These days, Budweiser Budvar has begun to supply the Czech market and the export with beer in completely new packaging. The packaging design of the products ranks amongst the most important elements that make the brand’s image. The design and technical finish help the consumer recognise the brand from competing brands and at the same time connect the brand with certain values. The existing label for the Budweiser Budvar brand has been used since 2005. However, the old design of the packaging gradually ceased to perform its purpose and did not satisfy the market requirements, particularly after the fundamental change of the brand’s communication in 2010. Therefore the brewery decided to streamline all its packaging, making thus another logical step in the process of the Budweiser Budvar brand’s overall communication change, which for instance recently included the replacement of beverage glassware and plastic crates.
REDESIGN OBJECTIVES
“The main objective of the packaging redesign project for the Budweiser Budvar brand was to harmonize the visual look of the packaging with our brand’s values, such as uniqueness, courage, defining ourselves against mass taste, success abroad and others,” says Budweiser Budvar’s innovation manager Marek Honetschläger. Another goal of the project was to graphically unify all the types of the packaging into generic lines in order to accomplish a better recognition of all types of products by the consumer. “The Budweiser Budvar brand’s new packaging design maintains the key elements, such as the shape of the bottle, the colour of the glass, the logo and the primary colour coding, nevertheless at the same time moving towards a more modern terminology and higher design purity,” explains Marek Honetschläger. Additionally, the number of label versions for nearly 70 export countries decreased within the project, which beside others means cost savings as well as increasing the output of the bottle filling rooms, as the idle times of the lines when the labels for customers from various countries are changed will reduce. “While creating the new design, we tried to break out from the rather tired and predictable beer designs we still unfortunately often see around us. By applying the new packaging, the Budweiser Budvar brand is saying its another NO,” concludes Marek Honetschläger. Launched in 2010, the project was of a great importance, hence nine potential suppliers including some foreign ones were addressed in the first round of the tender, which was eventually won by the Slovakian designer studio 3H Creative.
NEW LABELS
The label constitutes the essential packaging element, as its layout is subsequently reflected in all the other types of packaging. The shape of the dividing line located about one third into the label’s height significantly underlines the brand’s dynamics, at the same time defining the type of beer with the particular colour. The traditional elements of the “Knights” and the town emblem used in the past as well gently refer to the beer’s place of origin and the brand’s tradition. A new name for each type of beer - the subname, such as B:ORIGINAL, is a new feature on the label. Furthermore, every type of beer has now its own dominant colour for even better consumer familiarisation with the products within the portfolio. According to marketing research, the new label has been showing a significantly better perception of the brand’s values among consumers than the existing one.
BUDWEISER BUDVAR PRODUCTS’ NEW TERMINOLOGY
Each product of the Budweiser Budvar brand can still be recognised at first sight due to its colour and the shape of the bottle. However, a more comprehensible system had to be injected into the names of individual products from the brand’s portfolio, therefore the terminology was adjusted in such a way that consumers can get their bearings easily at first sight. The new names of the products always start with the letter “B:” - a symbol that clearly identifies the belonging to the Budweiser Budvar brand and guarantees the values the brand is based on:
- using only the best ingredients
- not reducing the maturing period
- producing only in České Budějovice
- refusing to sell its name
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The letter “B” is then followed by the name of the particular type of beer (subname), which aptly reflects its character. The names of the products have been chosen in such a way they are comprehensible to Czech customers as well as to foreign tourists and consumers in more than 60 countries to which the brewery exports its beer. This new terminology has a considerable potential for better recognition of Budweiser Budvar beers from the competing ones. Nonetheless, the original names of the products remain a part of the labels as additional elements.
B:ORIGINAL – designates Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager, golden being the dominant colour
B:DARK – refers to the colour of Budweiser Budvar Dark Lager, black being the dominant colour
B:CLASSIC – is the name for the favourite Budweiser Budvar Pale Draught Beer, silver being the dominant colour
B:FREE – designates Budweiser Budvar Non-Alcoholic Lager, green being the dominant colour
B:STRONG – reflects the full strong flavour of special beer BUD, bronze completed with dark red being the dominant colours
B:SPECIAL – is used for “Krausened Lager”, which contains live yeasts