Hexhamshire Brewery is the oldest and one of the smallest breweries in Northumberland. As part of a planned expansion they needed to raise their profile and increase sales and approached us for our help. Looking at their competitors (and from our own local knowledge) it was clear that more and more regional breweries are using strong branding as an effective marketing tool and a way of attracting the attention of drinkers and pub owners alike. Hexhamshire didn’t really have a brand at all – just a logo that was in fact used slightly differently on different things!
CLIENT BRIEF
We were tasked to develop a brand around their existing logo that would retain a simple colour pallet and not look too colourful so that they could maintain a good standout from other local breweries. They wanted to retain their heritage feel but are aware that a certain amount of modernisation was needed to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.
OUR SOLUTION
We developed a brand around their existing logo with a complete colour pallet that could be used consistently across all items. The client really liked the simple black and white style of their existing old pump clips and we agreed that they drew the eye because of their simplicity and lack of colour. So we used more muted tones that would all stand out from the average more colourful pump clips but leant some warmth and style to the overall look. Also worth noting on the pump clips was that we set the ABV text at a much larger than standard size. When beer drinkers look for a pint to drink in a pub a lot of them look for the ABV percentage that they prefer – so making the percentage text larger helps people to notice Hexhamshire’s beer more easily, helping to increase sales at the bar.
We also introduced two brand typefaces that would work well with the logo and for setting text. The existing typeface the client was using was a little too close to the logo text and didn’t quite gel.
Once the brand and pump clips were finalised we then started to apply the brand to a new responsive and content managed website and to extend the brand through some friendly, slightly quirky copy for the site and to describe the brewery’s ethos and beers.
We commissioned and directed brilliant local photographer James Bryne to take some very moody shots, which were used in a warm grey and white, picking up on the brand colours and also making the photography on the website really stand out.
THE RESULTS
Beer sales from the brewery have increased and now the main problem they have is keeping up with demand. The new brand has been well received and helps this small brewery to look a lot more professional which has in part helped them to increase their sales.
Check out their website here