Pacific City, Ore. — As craft beer brands duke it out in crowded beer aisles, Pelican Brewing Company this week aims to bring a refreshing calm to the escalating ‘carrier wars.’ Oregon’s iconic craft brewery introduces a packaging refresh to showcase its coastal roots and playful personality—all while staying true to its flavorful, honest, well-crafted beer.
With a deep commitment to the legacy they created, Pelican founders set out to inspirit its 20 year old presence asking itself ‘how do we support our brand and communicate who we are and what our beer represents—consistently, across packaging and distribution?’ This week Pelican lands in the beer aisle with bolder colors and a lively new look designed to be an easy ‘find’ for craft beer lovers.
“Our goal was to visually translate our beer to the drinker—its unexpected levels of flavor, aroma and quality are hallmarks of our craftsmanship. Our brand presentation is now as consistent as the beer we brew,” says Darron Welch, founding brewmaster of Pelican Brewing Company.
Creativity with a twist
As always, Pelican likes to do things a little differently—offering a few twists like vertical labeling in a refreshing design that clearly reflects its direct nature:
- Bigger, bolder Pelican logo
- Stronger, contemporary mixed typefaces and sizes
- Vertical presentation of the beer names
- Crisper, richer, more saturated colors
- Flavor notes and characteristics displayed
- Unique label treatment for tactile experience
- Candid, genuine communication and packaging
“Everything Pelican does is done with purpose—there’s a consistent quality and pride in what we do. And like our beer, the brand refresh was designed to embody that heart and soul,” says Jim Prinzing, CEO, Pelican Brewing Company. “We held on to the traditional Pelican, added bolder colors, more negative space to remain simple and easy to find. It’s a very visually interesting look that we think will appeal to our customers and maybe even offer a welcoming calm in the growing storm of craft beers.”
Led by premier Oregon branding talent
With years of creative branding expertise behind her and now some of the best young in-house design talent, Pelican asked Jeanie Coates—founder and CEO at Coates Kokes full service marketing agency—to help shape Pelican’s brand refresh strategy. Coates recommended the new adventurous and spirited brand imagery to create a stronger presence in the competitive craft beer aisle and simplicity to showcase Pelican culture. From the size of the type to the vertical display of the beer name, a cropped logo and a mix and match of typefaces and sizes, Coates and her team readied Pelican for its makeover debut.
“At the end of the day the Pelican brand had to be held together by who they are and their brand position—born at the beach, authentic, not frilly or frivolous,” says Coates. “Across the board people love the Pelican logo so we gave him a vivid refreshed presence as well as packaging to mirror who the Pelican founders are: they value hard work, people, their place on the coast, the history of beer and creating quality and memorable brews and experiences. We think this simple, bold new look will make a big difference in the beer aisle.”
Born at the Beach
Pelican was born at the beach 20 years ago as a small, stand alone brewpub in a small town on the Oregon coast—Pacific City. Pacific City is still a small town, but with consistent growth and demand for its products, Pelican sales are up more than 500% from 3,500 barrels in 2013 to 18,000 barrels this year. The company recently doubled its brewing and bottling capacity at its Tillamook facility and opened a new brewpub in Cannon Beach. Pelican also recently won a bronze medal at the World Brew Cup℠ and eight medals including Champion Medium International Brewery at the Australian International Beer Awards.
According to founding brewmaster Darron Welch, Pelican has always been focused on creating as wide a range of beers as possible:
- Designed and brewed with innovation and craftsmanship
- Showing our guests and fans the many possibilities of flavor in the world of beer
- Dedicated attention to detail in the pursuit of quality and consistency
About Pelican Brewing Company
Pelican Brewing Company was founded in 1996 by Jeff Schons and Mary Jones in Pacific City with Oregon’s only oceanfront brewpub. Celebrating its 20th year, the brewing company has created masterpieces like Kiwanda Cream Ale, India Pelican Ale, MacPelican’s Scottish Ale, Tsunami Stout and Doryman’s Dark. With the vision, creativity and brewing expertise of founding brewmaster Darron Welch, Pelican Brewing has won over 300 awards including the 2014 World Beer Cup© Champion Small Brewing Company and Brewmaster of the Year. Pelican Brewing currently distributes 22oz bottles, 12oz bottles in 6-packs, a new mixed 12-pack, and 50 liter and 20 liter kegs via a network of distributors in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii and Vermont. The company operates brewing and brewpub facilities in Pacific City, Tillamook and Cannon Beach.