this (and sorry for throwing one more thing in your inbox today). 

But if you are attending, we've got a handful of in-person events planned that you might be interested in. 

We're also including a guide to the city for all your coffee, beer, food and dive bar needs at the end of this issue.



1.

Cody and I are giving a presentation at CBC on Thursday, May 1 called: 

When and When Not To Rebrand Your Brewery: How To Evolve Your Brand Without Losing Fans Along the Way

This is a brand new presentation that brings together everything we've learned from rebranding more than 50 breweries to date.

It's been a fun challenge to condense everything we know about this subject into a tight 45 minute talk. But I think we got it to a good place. (We'll see here in a few weeks!)

We’d love to see you there if you’ll be in town.

2.

We’re hosting an event you may be interested in called The Beer Marketers Exchange (BMeX).

This will be an intimate gathering at our new office that aims to bring beer branding and marketing folks — brand directors, in-house designers, founders — together to discuss what is and isn't working with their brewery's marketing and branding.

No sales pitches or presentations, just a chance to exchange tips, tricks and war stories. And/or just talk shop over some great food (BBQ) and beer (lager for days) with folks from across the country.

This is our attempt to recreate what we always end up doing at CBC anyway — gathering a handful of CMOs and friends over beer to talk shop. But on a larger scale. 

>> Register for this event here.

3.

Big Lug x CODO

Our friends (and longtime client) Big Lug Brewing are hosting a big blowout on Wednesday, April 30 at Half Liter.

You really don't want to miss this. 

Hog roast. Half Liter BBQ, schnitzel, pretzels, all manner of German food and some of the best beer in Indiana (complete with loads of collabs). 

Huge patio. 

Fires going. 

It's going to be lovely and we hope to see you there.

>> Learn more here

Beyond all of this, we'll be all over CBC meeting with clients, discussing lots of new business and drinking 10,000 beers enjoying the conference. 

Indy's a great little town with a sleeper beer scene. And late April is a wonderful time of year here. We're excited to show this all off. 

Shoot me an email if you'll be in town for the conference and would like to swing by our office and talk shop.


—


Thanks for your time, and for reading BBT. I'm glad you're here.

We’ll be back next week with our third 2025 BBT Exclusive Newsletter.

– Isaac / CODO

Hi, there! 

Few admin notes:

1. This is the first of four exclusive topics we’re covering here in our newsletter as part of the broader 2025 Beer Branding Trends Report. 

We aren't publishing these insights in the main article, so if there’s someone on your team who you think would benefit from reading these, please forward this email to them or have them sign up here.



2. We've got a few events planned for CBC in Indy later this month (let's grab a beer and talk shop). Check those out at the end of this issue.

—

Thanks so much for being a BBT subscriber.



Let's get into it.


—

 

Innovation will always drive the craft beer industry. From the earliest days that saw founders building breweries by welding derelict dairy tanks together to carting hand-bottled beer from bar to bar to build their businesses one account at a time — it’s in your DNA. 

But we also have to recognize that we’re coming down from a ~10-year period of non-stop innovation that, at its peak, saw as many as three new breweries opening per day across the country. 

The competitive landscape ballooned so quickly, that some markets which might have boasted a few dozen outfits across an entire state now have that many jammed into only a few square miles. On top of that, we saw Hazy IPA and hard seltzer dramatically alter the industry, as well as the (continuing) rise of Imperial IPA, NA options, Hard Teas and various other RTDs and FMBs. This skims the surface of what the beer industry has churned out over the last decade, but one thing is becoming painfully clear: Consumers are kind of over it.

According to the Brewers Association’s 2024 mid-year Harris Poll, Bart Watson reported that 37% of survey respondents said there was “too much / more than enough brands” available today. And this was after a year that saw about 1,000 fewer new brands than the previous year. 

So where does that leave a brewery that has been hanging its hat on constant innovation for the last several years? 

I think this data points to a big opportunity to re-invest in your flagships for sustainable growth. 

We’ve had several conversations with brewery CMOs and wholesalers on this topic over the last year. Here are a handful of things we’ve heard that you could consider to ensure your flagships thrive in the coming years.

1

On Brand Architecture: Do your flagships need to live under a Branded House, or can you have some Sub Brands in the mix as well? 


Reshaping your portfolio is a Brand Architecture problem. And there are a variety of ways your lineup can come together. 

A Branded House is different from a collection of Sub / Endorsed Brands which will be different from a House of Brands and so on.

We’ve seen a natural inclination — perhaps a holdover from craft’s heyday — to have your flagships look the same, particularly when building a Branded House. Just to address this head on: Your labels do not have to look identical to fall under a Branded House. 

And you should build whatever system best suits your specific portfolio and brand and competitive set context. 

The line here that helps you decide what Brand Architecture model is appropriate, and then how to actually design your packaging comes down to which brand is the Main Purchasing Driver.

If a beer has its own unique name and label but is still clearly positioned as being from your brewery, then your parent brand is the main purchasing driver. This means you’re still rocking a Branded House. (Read more about this topic here: Are fancifully names beer Sub Brands?)

A semantic point here: We call any system under which your parent brand is the main purchasing driver, a Branded House. When all of your flagship brands fly under a rigid (nearly identical) template, we call this a Monolithic Branded House. In its most extreme form, this would look like a rigid template across your packaging and NO fanciful names. So Prost Pils. Or Schlafly Pale Ale. Or Fernson IPA. Or Birdsmouth Black Lager. 

Either way, your packaging does not have to look rigidly similar to work as a Branded House. It’s more about why someone buys your beer. And specifically, if they’re doing so because it’s from your brewery.

(Above, Top): Firestone Walker has built a well-rounded House of Brands that include several fully developed Sub Brands and standalone brands.

(Above, Middle): Zero Gravity's portfolio is a good example of a Branded House that doesn't follow a rigid template. These beers all have their own fanciful names and look and feel, while still flying under the Zero Gravity's parent brand.

(Above, Bottom): Left Field Brewery's Ice Cold Beer Sub brand has become an important flagship over the last few years.

—
 

2

Look for opportunities to scale the “Sub Brand Ladder”

We outline some interesting use cases for Sub Brands in the Brand Architecture section of our 2025 Beer Branding Trends Report. But when it comes to your flagships, I think there are two subtle shifts you should make in how you view your portfolio:

1. Think about these brands as platforms: So, what opportunities exist to spin your Sub Brands out to stand more on their own? How can you extend these brands via Line Extensions and variety packs? And how can you take these independent brands into new spaces and occasions to credibly reach new audiences? 

> How to scale the “Sub Brand Ladder” – [ BBT Newsletter ] + Podcast

2. Think about how your parent brand evolves (along with changes to the flagship brands themselves): So, what happens to your parent brand if you end up with a Sub Brand that outshines its parent? What changes do you need to make at the parent level (including Brand Architecture, marketing, and even corporate structure)?

> Repositioning your parent brand (for better or worse) – [ BBT Newsletter ]

(Above): Fernson Brewing decided that a monolithic approach was no longer serving their needs and leaned into fanciful Sub Brand names and package design. Read more about this package refresh and Brand Architecture project here.

—

 

3

Does a flagship have to be beer? 

Does that question make you uncomfortable? Really, think about it. Your flagships are the three or four (or five) brands that carry your business. These bankroll most of your operation, keep the lights on and allow you the freedom to make the funky, fun creative other stuff that your team and fans love. 

But again, does this have to be beer? 


Could your flagship brand be a Hop Water (like Lagunitas)? Or could it be an NA beer (like Deschutes).

Due to your time in the market, Brand Equity and legacy, a few of your flagships will likely always be beer, but don’t let this limit you. If you see an opportunity to prioritize and promote a beyond beer brand to top billing, go for it.

4

How to safely leverage your Brand Equity (how far to extend brand)

We opened this section by saying that innovation is slowing down due to consumers tiring of chasing all new, all the time. 

Building on our previous point about spotting opportunities to build Sub / Endorsed Brands within your broader portfolio, there will also be opportunities to extend your existing brand(s) to create new products that consumers and wholesalers alike are excited about.
 

A few good examples of this happening out in the wild right now include:

– Sierra Nevada extending their Little Thing family with several new styles and dedicated variety packs. 

– Bells scaling its Two Hearted brand into a proper brand family.  

– Oskar Blues fully scaling the Sub Brand Ladder with its iconic Dale’s brand.

– Rogue leaning into the Dead Guy brand family (complete with a spirit(s) Brand Extension).
 

A few words of caution here:

– Any extension you make needs to be slow and methodical. These are not cash grabs and treating them as such could tank any momentum you’ve built up. 

– There’s nothing wrong with starting small. Test the waters in your home market and see how your fans react. Listen, take notes and refine before making a bigger launch.

Once you feel like you’ve rounded out your portfolio and individual Sub Brands, don’t be afraid to slow down for 12–18 months to let consumers catch up. Continue marketing and brand building and get people to understand where your priorities are and why they should be drinking your beer.

> How to Line Extend (while maintaining your audience’s trust) – [ BBT Newsletter ]

> How far can you extend a brand? – [ BBT Newsletter ]

(Above): Oskar Blues recently spun Dale's Pale Ale into a deeper brand family to include a light lager and DIPA. Rogue is doing the same with its Dead Guy line. 

—

 

5

Plan for continual refreshes

We’ve already beat the package refresh topic to death, but this concept applies to future-proofing your flagships as well. 

You need to work to stay top of mind with your customers, and a package refresh can be a great way to achieve this. Depending on what pain points you’re addressing, this can be a subtle fresh coat of paint and/or a more drastic change or opportunities you’re moving on. But either way, a refresh, and all the marketing and POS that comes along with it, can be a great way to drive a bump in sales.

(Above): Alewerks and Malibu Brewing are two great examples of breweries investing in flagship package revamps.

—


Quick aside: On sustainability as positioning

Sustainability will become an increasingly important idea in our lives over the coming years, particularly among younger LDA consumers (though don’t think that older folks don’t care about this either). 

This will create new positioning opportunities for your parent brand and individual flagships.

I think this is inevitable. The trick is, do you go all in on this messaging? 

For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t recommend that right now for most breweries. 

Fat Tire is a good example of a brewery (New Belgium) pivoting hard into sustainability messaging. But I’m not sure it’s working. 

(Though if they can stick it out for another 15 years, who knows?)

A few things here:



1. Beware of the Value-Action Gap. The phenomenon of consumers saying they care deeply about a cause or a value, but still shopping in ways that do not support these ideas is very real. 

We could call this virtue signaling, if that weren’t such a politically charged term. Either way, be wary of chasing positioning that may prove to be mostly hollow.

2. You can start messaging around sustainability now without going all in on it from a positioning standpoint.

A brewery that’s doing a great job of this today is CODO client, KettleHouse. They’re heavily invested in environmental initiatives — from solar capturing, to partnering with local farmers and supporting environmental nonprofits throughout Montana. And this ethos extends to their (beautiful) amphitheater where they sell canned water and use all compostable cups/plates/straw/etc. 

But even with all of these measures in place, sustainability is just one of KettleHouse’s Key Communication Pillars. It’s not the lead. 

This is a core value that would guide their business decisions whether or not they could talk about this in their marketing. And in this way, it augments their broader positioning as being Montana’s craft brewery. 

And by sprinkling this into their messaging now, they’re in a position to scale this idea up over time should this become more relevant as a differentiator or key insight their customers (current or potential) are actually looking for when shopping for beer.

 

6

Invest in storytelling and content marketing 

We’re giving you a primer on defining your Key Communication Pillars in our final exclusive issue on how Legacy Breweries can sell more beer (stay tuned).

But for now, I want to make a case for why you need to invest in content marketing and storytelling today.

I’ll keep this short: Social media tools and channels are ever-changing. New regulation, terms of service changes and algorithm shifts will directly affect how far you can reach. Short form videos will continue to rot our brains. And with the rise of AI, people will (hopefully) trust less and less of what they see out in the world (or just accept it at face value. I'm kind of 50/50 on this one…). Or just tune out 99.999% of it entirely…

One thing that won’t change, is that people will learn and bond through stories. Real, authentic, compelling stories. 

So, think about your brewery’s brand, and your flagships themselves in terms of stories and how you can connect with people in a deeper way, no matter what channel you’re on. 

What do your flagships stand for? Why do they matter? And what role should they play in someone's life?

Whoever tells the best story will win in the end.

(Above): Fat Tire's latest rebrand goes all in on sustainability. Unfortunately this hasn't helped them increase sales (though it does look beautiful, so they've got that going for them).

—

 

7

Remember what you’re *actually* selling 

Harvard professor Theodore Levitt once said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want a quarter-inch hole.” 

This is an oft-repeated sales axiom about understanding your customers and their motives. And while it’s kind of awkward to think about in a beer context — (Sure, I get the drill bit metaphor, but we’re selling Hazy IPAs to… people who enjoy Hazy IPAs.) — I think breweries should keep this idea in mind to ensure their flagships will remain perennial best sellers.  

People — you and I included — are emotional creatures and whether we actively think about it or not, signaling and status governs almost all of our decisions. This is most apparent in the things we buy. 

So, you’re not just selling a 4- or 6-pack of beer. You’re selling: 

– Social connection (My friends like this brand.)
– Identity and self-expression (I’m outdoorsy, so my beer should be too.) 
– Experience and adventure (I need to head to the mountains for a few days.)
– Relaxation and stress relief (I just need to unplug and not think for an hour.)
– A great buzz after a shitty week (Oof.) 
– A celebration (My spouse got a promotion!)
– Supporting a local business (I enjoy knowing where my money goes.) 
– Nostalgia and tradition (My grandpa used to drink this beer.)
– Sensory pleasure (This beer tastes amazing!) 
– Health benefit (I can enjoy this beer without wrecking my gains.)

> Role Theory: What does drinking this beer say about me? – [ BBT Newsletter ]

You can think about this at both your parent brand level and on a per-product level. When someone buys one of your flagships, what are they really buying? What problem are you solving for them? And what story can they tell the world about themselves by purchasing and repping your brand? 

This is powerful stuff. And I think more breweries should be thinking about it. 

Good morning!

I'm excited to share CODO's 2025 Beer Branding Trends Review with you. 

This is our annual deep dive on what we see shaping the beer and Bev Alc space (from a branding perspective) right now.

1. Read the report here.

2. If audio is more your speed, Cody and I recorded a companion podcast that serves as high-level overview of this piece. Listen to that here.


—


As a thank you for being a subscriber, we've pulled out 4 specific portions of this report and sending them to your inbox only over the coming weeks.

These issues include:

1. How to future proof your flagships (April 8)

2. How soon should your brewery jump on a trend? (April 22)

3. Is a cannabis beverage right for your brewery? (May 6)

4. How Legacy Breweries can sell more beer (May 20)

These issues are newsletter exclusives, meaning they won't be published in our broader report.

So you can brag to your colleagues who aren't BBT subscribers about how much more informed you are on all things beer branding and marketing. 

Or you can just use these insights to build a stronger brand and outcompete them. (Your call.)

—

If you're reading this, then you don't have to do anything to receive these exclusive emails — you're already in.

If you'd like to make sure your team member(s) receive these exclusive insights, please forward this email to them (or have them subscribe here).

—

We're also planning to record a Q&A podcast on this year's report in a month or so.

Please email me any questions you have on anything we cover here and we'll field those on the show.

—

Here's an outline for this year's report:

Section 1: Brewery Brand & Portfolio Strategy

Why are breweries rebranding right now?
• Sales are flat
• Things are going well and you want to capitalize on that momentum 
• “It’s just time”
• Rebranding ahead of an important Brand Architecture move
• Cleaning up a poorly performing previous rebrand 


How Legacy Breweries can sell more beer – (BBT Newsletter Exclusive) 
• How can you court lapsed fans and younger drinkers?
• Define your Brand Strategy to get a lay of the land 
• Define your Key Communication Pillars (and your brand voice & personality)
• Move beyond table stakes 
• Consider Co-branding: A tactical way of authentically connecting your brand to a region 
• Build Sub Brands (and have a broader focus on your Brand Architecture)
• Consider a brand and package Refresh (you gotta knock the dust off)


Package refreshes are trending as a lower cost investment
• What is a package refresh? 
• Package refresh vs. a deeper rebrand: On weighing risk vs. reward 
• Cost is subjective
• How big a swing can you take?
• When your equity calls for a refresh
• Brand Strategy (to invest or not to invest?)
• Where these projects can falter
• Make sure you don’t need to solve a Brand problem 
• When should you plan your next refresh? 

How to future proof your flagships – (BBT Newsletter Exclusive) 
• Flagship beer brands (think Beyond Beer)
• Branded House vs. Sub Brands
• Can you scale the Sub Brand Ladder?
• How to safely leverage your Brand Equity (how far to extend brand)
• Can you use scarcity as a nudge? 
• Plan for continual refreshes
• On sustainability as positioning
• Invest in storytelling and content marketing 
• Remember what you’re *actually* selling

Dialing in your seasonals
• Can a seasonal be pressed into a year-round offering?
• How should you differentiate your seasonal packaging from your flagships?
• Highlight that these are Limited Time Only (LTO) products  

Style names as a positioning tool 
• The evolving role of style names
• Meet your consumers where they are
 

A renewed focus on the on-premise
• Shifting hours & your taproom’s role in people’s lives 
• Something for everyone 
• Conclusion: Connecting off-premise with on-premise 
• A shift towards hospitality
• Your brewery’s brand should precede you

Section 2: Brand Architecture 
 

Sub Brand use cases
• What is a Sub Brand?
• Sub Brand use case #1: Bridging into the Fourth Category 
• Sub Brand use case #2: Building a budget line 
• Sub Brand use case #3: Creating a brand that can travel

How soon should you jump on a trend? – (BBT Newsletter Exclusive)
• Brand Architecture 
• Where are you located?
• Is there an 800-pound gorilla in the segment yet? 
• Are you passionate about this category? 
• Could you give it a slow boil?
• Remember the Law of Category
 

House of Brands
• What is a House of Brands? 
• Highly targeted niche audiences / protect parent brand
• Building a House of Brands can be challenging for smaller breweries 
• A House of Brands is costly to build 
• Capacity, capacity, capacity
• Wrapping up: People aren’t stupid

Section 3: Beer & Beyond (Beverage Trends)
 

The Year of Lager
• Lager is easy
• Lager is nostalgic
• Lager is big business
• Lager can be a lifestyle brand platform 
• Lager gets cold 
• Food for thought: Old school "babe-centric" advertising
• Lager: It’s brand (and personality, and Sub Brands) all the way down

Small beers. Big opportunity?

The rising importance of fruit & flavor-forward beers

Hard Cider, Revisited
• On apples and provenance (does this scale? does it have to?)
• Who's drinking Hard Cider? (my anecdotal fieldwork from across the country)
• On Brand Architecture 
• On Cider's gluten-free claim (mind the "Positioning Trap")


Should your brewery launch a Cannabis beverage? – (BBT Newsletter Exclusive)
• A note on early adoption
• On Brand Architecture
• Built to sell (the real opportunity at hand)
• On Cannabis IP (how to protect what you build)
• Cannabis-infused beer vs. a canna-beverage

Non-alcoholic beer, canned water & hop water 

Section 4: Branding & Package Design Trends
 

Bifurcation 

Retro keeps marching on

We’re headed out west 

Mascots, Pt. 3 

The occult

Dimensional shading 

Hi, there.

A few quick admin items: 

1. You can read this case study over on our site for a more immersive experience.  

2. We recorded a podcast with Rob Day on what went into Wachusett’s rebrand. Rob is one of the best marketers in the beer industry, so do yourself a favor and listen in for more background context on this revamp.

Okay, let’s get to it.


—


Wachusett Brewing was founded in 1994 in the beautiful Westminster, Massachusetts countryside (“Central Mass” in local parlance). In their early years, they became known for making better beer than the other Craft microbrewed offerings available in the region. This led to a lot of growth through the 90s and 2000s, up through the start of the beer boom in 2010.

Wachusett is a fun, legacy brand. They’re known for hosting raucous outdoor music festivals at the brewery. And above all, they’re known for their flagship Blueberry Ale, a lovely, fruited beer that drinks well year-round. 

While Wachusett had a head start on the thousands of other breweries that came after them, they weren’t immune from the market challenges that arose from those same entrants.  

We can fast forward here and hit some highlights to bring you up to current day: 

– Through the 2010s, Wachusett’s sales grew to nearly 70,000 bbl (2018) before cratering to ~15,000 (2024).

– In 2021, the founders sold the company to another group. 

– This group then rebranded Wachusett. 

– This move had zero impact on the sales front.

– In early 2024, Finestkind (the owners of Smuttynose and Five Boroughs Brewing) acquired the brand. 

And here we are. 

After getting their feet under them, one of Finestkind’s first orders of business was to refresh Wachusett’s brand identity in a bid to regain the volume they lost over the last decade. 

They partnered with CODO for this project and I’m excited to walk you through that entire process today. 

Let’s start by examining one of the most important things any Legacy Brewery needs to consider when embarking on a revamp: How to (or not to) evolve its Brand Equity. 

(Above): Wachusett's early brand identity and packaging. 

—
 

Brand Equity vs. visual equity 

One of the first things CODO does when rebranding a brewery (Legacy, or otherwise), is review all of their historic packaging. We do this to get a sense of how the brand has evolved over the years so we can 1) logically evolve the identity if that makes sense, and 2) see if there’s anything magic hiding in the archives. 

In reviewing Wachusett’s original brand identity and packaging, we found that everything was pretty much par for a brewery that came to market in the 90s. Homespun labels consisting of inelegant images and clunky typography abound. This was so long ago that it doesn’t warrant critique. (And besides, there's a certain charm that usually comes with beer branding from this era.)

But while there was a certain charm here, interestingly — quizzically? — we found that there weren’t actually any strong visual elements that defined the brand. It was all bland enough that nothing stuck out. (The fact that they grew as big as they did at their peak is a testament to their beer itself and how the brewery enmeshed itself throughout New England.)

(Above): Wachusett's latest (pre-rebrand) packaging.

—
 

All of this added up to one of the most interesting situations we’ve seen in nearly 16 years of business. 

This is a 30+ year old brewery with no visual equity to speak of. Out of everything we reviewed, we only found these elements were worth retaining and exploring:

– The arched typography 

– The barn (while not historic, this has been around for a minute (since their previous rebrand), so there is some familiarity in the market place. Plus, it speaks to their broader positioning in a compelling way. More on this in a sec.)

That’s it for visual equity. But what Wachusett lacks in visual equity, it more than makes up for in Brand Equity. 

> Learn more about how we think about Visual vs. Brand Equity here. 

We highlighted this up top, but the brewery is known for fun outdoor concerts, the beautiful Central Mass countryside (and all the fun activities that come along with that) and Blueberry Ale. 

Wachusett’s Blueberry Ale is such an important part of their business that this entire project revolved around its packaging. This is a monster brand — comprising ~85% of their sales — so this packaging was every bit as important as their brand identity itself. And the real opportunity at hand is for Wachusett to completely own the blueberry / fruited-beer segment throughout New England.

—

With these messaging and visual parameters in place, we rolled right into art direction. 

(Above): A quick look at Wachusett’s 2021 rebrand. We heard near universally negative feedback on this work during our initial research, including such doozies as, “It lost its soul,” and, “It’s too sterile,” and, “The packaging is abysmal.” (Ouch.) 


—
 

Art Directing Wachusett’s rebrand 

At this point, we shift gears and start to explore how all of these ideas can come to life visually. Through this, we explored three big ideas that came from our conversations with Wachusett’s distributors, retailers and the Finestkind team. 

– Red Barn Romanticism: Centers around the rustic, pastoral central Massachusetts countryside. This would feature faded colors, worn textures and nostalgic farmers market iconography.

– Boot Stompin’ Good Time: Celebrates the idea of enjoying live music and drinking beer with the sun in your face. This would feature expressive, fun typography and illustrations you might find on screen printed concert gig posters. 

– Outdoors Escape: Positions Wachusett as a companion for all of your central Mass outdoors adventures. Fill your cooler with Blueberry Ale and spend the day kayaking, catching bass and hiking beautiful old growth forests.


—


While all of these ideas were true, and appropriate for Wachusett, the second direction was the most fitting. The first concept left out the important idea of outdoors music and fun, while the third direction pushed into the overly-trod outdoors trope you find throughout craft beer. (How many outdoorsy beer brands can you think of in your market?)

"Boot Stomping' Good Time" meshed well with Wachusett's existing “Commonwealth Country” Essence. This allowed for a blending of the first and second mood boards into a nice mash up that felt authentic and defensible from a positioning standpoint. 

From here, we begin sketching.

Initial sketching 

We explored two fully-developed directions consisting of a Modular Brand Identity system and packaging concepts for Wachusett’s #1 and #2 brands, Blueberry and Wally. 

The identity options each explored the arched typography in their own way, and the supporting iconography fleshed out a handful of other compelling claims we framed during our up front conversations, things like:

– “Catch a good time” (tagline)

– Bringing the barn back (in some form)

– “Every season is blueberry season” (vs. “It’s always blueberry season”)

– “Around here since 1994” (one of my favorite lines we’ve ever developed)

Direction 1 leaned more into the rustic, textured farmers market aesthetic you’ll find throughout Central Mass, while the second direction leaned into the warm, expressive typography you find on screen printed gig posters.

All of this work was well received, but the real star of the show — the reason we’re all working on this — was the packaging revamp itself. So let’s discuss that now.

Blueberry 

Each packaging direction followed its respective brand identity’s look and feel. The first direction looked like something hand painted on a country-side U-Pick operation. 

The second direction presented a much bigger leap from where Blueberry has historically been. Here, we’re intentionally positioning the brand to look less like a beer and more like a more mainstream CPG beverage. 

This was by design. 

This brand has an opportunity to continue speaking to Wachusett loyalists, while reaching beyond the beer aisle and grabbing people who are interested in familiar flavors and experiences, but may not otherwise know, or care, that much about Craft Beer. 

> We discussed this tension, and the resulting conversation the Finestkind team had in our podcast with Rob. This segment starts around the 28 minute mark. Listen to that here.

This can easily spin into a deeper conversation about where the beer and Bev Alc industry is headed right now, so I’ll cut it short and offer that this direction is a move meant to meet a potential customer right where they are. Be that at a grocery store, a liquor store, a C-store or digging around in a battered old cooler tucked up in the shade on a sand bar on a river day). 

This is a blueberry beer. Period. 

We don’t need to worry about style names and IBUs and SRM and all that traditional Craft Beer baggage.

If you like Blueberries, then give this a shot.

Wally (Navigating an esoteric brand name)

Wachusett’s #2 brand is a New England IPA named Wally. I would’ve mentioned this up top, but wanted to call it out specifically down here. 

(If the challenge of figuring out how to work around an esoteric brand name doesn’t apply to your brewery, skip ahead to the revisions section. If this does interest you, here are some more strategies for combatting this issue.)

Okay, Wally gets its name from the founder of the iconic Airstream Trailer, Wally Barnes. The Wachusett founders were fans of Airstreams, so they named their beer after Mr. Barnes.

What does all of this have to do with Wachusett Brewing? Or Central Massachusetts? Or live music in the sun? Or, anything at all relevant to craft microbrewed beer?

These are all great questions. 

Nothing. (The answer is nothing.)

This is just an esoteric name that was floated at one point, and then stuck due to the beer itself becoming popular. (I'm sure that's happened at your brewery a time or two over the years.)

We briefly discussed the merits of rolling their entire portfolio over to a Monolithic Branded House to follow the Wachusett Blueberry nomenclature, so Wally could become Wachusett Juicy IPA, etc. But the Finestkind team kiboshed this idea because we were already making some substantial changes. And there is equity in this name, plus a good deal of existing sales volume and maybe a good story to spin. So even though keeping this name in the mix might not be as cohesive as it could be, the risk of jettisoning it altogether was worse.

Okay, so we’ve got this name. So should we, uhh, put an Airstream on this can? Or a woodcut illustration of Wally Barnes himself? (And gird ourselves for the inevitable C&D that would come from that…)

Nah. 

Instead, the Wachusett team suggested we humanize Wally. Instead of some bygone founder, he's a carefree regular guy who likes to cut loose on the weekends. He’s your trusted local mechanic. Or that old friend who you can pick up right where you left off, no matter how much time has passed since you last spoke. 

We landed on a fun name patch exploration to speak to this, and love it. It’s blue collar and approachable and friendly and it pairs well with the new Blueberry can design.

Revisions

I’ll skip right to the point here. The Finestkind team fell in love with the second direction, almost lock, stock and barrel. 

There were a few items from the first direction they wanted to see incorporated into the final identity, so our revisions mostly centered around getting all of those assets brought in line with the second direction and squared away for production.

We made our requisite million changes that no one will ever notice (kerning, subtly shifting the color palette, adjusting grit levels, etc.). And we focused on developing a few other supporting icons that highlight Wachusett’s history. 

(Again, this line, “Around here since 1994” is one of my favorite things to come out of this process.

Wrapping up

At this point in the process, we wrapped up Wachusett’s brand identity and style guide while their in-house team took our packaging concepts and continued revising internally. All of this work was completed on a super tight timeline in order to reintroduce the Wachusett brand to their distributors during ABP season. 

I’m happy to report that this new direction was resoundingly well-received internally, including amongst Wachusett old timers and during a handful of critical ABP presentations. 

That means this new look is rolling out as we speak in Massachusetts and across all of New England, and should be fully out in the market by Spring 2025. 

Here are a few snapshots of major placements that are happening behind the scenes. (It's always fun seeing these roll in.)

Shoutout to the Barrel One sales team for grinding it out and earning tons of important new PODs during the launch period.

A few big takeaways (because this case study isn’t already long enough…) 

1. Your visual and Brand Equity are important elements of your rebrand. If you’re thinking about revamping your brewery’s identity, you need to honor where your brand has been, but only if this helps you steer the business where you want to take it. 

2. Email me with the subject line Blueberry. The 7th and 21st person to do so will each win a free copy of our Craft Beer, Rebranded book bundle. 

3. There will be a lot of Legacy beer brands on the market in the coming years. If your team is built for it, there will be some fun opportunities to build a larger portfolio with this IP. Stay tuned for a larger series exploring this idea this summer. 

4. And finally, the beer industry is facing a rapidly changing market. And we all need to work hard to ensure that we’re actively speaking to new drinkers, whether that’s lapsed fans or a newly LDA twenty-something. In either case, style names, highlighting a beer’s flavor and familiarity itself are all compelling levers you can tinker with to reach out to new folks, bring them into the fold and sell more beer.

Hi, there.

Cody and I just got back from CiderCon in Chicago. (Think Craft Brewers Conference but for cideries.) 

We were there giving a presentation on how cideries can use Brand Architecture to scale their brands. And we had a great time — we met a few clients and friends, discussed several new projects and drank loads of lovely cider from all over the world. 

Today, I want to discuss a handful of topics we heard at the conference as well as what we’re seeing in our hard cider branding work as of late. 

—

The last time we discussed hard cider here on BBT, we received some push back because we wrote about it through the lens of breweries making cider as a fourth category beverage. 

This push back — really from just a few folks — came entirely from people who work in cider. I think they were offended that I suggested an outsider make cider.

Point taken. 

I’ll keep today’s thoughts more broadly applicable, so the pommeliers out there get as much out of this as the brewers. 

Good? Let’s get to it.

(Above): Shoutout to Shacksbury Cider out of Vermont. This outfit always has super fun package design. 

—
 

1

On apples and provenance ( Does this scale? Does it have to? )

Provenance has always been an important value prop in craft beverage.

And cider has a leg up on beer in this regard because you can point to physical orchards  — and trees and dirt and bees and baskets and tractors and old farm dogs, all of it — to tell your story. 

This is wonderful. So if you have it, and if it suits your positioning, flaunt it. 

Anything that gives consumers a frame of reference for why your products are different should be explored. 

However, the current winners in cider — Schilling, Blake’s, Two Towns, Angry Orchard, et al. — don’t hang their hats on this exclusively. It’s certainly a part of their story, where relevant, but looking at their packaging shows a broader focus on CPG beverage cues. Namely, fruit and flavor and personality and vibes.

Cider brands that are crushing it right now are — similar to beer and RTDs and FMBs — leading with their brand and flavor above all else. 

This is an important trend to keep in mind if your cidery (or brewery) is thinking through how to appeal to a broader audience. Going broader means a bigger potential audience that is already drinking across category. So meet them where they are.

(Above): Schilling and Blake's fully (and successfully) embrace the CPG aesthetic over artisanal provenance. 

—
 

2

Who’s drinking hard cider? 

Broad brush time: A cider drinker is:

– Someone who drinks across category (beer, cider, NA, spirits, RTDs, etc.)

– Fairly gender neutral (though proportionately attracting more women than men compared to beer)

– More health conscious (not always, but generally)

– Someone who drinks cider for a health reason (gluten-free or reduced, etc.)

– Someone who enjoys flavor and sensory experience 

– Young-ish: Cider could reach LDA Gen Z folks as well as Millennials (and Gen Xers)

—

Findings from CODO field work (anecdotal) 

One of my favorite things to do when in a brewery taproom — whether for work or pleasure — is to ask servers and bartenders what they see people order most often. 

This is anecdotal, but it seems like every time I ask someone this question (when they serve cider), they mention it as a crowd favorite. Here are a collection of quotes I’ve gathered from recent rebrand kickoff interviews:

– “Wine drinkers gravitate towards our cider [because we don’t serve wine].”

– “We see a lot of wives order it. And gluten-free folks, of course.”

– “We actually see a lot of younger guys order it, particularly our dry cider.”

– “It’s [cider] a great answer to the question, “What do you have that isn’t beer?”

—

There’s an overlap with beer drinkers here. But don’t make the mistake of viewing your audience as monolithic. People have different tastes and preferences, and hard cider can be a great addition (particularly in the on-premise) if you’re not already making it.

(Above): Check out our AleSmith Hard Cider case study for a good look at how. brewery can step into this segment. And here's a companion podcast with Brandon and Kristen for more background context on why AleSmith felt right now was the time to get into cider. 

—
 

3

On Brand Architecture ( How should your cider relate, or not relate, to your parent brand?) 

This point is specific to breweries, or any non-cider concern that is considering entering the category. 

If you’re looking to launch a cider line, you've got several strategic options to consider. You could launch it as…

– A Brand Extension 

– A Sub Brand

– An Endorsed Brand

– An entirely new brand 

The choice here largely depends on your parent brand’s equity and positioning as well as your target market. If your brewery has strong recognition and trust, leveraging that existing brand might make sense. However, if you're targeting a distinctly different audience or want to avoid any potential confusion with your beer offerings, a separate brand might be the better path.

If you’ve been reading BBT for a while, none of this will be new to you. But here are a few refresher links on these topics, in case you’re actively planning a new brand launch:

– The role of your parent brand in Brand Architecture

– Brand Extensions vs. Sub Brands

– Sub Brands vs Endorsed Brands 

– Are fanciful named beers Sub Brands?

– Is a House of Brands right for your brewery?

(Above): Our Beverage Extension Assessment Tool (B.E.A.T.) is a purpose-built diagnostic quiz for positioning, branding and launching your next beverage. 

—
 

4

On cider’s Gluten Free claim 

This value prop comes up every single time we work on a cider brand.

And I understand why. For people who are cutting back, or actually unable to ingest gluten, this is  a critical differentiator. 

And as we explored last time [LINK], the gluten free claim punches far above its weight and can cast a broader halo effect over the rest of your brand — Oh, this is gluten free. That must mean this is healthier than these other brands.

A caution: Mind the positioning trap

Positioning boils down to 3 main points: 

– What do you do / offer / make? 

– For whom (who is your intended audience?)

– And how you are meaningfully differentiated from your competition?

Your goal as a cider (or beer, spirits, XYZ beverage) brand is to land in the top 2 or 3 spots in someone’s head for a given category. 

Example: What brand comes to mind when you think of Non Alcoholic beer? How about canned water? How about hard tea? 

(YMMV depending on where you’re located, but if you’re here in America, I bet you answered Athletic, Liquid Death and Twisted Tea.)

From a consumer standpoint, positioning is how people categorize you in their mind. We can’t remember the names and differences between hundreds of options. We can’t even do that with dozens of options, it’s just not how we’re wired. (For fun, try to name 12 shampoo brands. I’ll wait.)

So we look for meaningful points of differentiation—story, value props, and how your brand will help me self-actualize and help me shape my own identity — as a way to categorize brands in our head. 

—

Back to gluten now…

If you lead with a gluten-free claim, that's exactly how people will categorize your brand. Not whatever story you're telling, or how your packaging looks, but as a gluten-free product. 

And here's where we need to think strategically about audience size and industry direction. Leading cider brands are increasingly positioning themselves with broader, more mainstream CPG approaches. They're speaking to wider audiences about lifestyle, taste and occasions — not hanging their hat on niche attributes.

When we look at audience size:

– Those who medically require gluten-free products represent a dedicated, but small segment

– Health-conscious consumers who prefer gluten-free options make up a larger, but still limited audience

– The total addressable market for cider drinkers is significantly larger than both these segments combined

This doesn't mean you should ignore the gluten-free attribute — it is still valuable (see the halo effect idea above). But consider it as part of your broader story rather than your primary positioning.

Think of it as a supporting proof point that reinforces your larger brand narrative, rather than the narrative itself.

Remember: Positioning is one of the most important ongoing exercises you engage in. While having unique claims like gluten-free can be tempting to lead with, make sure you're not inadvertently limiting your brand's potential by focusing too narrowly. 

The question isn't just "Can we claim this?" but rather "Does this claim help us reach and resonate with our largest possible audience?"

(Above): Not sure of the veracity here, but I've always loved this claim on Angry Orchard's packaging. Gives people a clear frame of reference for why they should buy the product. 

—
 

Where does hard cider go from here?

If you’ve listened to the BBT podcast, or seen us on stage at a conference, or taken a peek inside our office kegerator, you know how bullish CODO is on hard cider. I believe broader Bev Alc and consumer trends point to some bright days ahead for this segment. 

We see nothing but runway here (and actively shifting format rules, regulations and tax structures will make this more compelling in the immediate term as well).

With consumers increasingly seeking variety across category, cider is perfectly positioned for growth.

The key to success will be maintaining cider's craft credentials while making it more accessible and appealing to mainstream consumers — in more of a broader CPG play. Brands that can balance tradition with innovation, while delivering clear, compelling brand stories, will be best positioned to capture this growth.

***

Hi, there. 

1. For a more immersive experience, read this case study over on our site.

2. We recorded a podcast with Malibu Brewing founders, Ryan and Jill. Listen to that conversation here.


***


Malibu is quintessential California — stunning views where the mountains run into the sea. Gorgeous weather. Beautiful architecture. Sunkissed people surfing and hiking. The occasional movie star sighting. And again, the weather. 

Malibu has all of these wonderful things, but doesn't have a craft beer scene.

A small brewery called Malibu Brewing is working to change that, and by all measures, they’re doing a great job. 

Founded by Ryan and Jill Ahrens less than three years ago, they’ve already scaled to produce more than 1,300 barrels per year. And they’ve got ambitious goals. Not growth for the sake of growth, but smart, organic growth by doing things right and continuing to carve out a beer culture amongst a sea of tequila, wine and cannabis. 

An important element of this growth plan is a core package refresh. 

(Above): Yeah, yeah… Malibu's great. But have you been to Indiana?!?

—


In late 2023, the Malibu team reached out to CODO to discuss that package refresh, but a broader scope as well that included a Brand Strategy and Architecture review in a bid to shore up their overall identity ahead of this planned growth. 

Ryan and Jill have been gracious enough to let us give you a full behind the scenes look at this process. We’re going to explore a few big ideas in this case study:

– Malibu’s Brand Strategy and Brand Architecture mapping process. 

– Malibu’s paint points and opportunities.

– The nuts and bolts of their package refresh, including initial sketching, revisions, illustration and retail considerations.

Let’s get into it.

 (Above): Malibu's previous packaging.

—

 

Malibu’s Brand Architecture

Malibu Brewing has a lot of exciting things moving right now. And they wanted to properly organize their Brand Architecture ahead of some of these larger initiatives so they could pre-make some decisions.

A few things they wanted guidance on:

– If we were to acquire another brewery, how could we fold their brand under the Malibu banner? 

– If we were to open another brewery in Malibu, should we call this “Malibu Brewing” as well or develop a more localized, neighborhood name?

– If we were to launch a Hop Water (and other NA products), would this be a Malibu product, or should we create a separate Endorsed, if not entirely standalone lifestyle brand?

– Is Malibu Brewing a Craft Brewery, or a broader hospitality group?

– Does the Malibu name limit where we can take the brand? Does being from Malibu help, hurt or even matter to folks in Rancho Cucamonga (as an example)?

—

In working through these questions, we recommended Malibu build a Hybrid Brand Architecture Model with a Branded House foundation. This allows their core portfolio to continue growing and defining the beer scene in Malibu while also allowing their team to explore select products and categories over the coming years (e.g. Hop Water, hybrid beverages, a differentiated hard seltzer)

(Above): Malibu's Brand Architecture Map. Note the recommendations for potential Sub Brands based on their dialed in beer styles and names. Ryan and Jill walked through why they felt Brand Architecture was so valuable on our podcast.

—

 

Here are a handful of other interesting ideas we discussed through their Brand Strategy work:

Working against the craft beer stereotype 

Something we heard over and over in our initial field work was how surprised people were when they first stepped into Malibu’s taproom. 

We mentioned earlier that there’s not really a Craft Beer scene in Malibu. What this means for someone who wants to build a brewery there is that they’re working against an entrenched (and kinda true?) stereotype for what a brewery is — uninspired industrial space, uncomfortable furniture, poorly lit, no food, homogenous crowd, etc.

And if that’s not your vibe, you’ll just skip the entire scene.

Malibu Brewing bucks this stereotype with a gorgeous taproom. Right on the beach, Ryan and Jill have put every bit as much intention into their FF&E as they have their pilsner or hazy recipe. 

I wanted to highlight this idea here because this has been a crucial part of Malibu’s fast growth. And I believe more breweries should reimagine, and invest heavily in their taprooms and overall brand experience, if they want to attract new customers. 

(Above): Malibu's gorgeous taproom. (I always know a place is nice when I feel like I shouldn't be allowed in there.)

—


Is Malibu a brewery brand or a broader hospitality group?

I wanted to highlight this idea as well, because we’re seeing breweries across the country struggle with this. 

One question Malibu had going into his process was whether or not it made sense to create a separate hospitality brand ahead of their expansion. 

We’re Malibu Brewing now with one location. What happens when we open our second location in town? Or if we open a new taproom over in Rancho Cucamonga? Or if we open a cocktail bar? 

Our stance is that Malibu Brewing is a Craft Beer brand, albeit one with an outsized hospitality focus. We see a real opportunity to buck the negative craft beer tropes by blowing customers away with an unparalleled experience (everything from decor, to food and branding and package design and staff eduction and customer service).

While the hardcore craft beer fan may not be motivated by this alone, we think local folks who are new to craft (underserved demographics, younger LDA drinkers and even craft’s traditional demo of Millennials and Gen Xers who never caught the craft bug in the first place) will respond inordinately well to this approach. 

This issue — brewery vs. hospitality group — collided directly another important and timely question:


How well does the Malibu name travel?

Does a localized name (e.g. named after a place) limit where the brand can credibly go?

Does being from Malibu help, hurt or even matter to folks in Rancho Cucamonga? How about further away in Los Angeles?

Directly from our Brand Strategy document here:

We believe the Malibu brand (beautiful beach, scenery and people — an aspirational California getaway) is imminently exportable. 

We recommend you should own Malibu (the locale) completely. Carrying your name through to follow-on concepts will bolster your local bonafides as well as gird against any potential future competition. Regardless of how far you expand, owning the Malibu market will be crucial for your brand and business health. 

This means that satellite locations, even if across town, should be named Malibu Brewing Co., no different from your flagship location. Opening another location in Malibu proper will likely capture an entirely unique, hyper-local audience. For them, this is Malibu Brewing. So reinforce that. 

However, we recommend giving each location its own unique vibe, bespoke to the area. So different interior design features, murals, colors, furniture, fixtures, etc. You could also give them a fun, colloquial nickname (e.g. “Malibu North”). So even though the location flies under the Malibu banner, you won’t be perceived as a chain.

(Above): Brand Architecture played a crucial role in our Brand Strategy work with Malibu. Read The Beyond Beer Handbook for a full run down on everything you need to know about this topic and how you can use it to map out your brewery's portfolio. 

—

 

Art Direction & Mood Boarding  

From an art direction standpoint, several big ideas — Brand Essences — emerged from our conversations, stakeholder interviews and fieldwork.

The first, “Vacation in a 6-pack” spoke to Malibu in an expected way. This is as aspirational as it gets. A beautiful day on the beach. Phone turned off. The wind, the sand the sea. This direction sells Malibu as the brand. A nostalgic, sunny beach trip. 

The second and third directions “Craft Beer, Elevated,” and “Down-to-Earth Excellence” each spoke to the idea of quality, through their beer itself, but more importantly at the hospitality level. Malibu has a gorgeous taproom—it’s aesthetic and instagram worthy (without being overbearing). How can we capture this idea and pull it through to inform their packaging and broader marketing? 

How should your taproom inform your brand identity and packaging and vis versa?

After a few lively conversations, their final Brand Essence ended up centering around this idea of Approachable Elegance. 

This positions the Malibu Brewing brand as confident and intentional. Attentive to detail, but still laid back. Elevated, but grounded. Timeless, with just a touch of nostalgia.

With the Brand Strategy (positioning, messaging and Essence) and art direction (mood boards, brand voice and personality) all set, we moved right into the package design process. 

(Above): Malibu's Brand Strategy doc, including mood boards for collaborative art direction.

—

 

Malibu's Package Refresh 

Malibu’s package refresh work itself was pretty straight forward (thanks to the Brand Strategy and Architecture work on the front end). 

We explored two different concepts here, that:

– Looked less like seltzer and more like beer (an important project goal).
– Looked premium without being too fussy (an important communication goal).
– Retained the visual equity that was working from their previous packaging (so a clear evolution).

This resulted in two initial directions that each explored a different take on evolving their previous look.

The Malibu team loved (LOVED!) the first direction, so we moved right onto revisions. 

We can fast forward at this point since most of our time in revisions revolved around dialing in illustrations and color ways for each brand, debating which messaging made the most sense to include on their packaging (including differences between the primary and secondary formats) and overseeing the production process to ensure everything prints as we envisioned.

Wrapping up 

This package refresh is rolling out as we speak and I predict (as does the Malibu team) that it’s going to perform really well out in the market. 

But when this happens, we can’t really take credit for their growth.

—

It’s easy to find scary stories about the beer industry today. And there’s no need to sugarcoat it — times are tough.

But if you understand your story and what you stand for, if you understand what makes your customers tick, if you make phenomenal beer, if you invest in your critical touch points — your brand identity, packaging, merch and taproom design — you can still thrive.

Malibu Brewing proves this every single day. 

And we’re honored to play a small part in seeing where they go from here.

– How do we recruit new, younger drinkers? 

– How do we make our packaging stand out in retail?

– How can we get our distributor(s) to care about our brand again?

– How do we stand out from the dozens (or hundreds) of local options?

– What even is our story today, XX years in?

—

This weariness is particularly prevalent amongst older, mid-market breweries: Outfits who are ~10 to 20+ years old and making anywhere from ~5k to 15k+ bbl per year. In many cases, they're no longer seen as cool, or romantic, or sexy.

But, perhaps most painful of all, you have a growing number of lapsed fans — folks who have moved on to drink beer from other breweries, or beyond beer products, or, less alcohol in general.

This leaves you on an island, unsure where to go from here.

We have all this history, this legacy. We have this volume, (though it's slowly eroding). What do we do?

—

Okay, enough editorializing.

I’m excited to walk you through our recent brand refresh work with Alewerks Brewing because they fit my rambling prologue to a tee.

Let’s look at their stats:

– Founded in 2006 in Williamsburg, Virginia as "Williamsburg AleWerks."

– They’ve grown to be one of the state’s largest breweries. 

– They’re known for making phenomenal, dead reliable, classic beer styles, including their regional cult classic Pumpkin seasonal.

– They’re also a brewer’s brewery, with several previous employees going on to build wonderful careers after their Alewerks tenure.

– In 2012, they changed their name to "Alewerks Brewing Co," and have since undergone a series of smart identity and package refreshes. (See the art below for reference.)

– Their sales are flat (though holding steady at a time when many other breweries are actively losing volume).

—

Taken in aggregate, it’s clear that Alewerks wasn’t facing an existential crisis. They’ve got a well-rounded portfolio. They’re invested heavily in their local community. And they have a squared away team and run a solid business behind the scenes. 

Alewerks is, by any measure, a successful brewery . But they ultimately want to move beyond this plateau and get back to consistent, sustainable growth. 

Their team determined that the first step on a long path towards that goal is a sweeping brand refresh.

In late 2023, Alewerks reached out to CODO to discuss this revamp. And we’re going to give you a candid look behind the scenes at that entire process today. 

(Above): Alewerks' name, brand identity and package design evolution through the years.

—
 

Let’s start by looking at some highlights from our Brand Strategy work.

Alewerks’ biggest pain points & opportunities 

We’ve already outlined a few of Alewerks’ problems above. Here are a few quotes pulled directly from our Strategy doc:

– “Alewerks has a solid rep throughout our market. But we also have a rep for being around for a long time. We’ve seen others like us not evolve. And we’ve passed them by. So we have to evolve. We have to give people something new — a different way of thinking about us.”

– “This is a proactive move to reinvigorate Alewerks’ brand before we start sliding. Prioritizing this rebrand as a capital investment (vs. adding sales staff, upgrading equipment, chasing niche consumers with nano-trend releases, etc.) demonstrates our commitment to playing the long game.”

– “It’s time. [Plus,] we’ve seen the power of this sort of move in the past.”

– “Our brand has become tired.”

– “People assume we’re smaller than we are, but we’ve been a top 10 Virginia brewery for years.”


— 


In addition to these issues, the Alewerks name itself is a challenge. First, there are umpteen number of XYZ Aleworks breweries out there, including a few in Virginia. But beyond that, their purposely misspelled name is (wouldn’t ya know) often misspelled out in the wild (e.g. capitalized ‘W,’ split into two words, or using an ‘O’ instead of ‘E’). 

But a bigger issue is that their name, translated literally, means “Brewing Company Brewing Company.” We made a bold recommendation to address this in our Brand Strategy doc, but I’ll save that for the design presentation section below. 

Evolution vs. Revolution ( Is this a rebrand or refresh? )

Figuring out whether a revamp is a refresh or a formal rebrand can be kind of a semantic exercise. Some people use the terms interchangeably, and indeed, there’s a lot of overlap between the two processes (weighing and evolving equity, etc.). 

That being said, we do like to clearly lay out how we’re thinking about the project as an opportunity to hear what our clients think and gut check everything. This is a great opportunity to hash out any remaining thoughts, concerns, or opportunities before moving onto the identity design process. 

Here are a few lines pulled directly from our strategic recommendations:

We recommend a clear evolution of your current logo, centered around the kettle. We will explore interesting ways to turn this into a badge that can be pulled out as a standalone icon. 

Beyond that, we will explore different typography and core colors (currently navy and gold) throughout your packaging. While this combo looks good in a vacuum (website, etc.), these colors seem too staid. Punchier alternatives will give a better shelf presence & presentation. 

—

TLDR: There was just too much equity — nearly 20 year’s worth — in their core logo to jettison it. 

(Above): Alewerks' most recent (pre-refresh) package design system.

—
 

Brand Essences & Mood Boards 

After organizing our findings, Strategy and recommendations, we next had to art direct all of these ideas. Three recurring, compelling themes (Brand Essences) came up through the course of our due diligence.  

The first, “Beer Ex Machina,” was an ode to Alewerks’ behind the scenes production rigor and SOPs. 

The second, “Craft University,” was a nod to Alewerks’ focus on traditional styles as a foil to late stage craft beer where styles (and sometimes decorum?) don’t really matter. This direction focuses heavily on customer education as a way to bring craft back down to where the Alewerks team believes it should be: Well-made, reliable, approachable beer.

The final Essence, “Cream of the Keg,” is a to-the-point way of highlighting Alewerks’ never ending focus on quality. This includes lots of fun visual premium indexes like seals, ribbons and gold and copper highlights. 

—

After a few great conversations and giving their team time to sit with this, we ended up moving forward with the “Craft University” idea.

Their final brand voice included attributes like: Authoritative, Established, Idealistic, Experienced, Sincere. Proud not arrogant. Confident, not cocky.

This is a subtle change from what we originally presented, but ultimately perfectly appropriate for their team and brand. 

At this point, our Brand Strategy work is wrapped and we get to roll up our sleeves and begin sketching on their brand identity.

Initial Branding Presentation

We developed two initial directions to share with the Alewerks team. Here are a few notes on this presentation.  

1. Direction 1 was a lovely update to their current mark. Warm, with subtle rounded corners and attractive, familiar colors. Direction 2 featured a more stylized, retro look — like a brewery identity from the mid-2000’s, but reimagined in a cool way. 

2. We added differing levels of detail to the brew kettle in each direction in a bid to make it not look like a 5 gallon water jug. The first direction featured a hidden ‘A’ in the kettle highlights whereas the second direction grounded the illustration with a viewing port (to help new people understand what they’re actually looking at). 

3. I mentioned above that we made a recommendation on how to handle the “Brewing Company Brewing Company” issue. Let’s talk about that now. 

We recommended that Alewerks colloquially go by that single word alone. So, drop the “Brewing Co.” qualifier from their name and identity wherever possible. 

In its place, they should use “Virginia Craft Beer” in a bid to proudly claim where they’re from, who they serve and position Alewerks as one of the state’s foremost breweries. 

To our surprise, the Alewerks team loved this recommendation. But again, their team was looking to make some decisive moves through this process, so good on them for being open to a bold change like this.

(Above): Note the subtle shift from the "Brewing Company" tag to "Virginia Craft Beer" along the bottom of their core mark.

This eliminated the "Brewing Company Brewing Company" issue while being more vocal and ardent about Alewerks' positioning as a leading Virginia brewery. 

—

Let’s fast forward a bit here.

Alewerks loved the first direction, almost lock, stock and barrel. (Chef’s kiss emoji.)

The only real feedback was to lose the hidden ‘A’ and bring the port over from the second direction. 

From there, we made (approximately) a million changes to get this up to CODO’s standard. Things that no one other than our team will notice like tweaking how the kettle nests in the badge, “melting” the typography, adding some line and texture details (originally from the second direction) and building out the rest of their Modular Brand Identity System.

Once we wrapped their identity, we rolled right onto packaging.

(Above): A snapshot of Alewerks' Modular Brand Identity System.

—
 

Packaging Presentation

Earlier in our Brand Strategy work, we determined that building a monolithic Branded House would work best long term. Alewerks was already working under this system for their flagships, so the continuity would be good. But beyond that, everything they brew is true-to-style, so flying all their products under a singular banner will help to build overarching Brand Equity. 

So when we got to tackle their packaging, we felt that a classic, bifurcated look would let their newly-refined logo shine while standing out from the rest of their competitive set and carrying though enough equity from their previous iteration. 

We explored different ways of handling their tasting notes: Straight and to the point (like their team), and another option with a little more swagger and personality.

And we worked to ensure the beer name and style itself came through clearly, particularly on the 12pk cases, for better merchandising.

Revisions were straightforward and mostly focused on dialing in colors and getting everything consistent across their various formats (including 12oz and 16oz cans, 4-pk, 6-pk and 12-pk boxes, 12oz bottles and 6-pk carriers).

Pumpkin Ale ( & remaining seasonals )

If you’re still reading along, reply to this email with the subject line “Pumpkin.” The 12th person to do so receives a free copy of Craft Beer, Rebranded.

We’ve covered a lot of ground here, but before we close, I’d like to talk about Alewerks’ Pumpkin seasonal. This is one of their most important brands, and it was crucial to get this packaging right. 

This was an interesting challenge from a portfolio standpoint. It needed to clearly look like an Alewerks brand (so follow their newly-refreshed look and feel and live under their Branded House), while at the same time, stand apart as being more premium and limited. 

Here are a few ways we accomplished this:

– We brought in tasteful, etched illustrations to highlight the particular adjunct.

– We added a subtle scalloped edge (more familiar in spirits packaging) along the name and style strip to set this off from the background in a lovely way.

– We added a subtle vignette around each carrier panel for more tonal depth.

– We developed a fun seasonal badge to serve as a violator and draw more attention on the shelf.

– And finally, we used metallic gold foil in a few select spots on the pack. (Again, chef’s kiss emoji.)

—

Once the Pumpkin Ale packaging was squared away, we were able to knock out the remaining seasonals in short order.

(Follow us over on Instagram. We’ll share these there as they debut throughout 2025.)

(Above): We wrapped this project up by building a simple set of Brand Guidelines. 

—

Let’s bring this home

Alewerks’ new look will hit the market starting early 2025 and should be out in full force by Spring. 

—

In an era where legacy breweries are grappling with shifting consumer tastes and fierce competition, Alewerks stands as a prime example of how to adapt and thrive. By investing in a comprehensive brand refresh, Alewerks is taking bold steps to revitalize its image and reconnect with longtime fans, lapsed customers and new drinkers alike. 

This willingness to evolve — from refining their identity and packaging to positioning their brewery as a stalwart of Virginia craft beer — demonstrates that established breweries can reinvent themselves without losing their core identity. 

As their new look hits shelves in 2025, Alewerks is sending a clear message: Established doesn't mean outdated. In an industry that often chases the new and novel, they're doubling down on quality beer, consistent service and smart branding. 

And I bet this pays off. 


—



If you’d like to breathe new life into your brewery’s brand, drop me a line. We (CODO) would love to help you with that.

Hi there (and happy new year!). 

Your brewery’s name is one of the most important things you own. 

Ideally, it should hint at what you offer, what you stand for, why you’re different and why someone should care enough to buy your beer over someone else’s. 

Most importantly, your name should help you tell your story and grow your business. 

But what if it doesn’t?

We’ve heard this pain point several times over the years: Our name is tied to a hyper-local thing — a town or state, a landmark, a river, a building or interesting historic story or figure. This plays well locally, but means nothing to anyone outside of our town. 

And while wanton expansion isn’t the clear path to growth that it once was, there’s still some merit for targeted expansion to a few additional markets if you see an opportunity.

So let’s explore a few ways you can make your name more compelling, and graspable, to people further afield in case you’re dealing with this issue. 

(Above): Read more about what goes into a great brewery name in our Birdsmouth Beer Co. branding case study.


—


1

Can you just change the name?

Yes, you can always change your name. But this is a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency move. 

To wit, we’ve only made this recommendation 2 or 3 times out of the ~50 brewery rebrands we’ve handled. (That is actual brewery brand names. We’re less precious when it comes to swapping out beer names.)

Whenever we’re working with an established brewery, whether we’re helping to launch an extension, or working on a rebrand, we have to be mindful of Brand Equity. So, what are the key messaging and visual signifiers that, if lost, would confuse your existing fans and actually hurt your business?

Your name is a critical piece of this puzzle. 

And unless your name is posing an immediate and existential threat to your business, and/or, there is no clear path towards overcoming its shortcomings, then it’s almost always better to build around it (via a Sub Brand or some other strategy) than to jettison it entirely.

A quick caveat here is if you’re purchasing a brewery and don’t care about the IP or equity. In that case, break out the white board and change that name.

Read more about how to handle a brewery’s brand post-acquisition here: 

> So you bought a brewery… To rebrand or not to rebrand?

(Above): Dixie Brewing changed its corporate name to the much less problematic (though still esoteric?) Faubourg Brewing Co. back in 2020. Read more about this rebrand here.

—
 

2

Your brand identity itself can do a lot of heavy lifting 

An esoteric name can be challenging, but you can mitigate this through your identity design.

Whether through your core logo, or a series of cool supporting marks, your brand identity system can bridge this gap and tell your story much more compellingly than a name alone.

Your logo isn’t everything, but don’t underestimate the power of a killer mark. 

(Above): Learn more about how we build Modular Brand Identity Systems here.

—
 

3

Your beer names can be an opportunity to speak more broadly than your parent brand

If you’re dealing with a localized, esoteric name, you can, with a simple packaging hierarchy shift, retool your storytelling and marketing to focus more on a particular beer’s name than on your brewery’s parent brand. 

And you don’t have to build formal Sub Brands to achieve this either. 

Great fanciful names can give you a great starting point to connect with people, provided your brewery’s name is downplayed. 

Read more about how fanciful names work under a Branded House architecture model here.

(Above): Fernson Brewing's recent package refresh is a good example of a brewery leaning into its beer names for more individualized storytelling beyond the parent brand.

—
 

4

You could create a Sub / Endorsed Brand as an envoy into other markets 

This is a more costly path, but if you’re dealing with a name that can’t travel, and you want to expand into other markets, you can create a Sub / Endorsed Brand (or a new standalone brand) expressly for this purpose. This is an interesting Sub Brand use case we’ve seen sever times over the last few years. 

This can be a great strategy for breweries that are named after a specific town, state or landmark. (e.g. Maine Beer Co, Tampa Bay Brewing)

This was a key part of our brief when helping Virginia Beer Company launch the Cold Drinking Beer brand. 

Virginia Beer Co wanted to expand into a few neighboring states with a light beer brand, but worried that their name wouldn’t travel well. And we agree, why would someone in South Carolina (home to one of the best brewery scenes in the US) care about Virginia Beer Co.?

This opened up a fun opportunity to create an entirely new brand from the ground up. 

See how we built the Cold Drinking Beer brand here.

Wrapping up 

You can’t have it both ways 

The reality is that this is a tough spot to be in. 

If you have an esoteric, hyper-local name, you’re not really going to be able to have that resonate further away the same way a more intuitive, broader-appeal name would. The ideas we’ve discussed here can help you work around this, but the issue will still be there. 

In addition to these suggestions, I’d like you to consider whether you’ve actually hit the ceiling in your local market? Have you captured every single account you can? Are you in every person’s fridge? And in every venue? 

If you see an opportunity for growth, you should expand to new markets. But it might be worth another look to ensure that you’ve truly owned your backyard before doing so. 

Hi, there. 

So far, we’ve had 227 (!!!) BBT readers take our year end survey. (Please take it yourself if you haven’t already.)

One of our questions on the survey is an AMA section for topics you’d like to see us cover on BBT. We’ve gotten so many great responses to this that I wanted to pull it out and put it right here up top.

Please respond to this email and let me know if you have any questions or topics you’d like us to discuss either here on the newsletter or on the podcast next year. (Or if you'd like to discuss working together in 2025.)

Okay, let’s get to it.

(I’m not sure if you’re going to read this or not.)

Well done if you’re already in year end break mode.

I hope you drink 10,000 beers have a lovely time with your family and friends. 

But if you’re still here and would like to read along, I want to talk with you about something that will help you make better branding decisions throughout 2025 — your Brand Architecture.
 

What’s your 2025 look like? 

If you're planning to:

– Launch a new brand, beer or beyond.
– Launch a new beer series.
– Open a new location.
– Acquire another brand or business.
– Sell one of your brands.
– Scale one of your brands via the Sub Brand Ladder.
– Line Extend one of your existing products.
– Rationalize your portfolio.
– Create a Co-branded product.
– Form a hospitality group. 
– Refresh your brewery's brand and packaging. 

If you are doing any of this, then you’ll be working through Brand Architecture problems. 

And if you don’t pause long enough to work through what each of these moves means to your overall model, you can end up with a tangled mess that your customers — and even your own team — may not understand. 

(Above): Brand Architecture Map for a brewery we're rebranding in Michigan. Their portfolio spans beer, spirits, cider, seltzer, RTDs, NA products and multiple locations. This map helped them think through where their parent brand should (and more importantly, should't) pull through on all of these products. 

—
 

Why Brand Architecture is important 

If you’ve never mapped out your Brand Architecture, you’re in luck — it’s not that hard to do. And even if your Map isn’t as clean, or put together as CODO could build, having one is better than not. 

Why? Because a Brand Architecture Map will help you: 

– Understand how all of your brands, current and future, add up to build a more resilient business.
– Help you make faster decisions when bringing new products to market.
– Help you identify opportunities for new brand development and Line Extensions.
– Spot opportunities to streamline communication (and budget) efforts. 
– Future proof your new product development pipeline. 
– Protect your parent brand from cannibalization and dilution. 
– Present a more compelling, and cohesive, narrative to your fans.

Okay, you get the point. This is an important business function.

So let’s walk through how to get this out onto paper. 

Brand Architecture Mapping

Here's a quick rundown on how to map out your Brand Architecture. 

You can jump straight in the computer here, but at CODO, we like to get on a white board or a blank page — somewhere you can write big and quickly make edits. Your first few rounds of this will be messy, but that’s okay. This is all iterative. 

Step 1: List everything out 

Start by listing out all of your products. Don’t worry about the form this takes yet (e.g. a chart), just a list of product names / lines is fine for now.

– Flagship beers
– Seasonal beers
– Specialty beers 
– Rotator beer series
– And on and on — however you organize your beer portfolio.

Next, do the same thing for any Fourth Category brands you have in the mix, e.g. seltzer, RTDs, Hop Water, spirits, cannabis, hard cider.

Next, list out all of your locations, Co-branded products, special events, community partnerships and anything else that represents either an important touchpoint with your customers or a revenue stream (e.g. merch, catering, event center). 

And finally, list out any upcoming products you’ve been thinking about — new beers, NA products, different categories, locations, acquisitions, etc. 

Step 2: Group your products

Now that you have all of your products listed out, you can start to intuitively group them in a chart form. 

The form your map takes will shift based on how you organize your portfolio and brands. A Branded House portfolio might fit on one page whereas a House of Brands, or even a Branded House with a few Sub Brands in the mix might span several pages. 

That’s okay. There’s no right or wrong here. (And again, this is all iterative.)

This will be intuitive, but to get you started, think big 30k foot view categories. 

– Beer (under which you might have flagships, an IPA series, seasonals, barrel aged releases, variety packs, contract beers, etc.)
– Seltzer (individual SKUs, variety pack, etc.)
– Sprits (gin, bourbon, RTDs, NA, etc.)
– Hop Water (cores, variety pack, etc.)
– Non Alcoholic (NA Beer, Hop Water)
– Venues / Hospitality (Taprooms, Brewpubs, Catering, Event Center)
 

—

We put together a template doc to help you lay this all out. If you have Illustrator, you can drop this PDF right in there and edit as needed. If not, you can print this out and go to town with a marker as well.

(Above): To reiterate an earlier point, this template probably won’t work *perfectly* for what you’ve got going on. Our goal is to give you a head start for mapping this all out.

Chop this up and make it your own, or, create your own map entirely. 

—

 

Step 3: Specify an overarching model

Unless you know your overarching Brand Architecture model from the jump, we usually save this step for last because all the work you did in steps 1 and 2 (along with your broader Brand Strategy) will dictate the correct model(s). 

Your choices here are: Branded House, House of Brands or a Hybrid Brand. 

For what it’s worth, we rarely see our clients fall neatly into one of these buckets. Even a smaller brewery that might produce a few thousand bbl per year can have a fairly complex Architecture map (with fourth category brands, Sub Brands, Line Extensions and multiple locations).

But again, that’s why this is valuable. This process helps you wrangle everything and spot areas for improvement. 

Hit the links above to read about each of these systems and pick which ever one seems closest to what you’re trying to build. 

(Above): Read The Beyond Beer Handbook for a full rundown on this entire subject.

And if you take our year end survey, you can grab your own copy (or copies for your team) for 50% off — only a few days left.

—

 

Wrapping up 

And I’ll leave you to it. There’s more that goes into this process, but we’ll circle back to it later in 2025 with a round 2. Or, if we sell enough copies of The Beyond Beer Handbook, we’ll include a full step-by-step guide, complete with multiple templates, in the second edition. 

For now, give this a spin and see how it shapes up. (And let me know how it goes.)

—

Real quick before we break, I wanted to thank you for reading BBT this year.

This newsletter started out as an experiment — an insider report we only shared with clients — and quickly grew to become much larger that that.

After client work, BBT is one of my favorite things we work on.

CODO has a lot of exciting things on deck headed into 2025 — long overdue case studies, big speaking engagements, purchasing a building, hosting CBC in Indianapolis, our annual trends report, a revamped podcast + a brand refresh.

I’m glad you’re here following along. 

Shoot me an email if you'd like to discuss working together next year, and otherwise, have a lovely break. 

– Isaac / CODO

Hi, there.

If you haven't already, please take our year end survey (less than 3 minutes).

This will help to shape our content in 2025. As a thanks for your time, we'll give you a 50% off code for any of our books — use it as many times as you want.

Thanks! 


—


Your brand identity and packaging are crucial for standing out, building equity longterm and driving sales. But these are just one part of your brewery’s branding and marketing puzzle.

Once you’ve got these components squared away, you have to continually build your brand(s). This includes internally with your customer service and behind the scenes relationships (with distributors and retailers), and branches out from there to your social media presence, point of sale (POS) materials, merch, environmental design and more traditional channels like out of home.

A big part of all of this — of understanding what stories you should be telling — is defining your Key Messaging / Communication Pillars.

That’s a churched up way of saying which big ideas you want people to associate with your brewery’s brand.

– What do you want people to think about when they hear your brewery’s name?

– How do you want them to describe your brand to their friends?

– What big ideas and differentiators do you want them to remember (when it comes time to buy some beer)?

We’ve studied this topic for years and have often found convoluted approaches for framing these messaging and brand personality out in the wild — needlessly complicated prompts, quizzes and flow charts, all designed to help you get to the bottom of, er, you. 

In today’s BBT issue, I’m going to give you a few simple tools we (CODO) use to help our clients frame their Key Messaging Pillars. 

Let’s get to it. 

(Above): Key Messaging Pillars for Birdsmouth Beer Co.

—
 

Part 1: How to frame your Key Messaging Pillars 

One of our favorite ways of sussing out compelling ideas in our work is to have everyone on your team answer this question: 

If you could go into someone’s head and put 3 or 4 big messages about your brand in there, what would those be?

(That’s it. Really.)

Here are some examples we’ve seen in our project work:

– We are one of Canada’s original craft breweries. 
– We are the quintessential Upper Peninsula beer brand.
– We source all of our ingredients directly from Germany. 
– We are one of San Diego’s most beloved breweries. 
– We are your go-to fridge stocker beer.
– We are the no-frills Midwest cocktail company. 
– We use tech to grow the best cannabis in Michigan.
– We are Oregon’s original craft brewery. 
– We are the iconic Wisconsin Supper Club. 
– We deliver wild Alaskan seafood directly to your door.
– We make cider from apples grown on our family farm. 
– We build our own whiskey barrels in-house at our cooperage.

Your first few attempts will likely result in dozens of ideas. Work with your team (or branding partner) to winnow this down to 3 or 4 big ideas. Why 3 to 4? Because people have limited bandwidth, so less, but better, is the goal here. 

How can you kill-or-combine your way to getting this list leaner?


—

Move beyond table stakes 

It’s important to challenge yourself to think beyond table stakes when revising these messages. 

We see this come up constantly when defining brand values and Key Communication Pillars. These are the sorts of ideas that, while maybe true for your brewery, can also be claimed by (a lot of) your competition. A few examples:

– “We make high quality beer.”
– “We only use the best ingredients.”
– “We’re community-focused.”
– “We’re environmentally responsible.”

(I’m still waiting for the day a brewery hangs its hat on brewing objectively flawed beer for people they don’t like. “Flawed beer for flawed people” … is this anything?)

Again, these things (high quality beer) are likely true and should guide how you act behind closed doors. But we’re looking for true and compelling differentiators around which you can build your brand.

Once you have a grasp on these big ideas, you can start to frame out what brand personality and voice best fits your brand.

(Above): Key Communication Pillars, brand personality cues and Brand Essence write-ups for Ghost Note Brewing and Plain Spoke Cocktails.

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Part 2: How to define your Brand Personality 

Your brand personality is exactly as it sounds — this is how you carry yourself, both online and in the real world. 

This manifests most immediately in your day-to-day social media posts and in your own/on-premise customer interactions. From there, it spreads to all of your downstream touchpoints.

We help our clients sketch this out with another prompt. Ask everyone on your team:

If your brand were a person, what sort of personality traits would it have?

Here are some examples we’ve seen in our work: 

– We are wry and clever.
– We are blue collar. 
– We are experimental. 
– We are dedicated craftsmen. 
– We are outdoorsy trout bums. 
– We’re good hearted stoners.  
– We are worldly travelers. 
– We are foodies.
– We are shade tree mechanics. 
– We are busy suburban dads. 
– We are twenty something dog moms. 
– We are natural tinkerers. 

A quick process note here. In our earlier years, we phrased this question as: If your brand were a celebrity, who would it be? But we ended up dropping the celebrity qualifier because it would, like clockwork, lead to one of two possible answers. 

1. Some derivation of, “Oh, I don’t watch tv, so I have no idea.”

2. Or, someone would answer with one of the same 7 or 8 people. (It’s wild, we’ve heard this collection of people on several dozen brewery branding projects). This list included:

Bill Murray, Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Rudd, Robert Downey Jr. (sometimes Iron Man), Ron Swanson (not Nick Offerman), Woody Harrelson and sometimes Tom Hanks

(Putting this out into the universe: If any brewery out there sees themselves as Ian McShane in Deadwood, hit me up. We should talk.)
 

—

You’ll want to go through the same process of editing here as when you frame your Key Communication Pillars. And we aim to get this list down to six to eight personality traits. 

This amount gives you a cohesive foundation, but also enough room to flex and/or code switch as the channel or situation calls for. 

(Above): Brand personality and Essence write-ups for two taproom-focused breweries and a boutique hotel in New Glarus, Wisconsin. (Stay tuned for case studies on all these projects.)

—
 

A few other questions you can tack on to this brand-as-a-person line of thinking include: 

– Is this a man or a woman? 
– How old are they? 
– What does this person do for a living?
– Do they have a sense of humor?
– What are they into? (What are they obnoxiously passionate about?)
– What is their biggest strength / weakness? 
– What kind of shoes do they wear? 
– What is their biggest pet peeve? 
– Who is their favorite band?

Note: We’ve never focused on Brand Archetypes in our Brand Strategy process, though that’s not an indictment on that approach. We’ve just found that defining your brand voice and personality by humanizing your brand in other ways to be a clear path of arriving at those same ideas.

Cody and I discussed this a while back on the BBT Podcast. That conversation start’s around the 17 minute mark, if you’d like to listen in: 

> Are Brand Archetypes Complete Bullshit?

—
 

I’ll leave this here because at this point, we start to veer into brand voice. And this topic deserves its own issue down the line. 

So let’s wrap this up.

(Above): Key Communication Pillars for Prost Brewing.

—
 

Wrapping up

Building a strong, differentiated brand identity mission critical for the longterm health and success of your brewery.

But remember, your brand is more than just your logo or packaging — it's the culmination of all the experiences people have with your brand and your reputation in their minds. A big part of shaping this story lies in defining your Key Messaging Pillars and crafting your overall narrative so people understand who you are, what you stand for, and why your brewery should be their go-to.

If you give this process the time it deserves, you’ll create a strong foundation for all of your marketing efforts and set yourself up to create life long fans.

Hi, there.

If you haven't already, please take our year end survey (less than 3 minutes).

This will help to shape our content in 2025. As a thanks for your time, we'll give you a 50% off code for any of our books — use it as many times as you want.

Thanks! 


—


Today I want to talk about the House of Brands. 

This is a common Brand Architecture model amongst larger beer & beverage conglomerates (Molson Coors, Boston Beer, ABI, Diageo, et al.) where having a diverse line of products that span multiple categories, price points and distribution territory adds up to a robust portfolio.

But over the last few years, we’ve seen more of our smaller* craft clients lean into the House of Brands model as well, by launching targeted stand alone brands (e.g. a light beer brand, an RTD cocktail, a spirit brand, etc.).

*Note: smaller in this case can be anywhere from 1k bbl to 20k. They’re smaller relative to ABI. (Aren't we all?)

So this is a broadly applicable approach. 

Let’s start by defining the House of Brands and then get into some possible use cases for your brewery as well as some important caveats to be mindful of in case you think this is a good approach for your next product launch.

(Above): Read more about the House of Brands Architecture model here.

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What is a House of Brands? 

A House of Brands architecture is a collection of (mostly) disparate, independent brands with little-to-no ties between each other or to a corporate brand.

In this approach, each brand has its own value proposition, messaging, and positioning, and is completely independent as far as the consumer is concerned. 

And a quick note: We say “corporate” in this case because “parent” denotes some manner of a relationship with an extension (e.g. You extend your parent brand when launching a Sub or Endorsed Brand). In a House of Brands model, there is no parent brand connection whatsoever.

This approach allows you to target different consumers and segments with niche brands and products that are tailored to their specific needs and values without competing with other brands in the portfolio. This makes for a more robust overall business.

Traditionally the stock and trade of mega corporations like Procter and Gamble and Unilever, this can be a valuable concept for craft breweries to employ depending on their product mix, volume and sales goals as well.

(Above:) Prominent portfolio brands (House of Brands) from big to not-quite-as-big (but still kind of big). While we're here, I predict that we'll see a rise in Holding Companies over the coming years that spin up expressly to purchase and produce Legacy Brewery IP. 

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Benefits & use cases for a House of Brands model 

A House of Brands approach allows you to offer products to highly-targeted niche audiences without worrying about how to adapt your parent brand to the task

By creating an entirely new brand, you are free to explore each product individually under a House of Brands model without being governed by (or concerned with) any of your parent brand’s equity. Each product is able to have its own unique value proposition and attract different customer segments. And none of this will be confusing, because you are not beholden to a broader brand narrative. 

You can have a functional beverage along with a hard cider and an Imperial IPA and an NA beer in the same portfolio and no one will bat an eye (because they’re not positioned as being part of the same family). 

You can quickly seize market opportunities because you bypass all the work (and worry) of making sure your parent brand works in a new context.

The House of Brands approach allows you to be more agile, rapidly executing on new opportunities without considering what that might mean for your parent brand. You are free to move on an appropriate idea without being encumbered with existing equity or customer expectations. 

In this way, agility can be just as important as having a great product that is correctly marketed and positioned. Being first to market in a particular category can go a long way towards ensuring long term success.

(Above:) Virginia Beer Co wanted to build a light beer brand  that could travel to further afield markets where their parent brand might not carry as much weight. Enter Cold Drinking Beer.

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Caveats


Building a House of Brands can be challenging for smaller breweries 

If the biggest benefit of building a House of Brands model is the speed and ease at which you can bring new products to markets, the main drawback is how inefficient and expensive this can be. 

Here are the two main challenges a smaller outfit will face when trying to build a House of Brands.

A House of Brands is costly to build 

A House of Brands takes a lot of capital to construct because you’re simultaneously building multiple brands. This can start lean, but over time, as a new brand grows, you’ll have to develop (and maintain) new names, brand identities, websites, and perhaps even dedicated corporate structure and staff for each standalone brand.

Simply put, out of all the Brand Architecture models you can use at your brewery, the House of Brands requires the most work, investment and follow-through. 

To give every brand in your portfolio a fair shake basically amounts to setting up structures within your organization that can dedicate bespoke effort to each individual offering. Do not underestimate how much work (and budget) this will take to pull off correctly.

Capacity, capacity, capacity

The second big challenge is capacity. Capital is going to be important no matter what scale your brewery is at, but we’ve found capacity to be a more immediate governor for how effectively breweries can launch new standalone brands. 

For some real world project work, this usually looks like:

A brewery launched a hard seltzer stand alone brand and found that they need to bring it more in-line with their parent brand for marketing budget, distribution and/or consumer mindshare reasons. 

If you’re part of a small team at your brewery—of if you ARE the marketing team—then you may not have the time it takes to properly build a new brand.

(Above:) Sierra Nevada, Minneapolis Cider Co. and Schilling Cider have all released new standalone products over the last few years, effectively shifting their corporate Architecture to a House of Brands. 

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Wrapping up


People aren’t stupid 

Here’s a final caveat that’s not related to capacity and OpEx budgeting. 

A House of Brands doesn’t fully insulate your larger business from blowback. We saw this through the Bud Light fallout in summer 2023 as some of ABIs other brands saw losses and bad comps as well. 

Regular, non-beer industry folks walking around might not know that Twisted Tea is owned by Boston Beer Co. But this sort of knowledge isn’t really hidden anymore. A quick search can reveal who owns a brand. And if you have a big blowup — a PR disaster, a QC issue, etc. — you should expect your fans and the media to quickly spread this info. 

I’m not sure this idea is applicable to you, or any of the other 9,500+ folks who read BBT, but to draw a fine point here — building a House of Brands isn’t an excuse to launch a product that you’re not proud of, or that lacks integrity. 

Anything you put out into the world still needs to adhere to your personal and corporate values.

Otherwise, what are you building?

Hi, there!

A few quick notes before we get started:

1. Please take our year end survey (less than 3 minutes). This will help to shape our content in 2025. As a thanks for your time, we'll give you a 50% off code for any of our books (use it as many times as you want).

2. For a more immersive experience, read this entire case study over on our site.

3. We recorded a podcast with AleSmith that dives into why they're so bullish on hard cider right now. Give that episode a listen here.

Alright, let's talk hard cider.

Breweries across the country are continuing to release Beyond Beer / Fourth Category products in a bid to better serve their fans while also building a more robust business. 

Hard seltzer, RTD cocktails, spirits, Hop Water and NA products are all common starting points here. But one category in which CODO is seeing a sharp uptick right now is hard cider. 

We first wrote about this trend back this spring, and have seen this ramp up in our project work ever since. 

The latest brewery to venture into the hard cider space is AleSmith. 

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Founded back in 1995, AleSmith Brewing is an iconic San Diego craft brewery. They’re also one of the largest breweries in the country, ranking 65th in 2023.

AleSmith’s hard cider has been an in-house staple around their brewery for a while, and in early 2024, their team reached out to CODO to help brand, position and officially release this line in package. We’re going to give you a look at this process today. 

This case study will cover the following:

– Project context (Brand Architecture, goals, constraints)

– Our art direction process (Wrangling big ideas and moving parts)

– Initial sketching, revisions and finalizing everything for launch

Let’s get to it. 

(Above): AleSmith's current packaging and brand identity. 

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AleSmith’s project context & Brand Architecture 

When deciding how to launch an Extension, it’s important that your brewery look at a few things:

– Your broader Brand Strategy
– Your Brand Architecture
– Your parent brand’s positioning
– Precedent for how you’ve handled similar releases in the past (if applicable)
– The possibility of future growth and new product development that could blossom from this new product

> Check out the Beverage Extension Assessment Tool to see CODO’s in-house rubric for positioning new products.

After discussing and exploring all of these considerations with the AleSmith team, we determined that their hard cider should land somewhere between a straight Brand Extension or a Sub Brand. 

Why?

AleSmith has built a diverse Branded House. And unless a new product comes along that dramatically breaks from their traditional approach (classic, balanced, true-to-style beers and products, decidedly no trend chasing), then it makes sense to keep their cider line under their Branded House. 

But how to extend their name? Would a “linked name” like CiderSmith be too much?

Yes. Yes it would.

We all felt that keeping the AleSmith name (and core logo) front and center would anchor this extension from a visual equity standpoint. From there, we could riff on their qualifier and tagline.

Some initial options we considered were:

– AleSmith Cider Factory — and the far simpler — AleSmith Craft Ciders

– We also liked the subtle tagline shift: Hand-Forged Ales Ciders

– And we knew we wanted to replace the glass on their iconic anvil logo with an apple

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With these broad strokes in place, we began working through art direction to make sure we understood exactly what the AleSmith team was envisioning and how this could all come together to stand out from the rest of their competitive set.

(Above): Check out The Beyond Beer Handbook to learn more about how you can *safely* leverage your brewery's brand to launch other segments. 

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Art Direction & Mood boards

Once we had our initial parameters in place, we were able to jump right into Mood Boarding. 

Note: This is a lighter touch, faster exercise than formal Brand Strategy and really only works when a brewery has an established Brand Strategy and attractive brand identity. AleSmith came to the table with both of these things in place, which meant we could focus more on their cider’s look and feel and move fast. 

> Read more about the difference between Brand Strategy and art direction here.

We developed three Mood Boards (collages to art direct what AleSmith’s cider line could look and feel like). 

Here are snippets of copy pulled from our presentation along with some additional notes on aesthetics and messaging: 

– Clean & Classic: Clean and simple. Lots of white space. Confident, reliable and feels unmistakably like an AleSmith brand. This direction was the most congruent with their existing identity. 

– Illustrative & Apple-forward: This direction tackles the goal of immediately reading as a cider instead of a beer. We considered doing this with a subtle, tonal pattern to differentiate from the rest of AleSmith’s portfolio. (More on this idea here in a sec.)

– Accessible Luxury: This direction positions AleSmith’s hard ciders as premium as you can get without being a snob about it. But this idea was dressed down with more tried and true beer iconography (seals, ribbons, taglines, violators, etc.). Hints of gold and bronze, aged cream (vs. stark white) and deep reds, browns and rich blacks. It was also slightly European, which felt right given AleSmith’s broader history and approach to new product development.

(Above): AleSmith's Mood Boards. Learn more about our art direction process here.

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Revised Mood Board 

The Accessible Luxury idea resonated with the AleSmith team. We were pretty close after this first look, so after some minor tweaks to the Mood Board (bringing in some of the patterning elements from the second direction, dialing down some of the more extreme quality cues, etc.), we were approved to begin sketching. 

(Above): AleSmith's final mood board. This guided all of our internal sketching and concept development. 

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Initial sketching

Here are a few points to highlight from our initial sketching. 

1. Hierarchy was important: These cans had to immediately read as an AleSmith product, while at the same time, clearly read as being hard cider. 

It’s important for AleSmith fans to not mistakenly grab a cider, thinking it’s beer. And on the flip side, we need to tell AleSmith’s regular drinkers that this hard cider is good to go because it’s made by AleSmith.


2. Industrial vs. Traditional (on adhering to, and rising above, category canon): This was a dueling idea from our Mood Boarding process. AleSmith has an enormous production facility with acres of beautiful stainless tanks — someone called it a "Willy Wonka beer factory" during our initial research. And their internal team likes this sort of messaging as well.

Here, “industrial” or "factory" doesn’t mean bland and mass market, but rather, efficient, clean and rigorously made. So one of our directions leaned more into this idea while the other explored a more traditional look you might expect in the hard cider category — more texture, more organic detail and more provenance.


3. Riffing on their logo (and more hierarchy considerations): We knew we wanted to replace the glass in AleSmith’s iconic logo with an apple. This is a fun, if slightly on the nose way of immediately orienting someone looking at this packaging in a cold box — Ahh, it’s a hard cider! 

This presented another hierarchy challenge: This is a subtle change, so we probably need to blow this thing up to be the main art on pack so people actually see it. But then, does that compete with the existing AleSmith logo? And the style (Imperial, Traditional Dry, etc.)? And the ABV? 

This balance doesn’t seem like that big a deal, but if you get it wrong, even slightly wrong, the entire composition can fall flat. 

This doesn’t just mean your packaging isn’t as beautiful as it could be, but that someone might be less inclined to pick it up and throw it in their cart when shopping. So getting this squared away is a big deal. 


4. How to differentiate within a Branded House: One challenge you can run into when building a Branded House is that over time, it becomes harder to create entirely new, compelling packaging that doesn’t look like something you’ve previously released.

This doesn’t mean the baseline design doesn’t work well, but functionally, there are only so many colors you can choose before your cans start looking similar to another existing SKU or just unattractive (due to clashing colors). 

This issue is exacerbated when using a Monolithic Branded House template, where everything looks nearly identical, save for color and copy changes. (e.g. Rhinegeist, Monday Night, Prost). 

"We can’t use that green because we used it on an LTO can last spring. Or, this shade of red is too close to our Hazy." Etc.

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This was an issue here because AleSmith has a diverse portfolio with hundreds of individual cans developed over the years. And at a quick glance, there’s not much obvious white space for their next release, beer or beyond. 

One opening we saw within AleSmith’s broader portfolio — and their broader competitive set — was to use patterning as a focal point.

Their cans all lean clean and classic, with their core logo front and center and a fanciful name and style across the bottom. There's some variance here and there, but by and large, you know an AleSmith can when you see one. 

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These points, along with our refined Mood Board guided our initial concept development. 

We presented the work (see below), the AleSmith team LOVED it, and we moved directly into revisions.

(Shoutout to veteran CODO Senior Designer Ryan H and recent hire Brock for absolutely housing this project. Great design work all around.)

Revisions 

Our first presentation was so well received, that we really only had a few small points to iron out from the AleSmith team. 

A few of these included: 

– AleSmith wanted to add a Dry-to-Sweet scale as an easy reference for consumers 
– They wanted to bring the banner logo lockup from Direction 2 into the first option
– They felt the dark imperial can was too heavy and looked undrinkable
– After seeing it, they decided that AleSmith Cider “Factory,” while fun, didn’t feel right in the cider space. So we went with the simpler “Craft Ciders” qualifier. 

Beyond that, most of what we continued to tweak over the next few weeks was small stuff that we wanted to resolve in order to get this up to CODO’s standard. 

So lots of small details that no one other than our team will ever notice like:

– Simplifying the pattern and border line weights
– Getting the tri-color motif on the back panel to be more consistent from can to can 
– Making sure the sweetness scale reads clearly at a small size
– Re-styling the Nutrition Facts label so it’s not an eyesore 
– Thinking ahead to how we’ll use colors on possible follow-on releases without breaking this clean system 

Final points

From here, we got everything wrapped up and saved out for production. But here are a few other ideas to end on.

1. Earn your keep: AleSmith invested in design for this cider line, but is putting these out in 4-pk 16oz cans to start. Their team wants these ciders to earn their keep before investing in more expensive carton packaging. 

Even though it pains my tender designer heart, I think this is a smart approach. Starting lean and making sure you have something your fans actually want is a more conservative and realistic approach in today’s Bev Alc market. 

But for what it’s worth, I suspect you’ll see these in cartons by late 2025. These ciders are lovely and AleSmith has a great sales team bringing them to market. So stay tuned.

2. Secondary assets (getting more mileage out of your packaging): We developed a lot of cool elements on this packaging that lends itself to retail activation and merch. Some of this was by design, and some of it was by accident. 

These sorts of components are a clear deliverable when building a Modular Brand Identity System.

But it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for opportunities like this when working on packaging only engagements. This helps you get more bang for your buck while making downstream promotion and marketing easier.

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These hard ciders are rolling out in San Diego and throughout Southern California as we speak.
 

Wrapping up 

I didn't focus on it throughout this article, but another compelling angle to this product launch is how AleSmith is continuing to stay relevant as a 30 year old brewery. (Not to mention one in the s-t-a-c-k-e-d San Diego market.)

They're doing this, not by chasing trends and throwing new products at the wall to see what sticks, but rather, through thoughtful innovation and launching new segments that feel right.

Think, "Should AleSmith launch X?" vs. "Can AleSmith launch X?"

They’re leading with their Brand here, and I think more Legacy Breweries should do the same.


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Drop CODO a line if your brewery is interested in releasing a Hard Cider and would like help figuring out your Strategy, Architecture and design. We’d love to help you work through that.

Hi there, and welcome to the final issue of CODO's package refresh series.

In issues 1 and 2, we outlined why package refreshes are trending right now, and how they differ from brand refreshes and rebrands. 

Today, I want to explore some nitty gritty process details that will ensure you can successfully refresh your packaging.

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I’m not going to give you a step-by-step process for how to refresh your packaging here. 

This would make for a really short issue: Strategy (maybe) > define your equity > initial sketching & presentation > revisions > finalize > print > launch > profit! 

Instead, I thought it’d be useful to explore what CODO has learned after handling dozens of package refreshes over the last few years. 

So, how should you think about art direction, stakeholder involvement, visual and Brand Equity, potential landmines you could encounter along the way as well as how to launch your refreshed packaging. 

Let’s get right into it by discussing art direction.

1

Brand Strategy vs. Art Direction

Let’s return to our central thesis: Package refreshes offer a lot of upside expressly because you can (sometimes) bypass more costly and time-consuming strategy work.

Assuming you're in a position where you can skip a more thorough Strategy phase, this still leaves the important task of framing your art direction ahead of your refresh.

On Art Direction 

Art direction is the process of identifying all the visual cues and ideas that should be explored during your refresh. This can include things like typography, colors, textures, compositional considerations and overall look and feel and vibe.

A quick process note here: When CODO works through Brand Strategy, we roll art direction into the end of that doc. So after we’ve explored your positioning, audience definition, key communication pillars, brand personality, voice and Essence.

Once we've defined these foundational elements, we’re in a good place to have a fun conversation with our clients about what all of this stuff could look like.

If we’re eschewing proper Brand Strategy when handling a package refresh, then we jump straight to art direction by building and discussing mood boards.

Mood Boards ( for orienting our teams & quick prototyping )

A Mood Board is a collage that art directs a compelling idea.  

The task at hand — the actual deliverables we’re gearing up to design — will dictate what we gather and focus the boards around.

So if we’re refreshing your identity and packaging, we’ll gather lots of examples that show those sorts of things. If we’re developing custom merch, or a website or a built environment, then we’ll gather images that highlight those sorts of things. 

Mood Boards have two distinct benefits in our process. The first is that they’re a great way of getting your team’s vision out of your heads and onto paper.

Don’t tell us you want your cans to look “vintage.” That can mean the 1880s or the 1980s. Show me what vintage means to you.

Mood Boards are a phenomenal tool for orienting our teams to ensure we’re on the same page before moving into the design phase. 

The second benefit here is that they allow you to quickly prototype different aesthetic directions.

If you’re working with a creative partner that is haphazardly shepherding your project, they might jump right into design and come back in a few weeks with 5 or 6 options for you to consider. But 4 or 5 (or 6) of those concepts might not be appropriate.

So everyone’s time (and money and energy) is wasted.

Mood Boards prevent this by allowing you to “try on” a look in your head and immediately gut check it against everything you already know about your brewery’s brand.

Does this direction feel right? Yes? Then let’s explore some packaging concepts that look like this. 

This gives you an invaluable set of guard rails as you move into the design phase and is even more critical without formal Strategy to fall back on.

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Now that we’ve discussed art direction, let’s move outside of your brewery’s walls and explore how your competitive set should inform your package refresh.

(Above): Formal Brand Strategy vs. Mood Boards. Strategy frames your brewery's positioning, audience, key messaging, brand voice, personality and values. Mood Boards focus strictly on surface level look and feel.

Stay tuned for case studies on both of these projects, by the way — one is a legacy brewery rebrand and the other is how we helped one of American's oldest craft breweries launch a hard cider Brand Extension.

—

 

2

Competitive set audit 

Note: At CODO, the competitive audit happens during the Brand Strategy and/or art direction process. But I’m breaking this point out here separately to examine it on its own. 

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One thing we want to be mindful of as we move from the Art Direction phase into the design leg of a package refresh is what your competitive set looks like.

A competitive set audit is simply taking stock of your competition to see where they fall on a variety of points.

This can include price and package formats, beer and beverage styles, overall business models (e.g. taproom focused vs. heavy off-premise push), Brand Architecture models, prevalent sales channels, and more germane to a package refresh, their packaging aesthetics and softer things like their brand voice and personality. 

How does your competition show up on shelf? And are there any clear opportunities for visual differentiation?

This process can include walking your local set, and visiting retailers like bottle shops, liquor stores, chain retail and on-premise accounts (whatever is applicable to your project and market). You’ll take lots of photos, purchase products as needed and get an overall lay of the land.

(I’m guessing you do this every time you set foot in a grocery or liquor store anyway. I certainly do. But this is a more formal process wherein you’re visiting multiple outlets to grab photos and talk to the retailers.)

On-premise usually isn’t a major consideration during a package refresh, but it never hurts to get an idea of what’s going on in this channel as well: What’s the handle lineup look like, what’s being offered / featured, what sort of POS is your competition using to support their draft program, etc.

You'll also want to work with your distributor(s) to back your field work up with more quantitative data — trends, sales numbers, depletion rates, etc. — to lend some objective data to this mix.

Once you have all this information, you’ll chart it out in a way that allows you to easily make sense of it and aid in whatever decision(s) you’re making. 

The final outcome of this process will be a document that clearly lays out all of your competition’s packaging. You’ll use this to compare package design concepts later on because it lets you see where you could, and shouldn’t, take your brand visually. 

Oh, everyone uses this color, or, no one’s really using can cartons here. Could that be an opportunity? Everything is overly-minimal, or, dear God, it’s all hazy IPAs. Hundreds of them… etc. Perhaps we introduce a lightly-fruited sour beer?

(Above): A quick look at how we share the competitive set audit during a package refresh. Here, we're looking at how our proposed packaging concepts stack up, and stand out, from the rest of your competitors.

(Sorry for the obnoxious redaction. We'll have a case study on this project for you in early 25.)

—
 

A package refresh can be a faster and more affordable process than a thorough rebrand. However, one place you can’t shortcut is your stakeholder management. 

Let’s talk about that now. 
 

3

Process Management: You need to have conversations with the right stakeholders

We treat our package refresh kickoffs no different from our in-depth rebranding projects. When we talk with folks here, we’re still asking the same deep Brand questions, and talk with a variety of stakeholders across your business. 

This starts with your Executive Team, and extends all the way through your chain internally from production folks, front and back of house staff, marketing and sales team members and operations people. It also extends externally to distributor and key retail partners. 

Quick note here: As a general rule, we try to keep our project teams — Executive Teams, in particular — as small as possible. Any more than 5 and I start to get nervous. (And 4 is better than 5.) This isn’t me being a prima donna designer who doesn’t want to have our precious work judged by more people, but rather, a preemptive strike against decision making by committee.

We’ve covered stakeholder and process management in previous BBT issues. Here are a few resources on this topic: 

– Organizing your stakeholders ahead of a refresh [Podcast]

– Who should be involved in your brewery's rebrand [Craft Beer, Rebranded]

4 

Finish strong ( staggered rebrand launch + internal & external alignment )

Launching your package refresh will be an exciting process. This usually requires less handholding and messaging than you’d need when launching a rebrand.

That being said, a lot of what you need to manage when launching a rebrand still applies to a package refresh.

– You still need to engage your key stakeholders early on (via your ABP, plus separate meetings to get your distributors & retailers looped in and excited)

– You still need to plan ahead for production constraints (e.g. factoring in time for production — decorating cans vs. PSLs vs. sleeves, working through dead stock, etc.)

– You still need to put together a social launch campaign

– You need to make sure your retail activation is ready to go, to include updated POS, merch, tap handles, shelf talkers, floor stackers, etc. 

And finally, you’ll likely need to roll this new packaging out as a staggered launch. Revisit our guidance on this brand launch method here.

(Above): Here's a BrewBound article outlining Jai Alai's recent package refresh, including how the Monster Brewing team was thinking about Brand Equity.

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Wrapping up 

When should you plan your next refresh? 

Before 2020, I believed you should use your packaging as long as it was working—for decades, even. I believed you should only make a change when you see something bad happening (e.g. softening sales) and that ideally, your packaging would stand the test of time and become iconic. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think this will cut it today. 

Setting aside an obvious perverse incentive (oh look, the guy who owns a branding firm is telling you to continually invest in branding and packaging), I now think there’s a lot of merit to refreshing your packaging more often. 

And we’ve heard this idea directly from brewery CMOs, distributors and retailers in our project work.

Today, I think the path looks more like this: 

1. Get your Brand Strategy and core identity completely dialed in

2. Refresh your packaging on a 4 to 5 (ish) year clip based on your sales trends and shifts in the competitive landscape

3. And don’t sleep on all the other moving parts needed to build your brand — your seasonal and LTO program, continually refreshing your merch, locking in your ABP and distributor priorities, etc. 

You should consider this work iterative. 

The need to stay top of mind with your fans and other key partners like retailers and distributors — to stay relevant and exciting — will be crucial for thriving over the coming years. 

Your packaging, like your Brand itself, is a living, breathing thing. It is never truly done. It is just done for now. 

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I hope this series helped your team think about how a package refresh can help you thrive and grow and sell a whole lot of beer.

Thanks for read along. I’m glad you’re here.

—

Drop me a line if you'd like to discuss your brewery's packaging.

***

Morning. Before we get started, I wanted to signal boost the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild's guidance for how you can support breweries impacted by Hurricane Helene. Here are direct links to their recommended local charity orgs if you're inclined to help.

***

This series is a Beer Branding Trends Newsletter exclusive. If there's someone on your team you think would benefit from reading along, please forward this email to them or have them sign up here so they receive everything.

***

Hi, there. 

Welcome to the second issue of our package refresh series. 

Last time we spoke, we laid out why package refreshes are such an important trend in the brewing industry right now. 

Today, we’re going to explore the line between package refreshes, brand refreshes and rebrands, why the difference between these processes matters, and how to ensure you're addressing the right problem in the first place.

Let’s start by laying out how we frame any conversation we have with our clients ahead of any revamp.

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Evolution vs. Revolution

We love the heuristic, “Evolution vs. Revolution,” because it helps to understand our client’s intent. 

Here's a passage on this from Craft Beer, Rebranded:

Are you completely reshaping your brewery’s culture and positioning? Are we throwing your logo out with the bathwater and creating wholesale visual change across the board? Or, are we building on decades of work and hard-earned goodwill to make subtle updates in a natural progression? Would it be a misstep to jettison the visual signifiers and concepts behind your company as it stands? Or, does it make more sense to build upon, hone and enhance what already exists?

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It’s okay if you’re not sure which path is correct at this point, but by sitting with this idea and debating it internally amongst your team, you can usually get a good idea of what problems you want to address and what you'd like to achieve through this process in the time it takes to enjoy a few beers.

Okay, now that we’ve got some fuzzy, philosophical considerations out of the way, let’s lay out some concrete definitions. 

Rebrand 

A rebrand represents a shift in your core messaging and positioning. This starts with upstream business and brand strategy considerations, including your long term vision—deciding what spaces you want to compete in, how your brewery is positioned, how you wish to be perceived, and defining your most compelling and ownable differentiator(s), brand values and key messaging pillars.

All of this Brand Strategy, once developed, drives the look and feel of your brand identity and packaging. (This would be “Revolution.”)


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(Below): There was a profound disconnect between Prost Brewing's brand identity and the beer they made every day. So in 2018, we rebranded this Colorado brewery to better tell this story and present on shelf. Their resulting growth has been fun to watch. Read CODO's original case study on this project here.

Brand Refresh 

By contrast, a brand refresh is more of a visual, surface-level identity update—call it a fresh coat of paint. In this scenario, your brand values and positioning (most of that foundational strategy stuff we're focusing on during a rebrand) still holds true, but your brand identity and packaging may just need some level of updating.

This work will build on, or evolve, your existing identity. So it’s not a sweeping change, but an evolution.


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(Below): Left Field Brewery was in need of a subtle brand refresh. So subtle that, according to our strategy work, "a fan might not even notice a change had taken place." This approach works well when you have a great foundation — positioning, messaging and voice, in particular. Read more about this revamp on our blog.

Package Refresh 

A package refresh, is when you update your packaging on its own while leaving your core brand identity as is. So the end result would be new packaging adorned with your existing logo and broader identity components.

These are tactical projects, and they can make a lot of sense when your brewery’s positioning, messaging and broader brand and brand identity are good-to-go and your packaging just needs a facelift. This process focuses more on addressing annoying pain points and inconsistencies than solving an existential crisis.

Package refreshes work well when:

– Your Brand Strategy (positioning, messaging, values, voice and personality) is compelling and aligns with where you want to take the business in the coming years 

– Your core brand identity is working well (your main mark is strong and recognizable and rounded out with a robust Modular Brand Identity System)

– Sales are flat, but not in a free fall, or…

– Sales are trending up, and you want to capitalize on, and maintain, that momentum 

– Your beer / beverages are as good as they can be (i.e. we’re not attempting to mask a sub par product with great visuals)

– You’ve got a squared away, energized team that’s ready to hit the streets and move some beer

– Market and competitive set changes have presented you with an exciting opportunity (e.g. a competitor closes up shop, wholesaler consolidation has affected you in some way, new advantageous legislation has passed, etc.)

If any of this criteria is met, then a package refresh can be a great investment, especially when compared to a more costly rebrand.

(Above): Fernson Brewing's Brand and brand identity were in good shape. But their team wanted to revamp their packaging to stand more on each SKU's own identity vs. their parent brand itself. 

Read a thorough case study on this package refresh here.

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Now that we've got a shared vocabulary, let’s explore some important nuances of the package refresh process.



1

How big a swing can you take?

Our Evolution vs. Revolution heuristic applies to the package refresh process as well. 

Do you want to subtly evolve your packaging or take a bigger swing? And how should your visual and Brand Equity inform this decision?

Our usual caveat here is that every project, background context and competitive set will differ and therefor call for a different solution, however, I would offer a package refresh doesn’t have to be as limiting as a brand refresh.

In other words, don’t let the term “refresh” limit you here. 

You can change your packaging, even dramatically so, through this process. 

Assuming this is a true package refresh and we’re not updating your brand identity, then your logo, along with any sacrosanct visual equity (e.g. SKU colors, or a long-standing packaging composition) should provide enough continuity to ensure your update doesn’t push too far away from where you stand today. 

In this way, a package refresh can be an opportunity to take a bigger departure from where your packaging currently sits, so long as that aligns with your project and positioning goals. 

Our work with Fernson Brewing (shown above) is a great example of a package refresh that dramatically departs from their previous packaging's look and feel.
 

Your equity calls for a refresh. 

One counter to everything I just laid out — so, an argument against making too drastic a change — would be if your packaging has enough visual equity that you have to evolve this look through your update. 

We’ve explored visual and Brand Equity at length on this newsletter and podcast. In the interest of keeping this issue somewhat short, you can revisit some of our most popular pieces on these concepts below:

– What is Brand Equity, really?

– Defining your Brand Equity: Fast & Slow + Companion Podcast 

– When to jettison your Brand Equity


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The risk of pushing too far and not honoring your visual and Brand Equity through a package refresh is real. People can easily lose track of you on shelf, or become confused and/or alienated by the change. And with thousands of other options immediately at their disposal, they can simply move on without a second thought.

But if you see a big enough opportunity, or if that equity doesn't align with where you want to take your brand over the coming years, then don't be overly-precious about it. 

Again, your project context — your brewery’s Brand Strategy, your competitive set, your project goals, pain points and broader vision for your business — will all dictate whether or not this is a strategically-sound path. 

(Above): Our package refresh work with Tinker Coffee is a great example where, though there was a good amount of visual equity at hand, it didn't make sense to carry that through to the new look and feel. 

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2

Brand Strategy (to invest or not invest?)

I’ve hinted at this a few times and would like to address it head on now. 

If we had our druthers — and if budget and timeline were never a limiting factor — we would work through formal Brand Strategy on every major engagement. 

But one of the biggest reasons why your brewery might consider a package refresh is that you can occasionally get away with not working through formal Brand Strategy. This means you’re looking at a faster overall project timeline and can potentially save tens of thousands of dollars in Strategy work.

But back to our earlier point here, in order for this to work, you have to be 100% confident that your brewery's positioning, key messaging, values, brand voice and personality and identity system are all in a solid place and will help you build your brand over the coming years. 

You need to be sure that a package refresh is actually what’s needed to solve whatever problem is that you want to address in the first place. 

Where these projects can falter

The reason we push for strategy as often as we do is that without working through that process, there’s no mechanism for your team (or your design partner) to verify that you’re actually correct about your Brand and brand identity being good to go.

So you could kick off a package refresh, only to realize later on that there’s a deeper issue at hand. This will require a mid-to-late stage regroup. And even if your team is able to manage this and unwind the problem, this isn’t ideal. 

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Of course, you can be right. 

We’ve worked with some of the brightest minds throughout the beer and beverage industry — folks I wouldn’t hesitate to hire if given the chance. So this isn’t a critique of you and your ability to measure your brand’s effectiveness.

It's more a matter of perspective.

Working every day at the brewery means you’re closer to your brand and business than any outsider can ever be. And this closeness can hinder your ability to be objective about your business (or more germane to our discussion here, how well your Brand and brand identity are performing).

My advice here is to be open to using Brand Strategy as a diagnostic tool to make sure a package refresh will help you accomplish your goals. 

(Above): Brand Strategy doc we developed to build the Cold Drinking Beer brand. We'll dive more into the difference between Brand Strategy and Art Direction in the final issue in this series. 

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My biggest caution before you embark on your package refresh:

3

Make sure you don’t need to solve a Brand problem 

This is so important that it bears repeating: A Package refresh can be a great investment IF your brand and Brand Strategy are on a strong foundation.

Are you facing a surface-level packaging (and portfolio and competitive set) problem? Or, is there a deeper brand problem at hand?

Some things that point to a more surface level issue:

– Your packaging is inconsistent 

– Your naming convention is inconsistent

– Several key competitors have recently rebranded or updated their packaging 

– Your packaging hierarchy is confusing

– Your packaging hasn’t been updated for several years 

– You’re seeing flat (to slightly declining) sales 

– Your packaging looks terrible (no need to sugar coat this)

Some things that point to a deeper, upstream positioning and Brand issue:

– You have no clear, compelling story

– You’re chasing trends (in beer and the Fourth Category)

– Your distributor and retail partners aren’t bought into your brand 

– You’re seeing a steep decline in sales 

– You feel like you’re reinventing the wheel with each new release 

– Your portfolio lacks focus and clear priorities 


If you’re dealing with problems from the former group, then a package refresh can be a phenomenal option to increase your sales. 

If you’re dealing with more existential problems from the latter group, don’t fret. These can be resolved as well, but it will take more than a package revamp to get you where you need to be. 

(Above): Grab a copy of Craft Beer, Rebranded Book Bundle if you're not sure whether a refresh or a formal rebrand is most appropriate for your brewery. (And don't forget to save $15 with the code above). 

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Wrapping up

A package refresh can be a great option if your brand identity and strategy are working well. But if they’re not, a refresh will likely not have the impact you’re after. And if that’s the case, you’ll likely end up worse off than if you had done nothing because you invested time and capital into this change (to accomplish nothing). 

Make sure you take stock of your identity and strategy before deciding that a refresh is the best course of action.

If you determine you’re not dealing with a Brand problem, then you can move forward and refresh your packaging in confidence.

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Thanks for reading along.

In our next issue, we’ll explore some of the finer points and best practices for managing your package refresh.

***

1. This series is a Beer Branding Trends Newsletter exclusive. If there's someone on your team you think would benefit from reading along, please forward this email to them or have them sign up here so they receive everything.

2. Shoot me an email if you'd like to discuss refreshing your brewery's packaging.

***


Hi, there!

And welcome to the first issue of our 3-part series on package refreshes.

Today, we’re going to explore why so many breweries across the country are refreshing their packaging right now.

We’re going to deep dive into the nuances between rebrands, brand refreshes and package refreshes in our second issue in this series. But for a quick definition here, a package refresh is simply when you update your packaging on its own while leaving your core brand identity as is. So the end result would be new packaging adorned with your existing logo. 

But before getting into that, we need to understand the confluence of trends that are driving this shift in the first place.

Let’s get into that now. 

Why are breweries refreshing their packaging right now? 

Here’s our series thesis: 

There are more breweries today in the US than anytime in history, yet consumers are drinking less beer. This has led to flat-to-declining sales for breweries of all sizes across the country. The fallout? Marketing budgets are tighter than ever.

But this comes at a time when investing in your branding, packaging and marketing is more important due to all the aforementioned competition.

This means that breweries are carefully weighing their options and investing where they expect to see an outsized return. In this landscape, package refreshes have emerged as a compelling strategy to stay top of mind with consumers. 

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Let’s dig into this thesis a bit deeper now. 

1

Package refresh vs. a deeper rebrand: On weighing risk vs. reward 

The biggest issue driving a shift towards package refreshes is the challenging market we’re all facing.

A tough market necessitates being nimble no matter what, but in this context, a wholesale rebrand, complete with Brand Strategy, updating your brand identity, packaging (and the rest of your touch points: merch, website, way showing, sales materials and POS, etc.) and managing the complex process of launching the new look — represents a big investment (both in time and budget), that you might not be able to swing right now. 

To put it bluntly, rebranding is never without risk. And we're seeing people becoming more risk averse and more budget conscious due to the economic environment we’re in. 

Earlier this year, Allagash founder Rob Tod put it well when we he said that today’s beer market is a “game of inches.” Every dollar counts. Every barrel, every case, every account, all of it. 

And unless your brewery’s brand identity and positioning pose an immediate and existential threat to your business, it can be easier, faster and less risky to look for opportunities to drive incremental growth elsewhere.

So, a brand refresh that addresses annoying inconsistencies, or a package refresh that breathes new life into your on-shelf presence may be a better investment than burning everything to the ground and starting fresh 29 years in (even if that's what your heart really wants). 

TLDR: A package refresh can be help you find a quick win without as much risk.

Cost is subjective ( *a quick note )

I’ve mentioned a few times that package refreshes are more affordable than a formal rebrand.

I need to qualify that a refresh can be more affordable relative to a rebrand where you’re working through Brand Strategy (positioning and audience definition, brand voice, key communication pillars, Brand Essence and Architecture) and a Brand Identity update en route to refreshing your packaging. 

If — and this is a big IF that we’ll explore in issue 3 — your brand is on solid footing, then a package refresh can be a great investment that bypasses the additional cost (in budget and time) of a larger rebrand.

2

Your packaging is dusty (it hasn’t been updated since…)

There’s no hard and fast rule here, but if your packaging hasn’t been updated in 5+ years, it may be time to freshen everything up.

Why 5 years? Well… *gestures vaguely out the window* 

The last 5 years has presented a confluence of market changes, including a pandemic, channel shifting (home-premise vs. on-premise), shifting LDA demographics, consumers drinking across a variety of Bev Alc categories (to include NA options) and now, entrenched inflation. You’re also contending with increasingly blurred category lines (full of beyond beer / Fourth Category beverages), middle tier consolidation and (likely) significant changes to your competitive set.

And all of this happened hot on the heels of a period (the late 2010s) that saw as many as 3 breweries opening in the United State per day.

TLDR: A lot has changed over the last few years. And if your packaging, and along with it, your overall presentation and messaging, hasn’t evolved, you may be getting overlooked in the cold box.

A package refresh can be a tactical way to breathe new life into your off-premise presentation and give shoppers another reason to notice you.

3

You’ve gone through several in-house designers and/or agency partners and can clearly see the inconsistent label design style strata across your different brands

This is a common pain point for breweries that have been open for a while. If you’ve worked with multiple in-house designers, freelance partners or agencies, you're almost guaranteed to be able to see these various eras throughout your portfolio. 

You may have some illustration-heavy SKUs, and some minimal ones, and some that look more like Endorsed Brands than flagship beers…

Yeah, Kim designed those 2 cans, and Tom designed that one. That's when we tried to change our logo on our own…

This is exacerbated if each of these successive partners works in their own style vs. adhering to a dedicated set of Brand Guidelines.

No matter how it shakes out, a package refresh is a great opportunity to break everything down to the studs and start over. You can build on what's working, jettison the rest and bring everything in line so that it hangs together on shelf. This will help you rein in and systemize your packaging across the board. 

4

Your sales are flat (but not in a free fall)

Let’s throw 2020 out as an anomaly. From there, 2021 was a rebound year for almost everyone in the industry, with many of our clients posting one of their best years ever. Then 2022 was down. And 2023 was really down, or at least flat, for many. 

Breweries of all sizes are facing flat sales right now. So if you're in this boat, don't take it personally. As we outlined above, you're working against major headwinds that go far beyond your taproom walls. 

I wanted to include this point because most (but not all) of the refreshes we've handled in the last few years were done to reverse this trend and sell more beer after a generally flat period. 

If your sales are flat and not in free fall, let's call it hanging consistently at 10–20% down from your peak YOY for a few years in a row, then a refresh can be a good way of knocking some dust off and increasing sales. 

Check with your distributor and state brewers guild for more concrete benchmarking data to see where you stack up if need be.

If, however, you're seeing deeper declines, 30–50%+ down YOY for a few years, there may be a deeper issue at hand that a package refresh won't resolve.

This could point to any number of things, from a production quality issue (are you actually making great beer?), to a distribution and retail problem (are you actively gaining new placements? are you selling through?), to a branding and core positioning problem (do people know what you stand for? or that you exist? if you went out of business, would they even notice?), etc.

You have to decide where this line is. But our main takeaway is that a refresh can work great as long as you're not attempting to paper over a bigger problem. (We'll explore this idea in depth in our next few issues.)

But again, this isn’t the end of the world. You may just need to address some other issues before you get to your packaging revamp. 

(Above): Dogfish Head has been refreshing its packaging on a 4(ish) year clip for the last decade. This latest iteration brings their beer and RTD lines under a more cohesive look and feel by focusing one the "shark and shield" mark in a consistent spot. 

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5 

Things are going well (you’re winning new placements and sales are increasing YOY) and you want to invest in your brand while the sun’s shining

Enough doom and gloom. Let's get positive for a moment. 

We’ve handled a few packaging refreshes (though more often, these are more thorough brand refreshes) to capitalize on a period of growth and maintain momentum. 

So here, we're not working to right the ship and/or reverse a negative trend. Instead, we’re giving it some gas so you can keep building on your momentum and stack wins. 

NoDa and Fernson's refreshes are recent examples that illustrate this concept well. 

NoDa Brewing is a 13 year old Legacy Brewery in the hyper-competitive Charlotte, North Carolina market that needed to clarify messaging and bring more cohesion to their portfolio.

Fernson Brewing is 9 year old brewery in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We refreshed their packaging (after a period of growth) to allow for more Sub Brand development within their portfolio as they expand into other markets. 

The takeaway here is that in both cases, things were going well. Both outfits were growing YOY, and they invested in their packaging now while the getting is good. 

It's far easier to invest in your business — to pay down debt, handle planned maintenance, make a major CapEx investment in the brewhouse, hire killer talent, etc. — while everything is calm and quiet and the revenue is free flowing. 

It's far tougher to cut that check when your sales start to flatten.

If you're in a position to, you might consider making hay while the sun shines. 

(Above): Read more about how CODO helped revamp NoDa's packaging here.

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6

You’ve rationalized your portfolio and want to clean everything up now that you have a clear set of priorities 

We’re seeing a lot of SKU rationalization amongst our larger brewery clients (30k+ bbl). And after a few years of this, you'll end up with a more streamlined product lineup.  

A package refresh can be a good way of officially re-introducing these brands to your distributor and broader market.

We usually see this driver run in tandem with these points as well: 

– You’re making some format changes to save costs on production (and possibly decrease turnaround time for new releases)—moving from a 16oz to a 12oz can, moving from bottles to cans, from painted cans to pressure sensitive labels, etc. 

– You're introducing a new flagship brand and want to bring everything up to snuff  

– You're revamping your ABP presentation and want to bring something to the table that gets your wholesale partners excited

7

Package Refresh as a stop gap: You’re planning on a deeper branding effort in the coming years, but still need to make a change now

We’ve seen a few cases lately where a brewery is considering a more thorough rebrand, but due to any number of reasons — budget constraints, production issues, an impending ownership shakeup, lack of capacity, bringing new locations online, navigating a crucial lease renewal — they still need might need to refresh their packaging now to address some immediate issues. 

This isn’t ideal, obviously, but it’s indicative of the market we're in today. The beer industry is shifting and it’s going to become increasingly difficult to launch a full scale rebrand like we used to back in the late 2010's. 

But you may still have to make a change right now, regardless.

If you’re in this position, revisit our thinking on Staggered Rebrand Launches to see how you can incrementally roll out your rebrand and turn this seemingly negative situation into a positive.

(Above): Here's a Lagunitas blog that outlines the first big change (the middle image, above). And here's a BrewBound article that details their new refresh (the bottom image, above), done just 16 months after the first look rolled out.

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8

You need to address an Intellectual Property (IP) issue 

We normally see IP issues stem more from corporate naming (or beer naming) conflicts than with package design and trade dress. But then, we've handled two package refreshes over the last year that were driven expressly by an IP issue. 

In one case, the brewery had previously refreshed their packaging (just a few years prior), only for it to end up looking too similar to a large competitor in their market (Oops). 

In the other case, the brewery was dealing with a lingering IP issue with a much larger competitor (think international conglomerate) that had finally decided to crack down on the situation after a few years of sending vague letters.

If you have an IP issue hanging over your head, consider whether or not a simple package refresh could be an effective way of addressing the problem (while also cleaning up some other inconsistencies and minor pain points along the way).