Men’s Journal placed Urban Artifact’s Gadget as one of the Top 50 Beers in the World for this year recently and on the heels of that, the brewery showed that a new look and mascot was added to the can going forward while simplifying its descriptor as well.
But this isn’t the first change, says co-founder Scotty Hunter.
“We have iterated many of our designs over the years and those changes tended to be incremental year to year or from one to another,” he told Brewer. “The Gadget had less overall tinkering though as it has been a year-round for UA and after five-plus years it needs some significant updates to align with the rest of our perennial line-up in terms of look and feel.”
The design had been complete for a bit of time but due to the long lead time for printed cans, Hunter said they rolled out the new look roughly six months later than originally projected.
This is not a signal of rebranding additional items, though, Hunter said.
“We have been developing these brand elements over time,” he pointed out. “It was often less noticeable in the past because we would make some of those overarching updates when launching a new product so there was no ‘prior’ label to reference by the customer.”
Adding to the marketing of the popular brand is a new mascot on the can, a Robot named Gadget, along with a tightening of the descriptor of the brand from Raspberry & Blackberry Midwest Fruit Tart to Mixed Berry.
The Gadget robot is one of the big elements Chief Brand Officer Scott Hand said they incorporated it when bringing Gadget’s packaging in line with the rest of the company’s Midwest Fruit Tart portfolio.
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“For years, we have been creating specific ambassadors on the labels and in our marketing materials for each new product,” he said. “The characters help show Urban Artifact’s diversity and inclusion in a way that other can-art doesn’t.”
Depending on the campaign, Urban Artifact can use the interesting characters to develop stories and engage people in new ways.
“There is so much potential to build a universe with unique characters and use that to entertain and reward the curious,” Hand said.
Simplifying the flavor descriptor, Hunter said, allows for easier and quicker comprehension from the customer so that will translate into more folks considering it as an option whether on draft or when they see the package in stores.
“We have been using these simplified descriptors for other brands for more than a year with good results and have gotten positive results using the mixed berry descriptor at draft events this year,” he added.
Hunter said the reason Gadget resonates so well with consumers is the flavor of real fruit and its intensity of flavor as well.
“There is nothing else on the market compared to it flavor-wise because there isn’t anyone in consumer packaged goods that uses more real fruit than us,” he said.
Ultimately, added Hand, the brand’s past and future success isn’t because of awards, but because people have found the Fruit Tarts portfolio to be enjoyable.
“The packaging refresh is about catching Gadget up,” Hand said. “So the outside of the can represent the liquid inside.”
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