There hasn’t been a single day since 2018 where CODO hasn’t been engaged in a brewery rebranding project. This includes wholesale rebrands, subtle brand refreshes and more prevalent as of late, package refreshes.  

Over the last 2 years alone, CODO has fielded more package refresh inquiries and projects, than anytime in our 15 year history.

We’re seeing this approach amongst our top 50 brewery clients (those producing ~75k+ bbl per year) down to outfits making ~1,000 bbl per year. And we’ve refreshed packaging for breweries as old as forty years and as young as two. 

So this trend runs the gamut—startup to Legacy. Micro to regional.

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This has kept package refreshes top of mind around our shop for a while now.  

And since there’s a good chance your brewery might be considering a revamp some time soon, we figured now would be a good time to give you a run down on everything CODO has learned in our project work on this front: When you should (and shouldn’t) consider a package refresh, what are the pros and cons, nuances, nuts and bolts of this process, etc. 

But most importantly, how can you set your brewery up for success should you decide to refresh your packaging sometime soon? 

To explore this subject, we’ve built a special 3 part collection of Beer Branding Trends Newsletter issues creatively called: The Package Refresh Series. 

Here’s our series thesis: 

The American beer market is more competitive than ever.

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Consumers are buying less beer than anytime in the modern era. 

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Flat-to-declining sales combined with increased inputs across the board have lead to tighter marketing budgets and staffing (creative department head counts) across the industry.

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Breweries have to carefully invest in their brand to stay relevant without breaking the bank. 

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Refreshes, particularly package refreshes, are trending as a lower cost option (relative to full rebrands) as a way to stay top of mind with consumers. 

And if handled well, these moves can often net a great return with less risk.

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We'll explore this idea in the following issues (and companion podcasts) over the coming weeks:

Issue 1: Why are so many breweries refreshing their packaging right now? ( Sept. 17 )

Issue 2: Package refreshes vs. brand refreshes (vs. rebrands) ( Oct. 1 )

Issue 3: How to successfully refresh your brewery’s packaging ( Oct. 15 ) 

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This series is a BBT exclusive, so if there’s someone on your team — another designer, a co-founder, a marketing director, a brewer or investor — you think would benefit from reading along, please forward this email to them or have them sign up here so they receive everything in real time.

Thanks for reading along. (I’m glad you’re here.)

We’ll be back in your inbox on September 17 to kick this all off.