Branding and packaging design for contemporary craft beer and the issues faced by FMCG brands using humour.

A good while back, I remember working on the packaging design for one of the first alcopop brands. They were pretty exciting products to work on, as it was the first time they’ve been a real competitor, an alternative to beer, spirits and wines.  That excitement wasn’t to last long. There was huge uproar at the time over the advent of these particular products and their potential appeal to underage drinkers as many of the pack, designs, focused on characterisation and exuberant graphics  Many of the packs featured, cartoons and characterisations of the fruits, from which they came from. The overall tone was of playfulness and exuberance, much more of a student night out and refined drinking. Understandably, this led to quite a large backlash from various consumer channels and many of the brands were pulled. The brands that were left, grew up and became a little more serious, more adult and (a little) more refined. The alcohol sector had learnt a valuable lesson, or so we thought. So, it’s quite odd to see some of the beer brands now picking up on some of these cues that led to the downfall of alcopops. In this podcast, will be looking at a few of these brands and how they could potentially be falling into the same trap as their alcopop predecessors. Each week, ‘a slice of’, will take a look at a supermarket brand and critique the pack design to find out what works, or doesn’t. What makes you desire them, or even hate them?  Importantly what makes us put them in our shopping basket! I plan to keep the podcast to around five minutes each, and I’ll include some voice message comments that have been sent through about the packs from my LinkedIn page. You can find our contact details below: Alan Gilbody on Linkedin: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alangilbody/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Slice Design Company website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://slicedesign.co.uk⁠ #packagingdesign #packdesign #packaging #branddesign #branding #beer #craftbeer #drinks