There is a big debate in the beer world about what makes a brewery ‘craft’. Is it being independently owned? Is it the volume of beer they produce? Is it having a tap room? It is hard to say, however one of the clear indicators to me is if a brewery has limited releases. A limited release schedule shows dedication to small batch and experimentation and allows space for creativity and growth. It says ‘we aren’t just going through the motions day in, day out’ and signals an interest in evolving and creating something new. To me, that is craft.

On the business side of things, limited releases can also keep your brand front of mind with customers as well as drive sales of your core range. “I’m going to try this Fuzzy Peach Imperial Sour (experiment) as well as get a 4 pack of their pale ale (reliable)” is what you want your consumers to be thinking.

A limited also refreshes the visuals on your marketing channels (thank god, you don't have to try to think about what to post this week!) with something different to look at and celebrate, and allows you to show off your creativity and experimentation. And how better to show off this than through some creative visuals on your beer label that represent the beer.

On the other hand though, limited releases are often a lot more expensive to produce than your core range. Purchasing ingredients at lower quantities, purchasing left of center ingredients and smaller print runs reduce the margins you make on these beers. So once you get to designing the visuals for the labels and promotional items, there aint much left in the tank. Yet, you need to make these releases look fresh, new and different in order to attract attention and sales in a crowded marketplace, as well as make sure they are promoting your brand, not detracting from it by being unrecognisable as yours on the shelf.

There in lies the challenge of the limited release, and it's one we are very familiar with at Craft Instinct because it is what we do, literally every day. And the answer is: templates. Consistent brand placement, with some flexibility in the artwork. We recently completed some new limited release templates for a few of our clients, they all look and work very differently, but keep these same principles of consistency and flexibility at the forefront of the design. First we work out a budget with the client, what do they want to spend on each new release? From that we can figure out how complex we can get with visuals as well as what kind of promotional items we can include in there too. No point in releasing a beer if you don't have any tools to communicate its existence!

First example is Akasha’s new limited release template. They wanted a cleaner look and feel for their limiteds, as it is in line with their branding, however there still needed to be space for creativity and an eye catching visual. Here is the result. We’ve used the top half of the can as our ‘clean’ area, using a plain white or coloured background, the top half is where branding and beer details are situated. We use different fonts across each release, to give the beer its own identity, but are careful to use consistent placement, justification and size. The bottom half is where we can have a little fun with colours and shapes combined to create a pattern or texture that represent the flavour or theme of the beer. This is a budget friendly template that allows each beer to have its own identity while maintaining a strict layout to allow for consistency and recognisability on the shelf.

Second up we have Ocean Reach’s designs. While this template has consistent and clear brand placement, the real estate for the beers customised artwork is relatively large. It might seem like the artwork is super detailed and therefore expensive, it is not. If you look closely you’ll see all the visual elements you’ll see they are repeated, making a pattern. Patterns work great for two reasons A/ Only a few elements need to be custom designed, then they are repeated to fill the space B/ Patterns stand out on a shelf. The patterns can be in any vector illustrative style, as long as the elements stay within a certain size and repeating pattern. Ocean Reach take advantage of this, and the result are unique show stopping beers that grab attention as well as follow a strong theme for each release. Notice the consistent placement of the beer details and title, like Akasha using a unique font, with tasting notes and brand elements also placed around the lip of the beers. A super flexible template that is cost effective to manage across releases.

Lastly is Beaches Brewery. These folks have a very focused theme to their brand, can you guess what it is? If you answered rivers, that is incorrect, the correct answer is beaches! Located on the northern beaches above Sydney, this brand celebrates the local lifestyle and everything beach life represents. Their core range uses a sandy shore at the base of the can (See hazy lager) where the beer details are situated, with the top section being the ocean with the logo and various water activities and marine life. For the limited releases, we keep the shore line shape, but reverse the art so the water sits at the base of the can, with the shore and land making up the top section, with logo same size, same place. This makes for a visually satisfying billboard affect in a lineup of windy shorelines, as well as a super strong brand identity. Unlike Ocean Reach’s illustrations, Beaches has a certain illustrative style and content that is replicated across each release, but with the flexibility of theme and place. The theme is always a top view of a particular beach or shoreline the beer is based on, with the elements again being repeated into a pattern, that is sometimes broken with local landmarks. For example Mid Tide Manly is based on Manly beach, which has built up streets that use architecture from the 50s-70s. We’ve repeated the apartment buildings as a pattern, and have also include the local surf life saving club, and the cricket ground within the illustration, as well as lined the shoreline with the famous tall pines Manly is known for. This template is a little more time consuming than the first two examples to execute however as we are not needing to come up with brand new concepts or different styles of illustration for each release, it still manages to keep design costs low while maintaining a super strong and recognisable design, increasing the brands reach and ultimately equity.

Three very different examples that all use the same principles for each release. Consistent brand and element placement, flexible artwork areas and a set of rules to follow for each new design. Coming up with new artwork for your new releases doesn’t need to break the bank, nor risking veering your brand off the rails each release. If you want to feel more in control of your brand and budget, some careful planning to create a template is all it takes. Have a set in stone budget for your limited releases and you will have customers both onboard and excited about your brand.

If you are interested in talking further about tightening up your limited releases, why not book in a free 20min chat with Jessie to discuss? Go here to book in a time