Morning! 

Today, we’re revisiting a recent rebrand to see how it’s actually performing in market. I want to do more of this moving forward — looking at real downstream outcomes to better understand how strategy and design work influence sales, innovation, distributor engagement and long-term brand health.

Rob Day, VP of Marketing at Barrel One Collective’s, was gracious enough to sit down and share an honest look at how things have evolved since Wachusett's rebrand launched roughly 15 months ago.

As a quick reminder, Wachusett was a great example of where many legacy regional breweries find themselves today. Down from historic highs — who isn’t? — but more importantly, strategically adrift. The brand had lost clarity. There was uncertainty around where to take the portfolio, how to regain relevance and how to rebuild excitement with wholesalers, retailers and consumers alike.

In Wachusett’s case, the brewery declined from roughly 70,000 barrels in 2018 to around 15,000 by the time Barrel One acquired the company in 2024.

Today, the story looks very different.

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Read the original Wachusett rebrand case study here.

(Above): Snapshots from our rebranding process. Read more about this project here. 

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1. 

Isaac (CODO): So we don’t bury the lead — how is the portfolio performing today? Can you share specific year-over-year changes for the overall brand and for Blueberry, along with any notable recent trends (monthly, seasonal, or channel-level) that show how the business has shifted since the reset?

Rob: The portfolio is strong anchored by Blueberry and some new innovation that follows the lead of the refreshed direction. Depending on the timeframe slice, the whole portfolio is up 1.8–4.5% following the work. Blueberry continues to drive that growth as a dominant flagship. Wally has improved trends but remains down over most time frames. Mixed in that noise is some tightening of the portfolio that we continue to do each year. So the core focus is doing quite well.

(Above): Wachusett had declined from roughly 70,000 barrels in 2018 to around 15,000 by the time Barrel One acquired the company in 2024. Fifteen months after the rebrand launched, Blueberry is up 8.2%.

Caveat: Rob does a great job breaking down Wachusett’s performance on the podcast, including different timeframes, brands and portfolio-level metrics. It would be tempting to cherry-pick the biggest number and declare victory (see how great CODO is?!?!), but reality is more nuanced than that.

Here's my takeaway. Wachusett is growing again.

More importantly, the team has a clearer vision for where the brand is headed and how to get there. (As a small but meaningful signal, we recently kicked off another rebrand within the Barrel One portfolio. So they were happy enough with the results to get back in the saddle with us.)

And in an environment where many breweries would gladly take flat, growth is growth.
 

A quick aside: Cody and I are regularly on calls with Legacy Brewery teams asking some version of the same question. 

“How can we possibly turn this business around in a market like this?”

Our answer is always the same: It can absolutely be done, but a rebrand alone won’t save you.

Your product has to be compelling. Your leadership team has to be aligned. Sales and marketing need to be working toward the same goals. You need distributor support. And perhaps most importantly, you need a plan for actively building the brand after the new packaging hits the market.

A rebrand isn’t a magic wand. It’s a force multiplier.

If the underlying business is healthy and everyone is rowing in the same direction, strategy and design can create clarity, focus and momentum. That’s when a rebrand can help move the needle. Not because the logo changed, but because the entire organization now has a clearer vision of where it’s going and how it’s going to get there.

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2. 

CODO: We always joke that we take credit for all of our clients’ hard work — we help navigate a rebrand, then they go sell the hell out of it and grow, and somehow that’s all on us. Obviously that’s not how this works. But the rebrand was part of this turnaround. How do you think about that split? How much of the rebound comes from identity and positioning versus the work your team is putting in every day selling the beer? And more broadly, how do you measure whether a brand reset is actually working?

Rob: I don't care to attach specific splits to the effort of a refresh or rebrand. Our job is to be the catalyst for change. We're the coach coming in with a game plan and a motivational locker room speech. That plan is only as good as the players and their execution. We need the strategic and visual excitement to ignite our distributors and sales force. You need them to rally the retailers, and you need the customers to stop and give you a chance. There's dozens of variables at stake and we only control a few of them.  

Of course the numbers show results eventually. On the way to the numbers you'll have lots of anecdotal conversations. If you've earned mindshare in your team and distributors then you can tell you are heading in the right direction. 

They are the kindling to success.

3. 

CODO: When you walk into a retailer or distributor meeting now, what feels easier than it used to? How has the rebrand changed the story your team tells in the field — is the pitch clearer or more focused than it was before?

Rob: The vision is infinitely clearer today. When the vision is understood, the decisions to fulfill that vision is less opaque and take less selling internally. The biggest compliment you can get after establishing a strong vision is when your new products and campaigns feel natural or obvious. They may not have felt that way without the proper strategy in imagery. All downstream decisions and selling get easier with a well-articulated vision. 

(Above): Rob told us a story of a rep leaving a meeting and immediately pitching / winning an account at Fenway Park. Based on nothing but a PDF showing the new packaging. Pretty slick.

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4. 

CODO: Have there been innovation decisions over the past year that were directly shaped by the new positioning — either things you chose to pursue or ideas you deliberately said no to? (Would love to hear how you’re thinking about adjacencies like RTDs here as well.)

Rob: Without a doubt. The biggest move we made was entering the RTD space with a Blueberry Vodka Lemonade. This has been explosive for us, and it was such an easy decision after reworking the brand. We knew we were about fruit forward products and catching a good time. Nothing about that said we had to stick to beer alone.  If we could carry our dominant blueberry position into a hot adjacent category, it would be huge for us. The brand work cleared that path and made this an easy decision. The consumer reaction to this has reinforced our permission to play here in a big way.

On the other side of that coin we made the hard decision to cut way back on IPA. It's not our core strength, and we believe we can put that attention elsewhere. It's not that an IPA is off brand, and we still have IPA – but it's not our super power, so we wanted to put more attention elsewhere.

(Above): Wachusett's had a lot of success with laser focused, fruit forward RTDs. This isn't right for every brand, but for Blueberry, it's a natural extension.

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5. 

CODO: For other regional breweries — especially Legacy Brands — what’s the first uncomfortable question they need to ask themselves before they even consider a rebrand?

Rob: It's all about the why. Why do you matter? Why should anyone care about what you're doing? Why do you deserve that shelf space, that purchase decision, those precious dollars consumers have to choose to spend? If you can objectively answer these questions you'll find yourself with a clearer start to a vision.

6. 

CODO: If Wachusett hadn’t gone through this reset when it did, where do you think the brand would be today?

Rob: It's not something I spend a lot of time thinking about, but I think we would have continued on the previous trends of slow atrophy. It wouldn't have fallen off a cliff, but we would have definitely continued to fade. Who wants a slow quiet death when you can take a shot going out with blueberries and beers blazing? 



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Wrapping up

One thing I appreciate about Rob’s answers here is that he never attributed the turnaround to the rebrand alone.

Instead, he talks about vision. Alignment. Distributor excitement. Sales execution. Innovation. Focus. And follow through. 

Great branding doesn’t create growth in a vacuum. But it can create the conditions for growth.

This rebrand didn’t make Blueberry a better beer. It didn’t force distributors to sell it. It didn’t convince retailers to buy it. And it certainly didn’t make consumers fall in love with, or rediscover, the brand overnight.

What it did do was give everyone involved a clearer understanding of what Wachusett is, why it matters and where it can win.

That’s the part of this process that makes branding difficult to qualify and attribute. 

But fifteen months later, Wachusett is growing again. More importantly, their team has a clear vision for the future, a stronger innovation pipeline and a renewed sense of confidence in the brand.

In today’s market, that’s a meaningful outcome.