The champion of small businesses, Alex Polizzi, returned to BBC Two last night in her new series of The Fixer, featuring Underscore in her plan to save the struggling Hunters Brewery.
With a vision to keep Paul & Eline Walker’s dream alive, Alex Polizzi tasked the re-branding strategy of Hunters Brewery to Underscore to position their British real ale for an international market.
Hunters Brewery started six years ago when Paul Walker dreamt of running his very own micro-brewery in the heart of Devon, however it had slowly turned into a struggle as the business was losing direction.
The episode aired with a whirlwind glimpse into the work-shopping process at Underscore’s Thinking Garden, capturing the thoughts of Alex, Paul & Eline, together with some of our leading strategists, in a collaborative effort to give the business renewed purpose.
As the branding agency of West Berkshire Brewery and Beavertown Brewery, Underscore was selected for the project when Alex identified that the micro-brewery needed a broader market appeal, and a creative branding agency with brewery experience to achieve it.
We were asked to refresh the logo and evolve the look of three beer pumps, with a vision to position the brand for an international market. With this in mind we planned out what the brand was currently saying in it’s deer head logo, and what options could be explored to enhance the value of their connection to differing audiences. What we produced was a number of solutions that retained the element of ‘Hunting’, whilst being respectful to the delicacy of the subject itself.
The selected logo concept featured a modern representation of a deer leaping over the brewery name, creating a strong visual relationship and a distinctive identity. From here we refreshed three bottle labels, and created a consistent look and feel across the board to bring them together as a family. We used soft natural earthy tones, representative of the countryside, and the typography was bold and distinctive, which interacted visually with their bespoke illustrations.
The result was a brand that not only established an emotional connection to an international audience, but an emotional connection for Paul & Eline to their brand which they had poured their heart and soul into for so long. It was exactly what every brand needed – a connection externally to those who purchase, and a connection internally to those who create and supply it.
The Hunters Brewery will be launching their new labels once their existing stock runs out, so more exciting developments are on the horizon for all who appreciate quality real ale and branding.
From thought leaders to small screen stars, Underscore is thinking big and making waves.
See the full case study here.
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