Branding Brews Podcast

The transition and advantages of having custom label art, with Jessica Clare of Cleophus Quealy I have worked with Cleophus over the last couple of years, and we just moved from a "wine" style label to doing custom artwork for each bottle release. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches and I was also curious about the timing and positioning to start creating custom labels for a smaller brewery. Some key talking points: Why using 750ml bottles work well for their brewery and branding "Wine" style labels, just changing the name for each label Why uniform labels cause confusion to customers Does a membership club influence labels and beer release strategy? When is it the time to create custom labels for each release? The photogenic aspects of labels, social media and marketing imagery. Merch tie-ins from label artwork Collectibility, or creating a series of label art Building buzz and selling more bottles by releasing more than one beer at a time.

Freshly Wrapped - label branding process with Big Stump Brew Co and Trademark Brewing Welcome to this special two-part series where we cover an upcoming seminar that will take place at CA Craft Summit in Long Beach, CA. Freshly Wrapped: An Inside Look at Label Branding Strategies will take place Thursday, September 12th, 2019 at 11:35 am. For the second part of this series, we dig into the process for creating a label branding strategy. Nick Longo and myself each have similar processes when it comes to branding, but there are many variations that are dependent on each brewery's situation. Here we outline and discuss how each label branding project went with Big Stump Brew Co. and Trademark Brewing.

Freshly Wrapped - an introduction to the branding seminar and participants Welcome to this special two-part series where we cover an upcoming seminar that will take place at CA Craft Summit in Long Beach, CA. Freshly Wrapped: An Inside Look at Label Branding Strategies will take place Thursday, September 12th, 2019 at 11:35 am. For this introduction, Nick Longo and myself cover the idea of the seminar and our partnering breweries - Big Stump Brew Co. and Trademark Brewing. We learn the special situation each brewery is in and why now is a great time for them to develop a package branding strategy!

Running a brewery with a professional background in design with Ben Parsons of Baerlic Brewing. There are brewery owners out there that have an added benefit of coming from another professional background. Someone who has an engineering, business, or marketing background for instance, can have a leg up running their brewery. There has been many times that I wondered what it would be like to make a major career shift, away from branding and design, over to owning a brewery or taproom. Over the last few years in Portland, I have had the pleasure of getting to know Ben Parsons of Baerlic Brewing. Ben fits this exact mold, he left a career as a professional designer to chase his dreams of making beer and opening up a successful brewery. I wanted to dig into what life was like for Ben, and how his background in design has helped in running his brewery. Listen in as we discuss branding beer releases, opening a taproom in a food cart pod, and running a brewery as a designer, on this episode of Branding Brews.

Mass Brew Bros on recycling and sustainability in beer Find Mass Brew Bros: Website: massbrewbros.com Check out the article How to Be An Eco-Friendly Craft Beer Drinker There are a many different ways and angles to better sustainability in beer. Many breweries are taking steps to be more eco-friendly, but there is also an important role that beer drinkers can play. Education on the consumer side can help elevate better practices, and also play part in the sustainability process. Take for instance the use of plastics in the market. We’re all familiar with PakTech can carriers. Did you know that PackTechs usually require special handling and often cannot be thrown in your city’s recycling? Consider the amount of one-time use cups at beer festivals or events. Sometimes we get a false sense of sustainability because these cups are marked as compostable, or made from corn-based plastic. Educating ourselves and being able to avoid greenwashing can help create demand for better sustainability and also help our environment. Rob Van, along with his partner Bob Kelley, started promoting breweries in Massachusetts and connecting drinkers with good beer. The results of their efforts have come together on the website MassBrewBros.com. Rob caught my attention on Twitter with an article he wrote on this topic. Listen in as Rob breaks down some knowledge on recycling and what we can do as drinkers to better sustainability in beer.

A look back at year one with Tyler Lucas of Blaker Brewing Find Blaker Brewing: Instagram: @blakerbrewing // Website: blakerbrewing.com Over the years, I have worked with a number of startup breweries and I know there are listeners out there that are either planning a brewery, or maybe just recently started a brewery. One of the brands I helped develop was Blaker Brewing, in the Central Valley of California..my old stomping grounds. They opened their doors to great success and it has been fun working with them and watching them grow. There are essential items when it comes to launching your new brand, but I wanted to shed some light on what things looked like after running a brewery for a full year. Having plenty of time to develop your brand before opening your doors is really great, but what happens after things are up and running? Where expectations met around developing the brand? Where there areas that where totally missed? What areas have been the most effective at developing your brewery brand? Tyler Lucas, the Director of Marketing and Brand Development for Blaker Brewing joins me for this conversation. We get to dig deep into social media marketing, building strong teams, and relationships with your customers. Listen in as we take a look at the first year of Blaker Brewing, on this episode of Branding Brews.

CBC 2019 Brand Forward Seminar Questions and Answers Had some great questions during the seminar, so decided to put this out as a shorter episode!

Craft Brewers Conference 2019 - Brand Forward Seminar As you probably have heard over the last few episodes, I have been working on a label branding seminar for the Craft Brewers Conference. Not only developing a seminar, but also participating in a special artist series for the CBC 2020 Commemorative Beer labels. For this episode of Branding Brews, I will be sharing with you the audio recording of the Brand Forward seminar at CBC this year. There were some visual aids that went along with the seminar, but I think most of the ideas come through pretty well over audio. During the beginning of the seminar we view a video showing the 2020 label designs and the process work from each artist. If you would like to check out that video, head over to brandingbrews.com, go to the page for this episode and I will have that video in the show notes. Also, a special thanks to the Brewers Association for being so awesome and helpful for this seminar, and for providing the audio recording. CBC 2020 Commemorative Beer Label Design Process Video It was really great connecting with friends of the show in Denver. A shoutout to Mike Kanach, Chris Gartman, John and Julien from CraftPeak, and everyone else that stopped by to say hello. I’m truly honored to have made such great friends and community through this podcast. And, speaking of friends and community, This podcast would not have made it this long without you. This episode is also special because it marks the two year anniversary of this show. We’re close to 50,000 total downloads which kind of blows my mind. I don’t ask often, but I would really appreciate if you can share this show with friends or colleagues. Also, if you would be willing to take a minute to rate and review this show that would also be super helpful. Thanks for hanging around with me and listening to the show, it means a lot. Let’s jump into the Brand Forward seminar, cheers.

New Belgium Specialty Brands with Andrew Emerton Find Andrew: Twitter: @andwoo One topic we've yet to dive into, is what the role of specialty brands play in your portfolio and overall brand. There are so many decisions you can ponder when it comes to branding and marketing these beers. How elevated do you go? Do you want to be known has a brewery with elevated brands and higher price tags? How do you relate these labels to your core lineup and the branding of your brewery? I think the questions could go on... I've been following Andrew Emerton, the Specialty Brand Manager for New Belgium Brewing on Twitter. He's been active in the Twitter beer community and its been fun to follow. In this interview, we dig into the role that specialty brands play at New Belgium. What is the strategy in branding and marketing for the specialty beers they offer. What are the goals that New Belgium has around their specialty brands. Andrew is a smart dude with a history in the beer game. I hope you enjoy the conversation we had. Kick back and listen as Andrew Emerton speaks some brand knowledge on this episode of Branding Brews.

Reduce Your Label Costs Over the years working with breweries of different sizes, saving money on the cost of labels has always been important. Through all of this experience, both in the printing and design of labels, I have been able to better understand ways to save money on labels and in many ways create better branding at the same time (!!) I hope you find these tips useful in saving money, and how you can approach creating your labels. This is an extended audio format of the PDF guide, that you can download for free here.