Quirky craft beer manufacturers with huge personalities have flooded the cabinets lately, with the whole lot from playful names to kaleidoscopic labels. There is not any doubt that the competitors has grow to be fierce on this class, significantly when it comes to shelf house and shopper consideration.
Consequently, Huge Hug – a UK brewer with social goal baked into its DNA – realised that goodwill alone wasn’t sufficient after a decade in enterprise. To scale its mission and grow to be a totally constructive influence enterprise, the place each pint contributes to each folks and the planet, it wanted an id that carried each readability and credibility.
JDO’s activity was to present Huge Hug a visible system worthy of its ambitions. The ensuing rebrand was unveiled on the London Craft Beer Pageant, and locations goal entrance and centre whereas sustaining the wit and individuality that made the brewery stand out within the first place.
“It is nice with the ability to help organisations like Solely A Pavement Away and YMCA DownsLink Group with two of the beers in our vary,” says founder Matt Williams. “However to be able to grow to be a 100% constructive influence enterprise – the place each beer makes a distinction – it was essential to get the rebrand and messaging proper.”
Since its launch, Huge Hug has donated a portion of the earnings from chosen beers to charities addressing homelessness and youth drawback. The brand new model platform, summed up within the tagline ‘Brewing For Higher’, expands that ethos throughout all the enterprise. Each beer now has a narrative and a trigger, communicated as a defining characteristic of the design.
“Huge Hug got here to the desk with a powerful goal and a great deal of character,” explains JDO design director Dan Bowstead. “Our activity was to set the model up for progress with a daring, clear id that stayed true to Huge Hug’s roots. It was about taking all that wit, vitality, and fervour for making a distinction – and making the model inconceivable to disregard.”
Central to the brand new system is the ‘World Hug’ emblem, a graphic mark that doubles as each a rallying image of optimism and a stamp of social good. It is supported by a model world filled with vibrant collage components and halftone illustrations, nodding to DIY poster tradition whereas staying trendy.
The UK craft beer scene has grow to be synonymous with eclectic illustration, offbeat typography and fearless color. Huge Hug’s new id embraces that vitality however channels it by a extra coherent system.
The place earlier iterations lacked consistency, the rebrand introduces a unified structure throughout cans and bottles, making the vary immediately recognisable. Every pack now celebrates flavour and character, but in addition carries the narrative of the social trigger it helps. It is a packaging technique that blends the attention-grabbing instincts of craft with the transparency and goal more and more anticipated by at present’s discerning drinkers.
The transfer displays wider traits within the craft beer world, the place design has grow to be a major car for storytelling. From Beavertown’s comic-book type to BrewDog’s stripped-back typography, manufacturers are outlined as a lot by their visuals as their recipes. For Huge Hug, weaving empathy and activism into that visible language gives a particular level of distinction.
Williams says: “One of many issues JDO advised me early on is that they assist manufacturers ship on their guarantees, bringing concepts to life by highly effective, efficient experiences that folks can see, really feel, and consider.
“For me, that is precisely what they’ve achieved. Whether or not it is on-trade, off-trade, on-line or in the actual world, Huge Hug now displays our mission with infinite optimism and a strong punch.”
The work arrives at a second when the UK beer trade is balancing pressures on each ends, with craft saturation on one aspect and consolidation by world brewers on the opposite. Unbiased gamers should not solely compete on style but in addition carve identities that resonate emotionally and ethically, and Huge Hug’s rebrand positions it firmly in that territory.
The brand new look rolled out throughout pubs, retailers and on-line this month, and with it, Huge Hug is hoping to encourage not simply repeat purchases, however repeat acts of fine.
