Green’s beer gets a rebrand

A beverage specifically made to target those with celiac and a gluten intolerance has turned into a drink that anyone living a gluten-free lifestyle can enjoy. Green’s beer has been around since 2004, but recently revamped its packaging and overall brand with several goals in mind.

Green’s tapped WPA Pinfold to help with the project. The main goals were that Green’s needed to meet expectations of the changing beer market and to extend its reach to non-celiacs.

“We positioned the brand as a great tasting, premium beer, that is Gluten Free too,” says Myles Pinfold, strategic brand director at WPA Pinfold. “This encouraged non-celiacs to also purchase the beer, based on its taste and health credentials. Furthermore, celiacs could be gluten free and proud.”

Changing it up

Strategy and planning was a key factor in the success of the project for WPA Pinfold. There are more than 1,400 brewers in the U.K, according to the British Beer and Pub Association and more than 10,000 beers according to the Good Beer Guide.

The Green’s designs before they were redone had a pharmaceutical look, Pinfold says.

“Simplistic, old fashioned design on a white label and it had no real beer cues or taste appeal,” Pinfold continues. “So we rebranded Green’s, creating a totally new identity centered on a specially drawn ‘g’ monogram that incorporates a hop icon.”

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The ‘g’ takes center stage in the label design to build brand recognition and loyalty.

The simplicity of the design was enhanced and has a palette of fresh, vibrant colors that stand out on shelf. The labels were printed on metallic stock and over printed with a transparent color to achieve a premium look.

“We have found that the range maintained its place in the gluten-free beer section but also managed to migrate to the beer aisle increasing our visibility. The beers also held their own in beer fridges with the colorful metallic look from the labels,” says David Ware, director of Green’s beers.

Marketing the rebrand

The new design was established and activated through Green’s newsletter base and through social media channels.

“After we had the first run of newly printed labels, we had professional photographs taken,” Ware says. “With those photos, we and our distribution network created new web pages and new sales documents.”

The brand also produced new logo glassware and coasters to be displayed.

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“Our network of salespeople began showing the new graphics; we sent samples to gluten-free and beer media folks and began to show the new graphics on social media,” Ware says.

According to Pinfold, The new design was also shown in specialist Freeform trade shows with very limited trade advertising, on the existing website and through one-on-one presentations.

“The single biggest impact was the new branding, which significantly increased trade engagement and consumer appeal,” Pinfold says.

Consumer response

The response to the rebrand and redesign has the community buzzing.

“It’s been nothing less than positive,” Ware says. “It was a little tricky at the outset to ensure our existing loyal customers were able to still recognize and associate with the new label, but some effective in store communication meant we lost none of the customers and gained more in the process.”

The brand received a number of awards as well, including a 2017 Design Effectiveness Award, Good Design Award from the Chicago Museum of Architecture and Design and a Mobius Award. [Editors’ note: We became first aware of the project through our partnership with the DBA, which owns the Design Effectiveness Awards.]

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The redesign has increased sales by 35% year-on-year, and new order accounts have been created in Australia, China, Japan and Chile.

“Green’s managed to reinvigorate flat sales figures and put the business back onto a growth trajectory,” Pinfold says. “As a result of the rebrand, ROI was 366% in the first 12 months.”

Green’s are available in more than 20 countries and beers can be found at Whole Foods, Total Wines & More, and many independent stores.