Crafting beer

What Brand experience

Where Stereo Associates

How Creative direction, strategy

 

After having developed three new product concepts a few years earlier, the team was invited to create an experience around a new product with Czech origin. A trip to the Czech Republic was undertaken to study the craft scene and the traditional craft of the breweries. After talking to brewers, bar staff and artists a deeper knowledge about the emerging craft beer market in the country was achieved. Traditional beer in the Czech Republic has a very small profit margin because the cost of beer is extremely low. The final concept was based in tradition but informed by the international trends and community within craft beer.

Collaboration with local artists was an integral part of the experience created around the brand, and tentative discussions were held with relevant type designers and photographers. Unfortunately the visual work cannot be shown due to agreements with the client, and the project was killed a year later anyway. But the process gave the team crucial insights into how to successfully reach the desired target audience: craft beginners among creatives and young professionals.

The final concept included naming, identity, primary and secondary packaging, online brand activation and spatial experiences. These photos are from field research in Prague and neighbouring areas, where the traditional brewing methods and the unique hops grown in the region were studied. Exploring the vivid nightlife in Prague and some severe hangovers were another highlight.

 

Working with branding and craft is tricky, because belief and trust in the seller is basically dependent on a non-branded product that changes regularly. Often the brand is judged purely by the quality of the product. If you want to enter this realm as a new player you have to abandon convention and dive in at the deep end.