Being Strategic With a Brand Refresh

It seems these days that refreshing your brand every once in a while is the new norm. Updating packaging can help broaden your beers’ reach by making you stand out on the shelves.

For Ska Brewing, one beer sparked an entire refresh for the company. Two years went into making The Hazy IPA, released October 1, which boasts a bold blue on the packaging.

This can is a little different from the rest of Ska’s cans, which feature mostly primary colors. The new cans will encompass a more pastel look, with the core beers first in line for an updated look.

“We had been thinking about doing one,” Sales and Marketing Director Kristen Muraro said, referring to the brand refresh. “We took the opportunity to think about the elements we would want to be part of that. We had several meetings where we were telling our graphic designer what we wanted: the feel, the look, the design and the colors. She just nailed it with that one.”

Using the tasting room as a testing ground for the new beer, Ska brewers were able to play around with different iterations of The Hazy IPA, a 6.5% ABV, full-bodied New England-styled IPA.

Another thing that differentiates this beer from Ska’s others is the straightforward name, with no punny name or character associated with it, and the color offers a glimpse into style the upcoming cans.

“Any time you do a rebrand or refresh, the goal is to obviously increase sales but it’ll be more of a modern look. I think that will maybe draw some new people that haven’t tried our beers,” Muraro said. “It’s unifying all of our cans so on the shelf it’ll have more of a billboard effect so when you see them all lined up beside each other you’ll know they’re from the same brewery.”

With the recognizable checkerboards lined up on the cans and with even brighter colors, Ska’s cans will be unmistakable on the shelves.

Ska is starting from the ground up with the refresh, from updating the POS, sales sheets, posters, and signage up first. New display racks will be featured in the stores, and eventually, the website will be updated to reflect the new design as well.

“It’s a lot of work and money,” Muraro warned, “but I think it does come along with everyone wanting what’s new and shiny and keeping up with the younger generations.”

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