Newsletter
Beer Branding Trends is a twice-monthly collection of field notes, emerging trends and actionable advice from CODO Design — a firm on the front lines of beer and beverage branding.
Each issue is grounded in real-world client work, giving you practical ideas you can apply today to build a stronger brand and sell more beer.
Your brewery’s touchpoint as missed opportunities
Every place your brand shows up is a chance to connect. Most breweries leave half of them to chance.
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How Wachusett’s rebrand brought the brewery back to growth
15 months after launch, Wachusett is growing again. Here’s what actually changed — and what other Legacy Breweries can learn from it.
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What we’ve learned from working with 100 breweries
Hard-earned lessons and recurring patterns from nearly two decades working in craft beer.
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Can you mix naming systems without breaking your Brand Architecture?
A deep dive into mixing monolithic (style-forward) and fanciful names — without losing clarity.
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Rethinking hard tea: How Big Ditch built Jest [Case Study]
How Big Ditch Brewing built a modern hard tea brand designed to scale
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Make Killer Work in Less Time
Several proven tactics for creating great design work under a compressed timeline.
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How Helliwell Hall built a brand from the shelf back
How to connect on- and off-premise — and when to break the rules
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The surprising power of nostalgia in beer branding
Looking back to move forward — carefully
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The case for — and against — hyper-provenance
Examining where hometown pride can help, or hurt, your brand
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Welcome to Function 2.0
The next wave of beverages is built around outcomes — not ingredients
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The rise — and risk — of light flagship extensions
A smart light extension can grow your brand. A lazy one can undermine it. Here’s how to tell the difference.
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The hidden risk of launching an NA brand
How to launch an NA brand without undermining your core lineup (and positioning).
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The evolving role of style names in brand positioning
How to evolve your beer style names into real brand assets — not just technical descriptors.
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Small beer. Big opportunity?
How sub-4% ABV beers could carve out a strategic middle ground — if positioned well.
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Your 2026 Beer Branding Trends Review just dropped
What’s shaping beer and Bev Alc right now — and what it means for your brand in 2026.
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Rebranding Countermeasures — Building the Future of Beverage
CODO x CMC — A behind-the-scenes look at their rebrand and what it means for modern beverage brands.
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The inherent flexibility of Endorsed / Sub Brands
Endorsed Brands let you move fast without rebuilding your Brand Architecture.
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How we rebranded Cowbell Brewing
A behind the scenes look at a sweeping rebrand for one of Ontario's largest craft breweries.
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Quantitative vs. Qualitative Goals during a rebrand
We're rebranded more than 55 breweries. Here's how we now think about goal setting during this process.
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How CODO defines Brand Strategy
A practical look at how we approach Brand Strategy — what it is, what it isn’t and how it can actually help your business grow.
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Rebrand Case Study: Building the UP’s Quintessential Beer Brand
A deep dive look at how we repositioned Ore Dock Brewing's brand.
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Can a Brand Built on Not Drinking Go Hard?
What Happens When Non-Alc Brands Violate Their Core Promise
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How We Helped MAP Brewing Chart Their Brand Course
A deep dive into MAP’s brand refresh — from strategy and identity to packaging, positioning, and preparing for the next ten years.
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Working Through Real Branding Challenges from the Front Lines of Brewery M&A
Real-world challenges from the front lines of brewery M&A — and how to navigate brand and integration decisions during and after an acquisition.
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So You Bought a Brewery. Now What?
A practical guide to integrating brands, protecting IP and keeping your customers on board
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M&A Mania: Why Craft Beer Acquisitions Are Everywhere Right Now
A look at the forces driving the current wave of craft beer acquisitions (and what this means for you)
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Acquired: Your Branding Playbook for Craft Beer M&A
A new 3-part series on all things brewery M&A from your friends at CODO Design.
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Brand Values: Marketing Tool or Operational Truth?
Should your values be a marketing tool to differentiate your brewery — or should they emerge organically from how you actually run your business?
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[Case Study] Branding Comma: A mindful cannabis beer
How to brand (and name and position) a cannabis beer without going full “weed culture.”
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You need a Modular Brand Identity
How a properly developed brand identity system can set your brewery up for long term evolution.
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Why doesn’t anyone read Brand Guidelines?
Hardly anyone reads their Brand Guidelines. Why does this happen, and how can we change it?
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Is there a best time of year to launch your rebrand?
January 1 or on a big anniversary? Rushing to hit an ABP or go live before summer?
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Trade secrets: How CODO develops beer names
A step-by-step guide to how CODO names breweries, beers and Bev Alc brands.
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How Legacy Breweries can sell more beer
How can an older brewery stay relevant? Here are several strategies we're seeing work well for courting lapsed fans and younger drinkers alike.
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Is cannabis right for your brewery?
Are cannabis beverages an opportunity or a threat? Here's the straight dope (sorry) on what we're seeing in our cannabis branding work right now.
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First mover or fast follower? When to jump on a trend
Pros and cons to being a first mover, a fast follower or a cautious observer when it comes to launching new categories.
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A special CBC preview + You’re Invited
Let's hang out and discuss all things brewery branding during CBC.
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How to future proof your flagships
How to build and maintain a strong foundation for years to come.
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CODO’s 2025 Beer Branding Trends Review is Live!
Opportunities and strategies to help you build a resilient, thriving brand in today's challenging beer market.
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[Case study] How We Rebranded Wachusett Brewing Co.
A deep dive look at how CODO breathed new life into one of Massachusetts' most beloved legacy brewery brands.
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You should be making hard cider. Here’s why.
A controversial opinion on cider’s gluten-free claim. Plus, some practical thoughts on apples and provenance and hard cider drinker demographics.
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How we Refreshed Malibu Brewing’s Packaging + a Huge Announcement
A package refresh for one of the fastest growing breweries in California.
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How we refreshed the Alewerks brand
How we evolved a popular Legacy Brewery's brand to court lapsed fans and younger drinkers alike.
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What to do when your brand name doesn’t travel
A handful of strategies for working around a geographically-limiting and/or otherwise esoteric brand name.
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Build Stronger Brands: Your 2025 Blueprint
A step-by-step guide (+ a template) to map out your brewery's Brand Architecture.
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How to Define Your Key Messaging Pillars
A few easy prompts CODO uses to help our clients frame their key messaging during the branding process.
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Is a House of Brands right for your brewery?
How can a smaller brewery build a House of Brands without the Big Beer budget?
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How we helped AleSmith launch a Hard Cider Brand
A behind the scenes look at how CODO helped AleSmith Brewing launch a new hard cider brand.
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How to Successfully Refresh Your Brewery’s Packaging
A handful of best practices CODO has learned after handling several dozen package refreshes.
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Package Refreshes vs. Brand Refreshes (vs. Rebrands)
Key differences between package refreshes, brand refreshes and rebrands as well as why these nuances matter.
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Why are Package Refreshes so Hot Right Now
A deep dive into why breweries across the country are refreshing their packaging right now.
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Introducing: The Package Refresh Series
A 3-part exclusive Beer Branding Trends Newsletter series on why package refreshes are such an important trend in craft beer today
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What we got Wrong in the Beyond Beer Handbook
A full run down on what we've learned about Brand Architecture since publishing the Beyond Beer Handbook.
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How to de-risk your brewery’s rebrand
Rebranding your brewery can be a powerful move, but it is not without risk. Here's how to ensure you're set up for success ahead of your revamp.
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Sub Brand use cases for your brewery
Here are a few compelling Sub / Endorsed Brand use cases we've seen in our brewery branding project work over the last year.
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Why are breweries rebranding right now?
A collection of pain point—and opportunities—we're seeing in our brewery branding work right now.
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Repositioning your parent brand (for better or worse)
On the (many) risks and (few) upsides of accidentally repositioning your Parent Brand.
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Are fancifully named beers Sub Brands?
Do all of your labels have to look the same under a Branded House?
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How we Rebranded NoDa Brewing
A look at how CODO refreshed one North Carolina's most popular breweries.
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BBT Exclusive #4: The Year of Craft Lager?
Why is lager trending? How do you position craft lager? And beautiful examples to inspire your lager's package design.
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BBT Exclusive #3: A Quick & Dirty Guide to Co-branding
A step by step guide to determine who you should partner with, and how you should measure the results.
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BBT Exclusive #2: The Regional Brewery Playbook
How Regional Breweries adapting, and winning, in today's challenging beer market.
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BBT Exclusive #1: Defining Your Brand Equity: Fast & Slow
Tools for defining your Brand Equity ahead of a rebrand.
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2024 Beer Branding Trends is out now
Exploring opportunities and strategies for building a resilient, thriving brand in today's challenging beer market.
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Let’s talk Hard Cider
Could it make sense for your brewery to release a hard cider this year?
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How we built the Cold Drinking Beer brand
A behind-the-scenes look at how we built a Sub Brand that can travel across state lines with Virginia Beer Co.
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Brand Architecture for a Newer Brewery
Understanding your Brand Architecture is crucial for the growing brewery. But how about for a newer brewery or a brewery in planning?
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Can you Line Extend to a different style?
Some thoughts on how far you can take Line Extensions while maintaining your audience's trust.
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Get Your Packaging Hierarchy Dialed In
Some tips to make your packaging work harder for you this year.
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Endorsed Brand vs. New Brand
When should you endorse a brand vs. launch a new one altogether?
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Year End Action Items to Make 2024 Your Best Year Ever
Year end action items to set your brewery up for a strong start to your year.
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How to Make Your Brand Strategy Actionable
A look at how Brand Essences and Mood Boards make your Brand Strategy actionable.
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In Defense of the Branded House
Could a Branded House model make sense for your brewery’s portfolio? Let's discuss the pros and cons of this Brand Architecture approach.
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When to Jettison your Brand Equity
Building on your Brand Equity is a crucial component of successfully rebranding your brewery. Until it isn't.
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Organizing your internal team ahead of a rebrand
Let's discuss how to get the right people at the table to ensure a successful rebrand (or new product launch).
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Why Brand Your Brewpub?
Do you need a beautiful brand identity system when your beer and taproom experience itself is what will keep people coming back?
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How You Can Tame Rotation Nation
Here are a few strategies for wrangling your brewery's intense packaging schedule
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How to Scale the Sub Brand Ladder
Introducing the Sub Brand Ladder: a step-by-step guide for launching and scaling your brewery's next Sub Brand.
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Sub Brands vs. Endorsed Brands (A Closer Look)
Let's explore the subtle (but important) differences between Sub Brands and Endorsed Brands.
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Why are Sub Brands So Hot Right Now?
Why are breweries, big and small, building brands within their portfolio and what does this mean for the beer industry moving forward?
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Introducing Sub Brand Summer
A 3-part series exploring why Sub Brands are so important right now, what types of Sub Brands your brewery can build and how to actually build one.
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What is a Legacy Brewery?
How has the definition for Legacy Breweries shifted over time and what unique headwinds are these groups facing today?
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Exploring Fernson Brewing’s Package Refresh
Let's discuss the importance of developing Sub Brands as a long term brand building platform.
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How to Design Better Merch
An all killer, no filler look at how we help our clients sell hundreds of thousands of dollars in merch each year.
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Hard Seltzer vs. RTD Cocktail Visual Canon
Exploring the key differences between hard seltzer's visual canon and the exciting world of RTD cocktails.
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Alcohol & Minors: What is our Responsibility as Designers?
How can designers prevent children from accidentally consuming alcohol? Let's discuss a provocative topic, shall we?
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Monolithic Portfolio vs. Fanciful Names & Sub Brands
Examining the pros and cons of building your brewery's Parent Brand vs. building Sub Brands within your portfolio.
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Paths to Market for Startup Breweries
How are new breweries coming to market in 2023? This is a run down on what we're seeing in our brewery in planning project work.
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2023 Beer Branding Trends Review is out Now
CODO Design's annual deep dive on everything that's shaping beer and Bev Alc branding right now.
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Embracing the Staggered Rebrand Launch
What is the best way to announce your brewery's rebrand? And why has this shifted so dramatically over the last few years?
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When should you refresh your packaging?
When does a package refresh make sense? And what are some important best practices to make sure you get this update right?
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Build a Better Brewery Website
Here's what we're seeing in our digital work this year and how you can use this to improve your website and customer experience.
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Rebranding New Zealand’s Good George Brewing
A behind the scenes look at CODO Design's Brand Architecture and Brand Strategy work for one of New Zealand's largest breweries.
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Rebrand vs. Refresh: What’s the Difference? (And why it matters)
Should your brewery rebrand or refresh? Where are these approaches similar, where do they differ, and why does this matter?
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How Do You Name & Brand a Startup Craft Brewery? (feat. Birdsmouth Beer)
A behind the scenes look at the naming, branding and package design process for New Jersey's all craft lager brewery, Birdsmouth Beer Co.
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Role Theory: What does drinking this beer say about me?
Let's discuss how signaling and Role Theory can help you connect with consumers and create a stronger craft beer brand.
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What is a Modular Brand Identity System?
How to build a robust and modular identity system that will keep your brand consistent and dynamic as you scale.
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Hop Water: The Next Big Beyond Beer Trend?
Let's discuss Hop Water, and why we think it’s perfectly positioned to flourish as a better for you beer alternative over the coming years.
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So You Bought a Brewery… to Rebrand or Not to Rebrand?
Three critical questions to ask before purchasing a brewery so you can understand what to do (or not to do) with the existing branding.
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Can Your Brewery (Safely) Enter the Budget Market?
Can releasing a budget option help your customers weather a financial downturn? Let's explore the pros and (mostly) cons of this concept.
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Brand Extensions vs. Sub Brands – A Closer Look
Examining the fine line between Brand Extensions and Sub Brands. When can each strategy make sense and how can your brewery implement them?
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The Role of the Parent Brand in Brand Architecture
What is your parent brand? And why is this such an important concept when launching new beverage products?
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021 – Introducing The Beyond Beer Handbook!
Part book, part quiz, and part choose-your-own-adventure-style novel, The Beyond Beer Handbook is a purpose-built tool for helping you expand your brewery’s portfolio and build a more resilient business.
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Rebranding Mission Brewing: A San Diego Icon
Rebranding a 100+ year old brewery to stand out in a stacked San Diego beer scene.
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Behind the Scenes: Branding a Startup Brewery
A deep dive, behind the scenes look at an ongoing branding project with a brewery in planning named Lost Nomad Brewing Co.
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Answering YOUR 2022 Beer Branding Trends Questions
A special podcast episode tackling subscriber questions on our 2022 Beer Branding Trends review.
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2022 Beer Branding Trends Is Out Now
Dive into 17,000 words spanning major industry currents, package design trends and emergent beverage opportunities.
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What Is A Lifestyle Brand?
When does a brand become a “Lifestyle” brand? And what does this mean for beverage companies who want to stand out in the cold box?
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How to Future Proof Your Brand
What makes a brand timeless? And how can we build a timeless brand from the ground up?
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What is Brand Equity, Really?
Did you know that there are actually two types of equity you need to measure during a rebrand?
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What do most beverage startups get wrong?
Framing your Brand Values is one of the most important tasks your startup will tackle.
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The Warm Blanket of Nostalgic Branding
Only 90's kids will remember this newsletter.
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How Far Can You Extend A Brand?
How many extensions are too many? And how are you supposed to know when you've hit the limit?
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Lessons From The Beer Wars
What can craft learn from the Big Beer Wars. Plus, watch our live present
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The Coming Seltzer Shakeout?
How many brands can a craft brewery actively maintain?
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Breaking Category Convention
Quick—think about hard seltzer packaging. What do you see?
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Do Brewpubs Need Great Branding?
Does a brewpub (with no intention to ever package beer for distribution or carryout) need compelling branding?
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2021 Trends AMA
Thanks to everyone (all 25 of you) who sent in a question about our 2021 Craft Beer Branding Trends article.
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Branding Trends out Now
Clocking in at just under 20k words, this is the most thorough annual guide we've put together to date.
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Variety Packs
Variety Packs have been a perennial best seller in Big Craft for years. But we've seen a sharp uptick in smaller breweries getting into this format as of late.
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Can the Brewery of Tomorrow Not Package?
One of the lasting changes in the beer industry triggered by the pandemic will be the expectation for breweries to continually package their beer.
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Anchor Brewing
The iconic Anchor Brewing recently launched a stark rebrand that was met with fervent backlash.
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Brewery to Beverage Company
One of the biggest sea changes we’ve seen in the beer industry over the last few years has been a move towards being a “house of brands.”
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