CREATING THE BRAND
I led the team in the naming, branding and promotion of a new Stone core beer, a hoppy pale ale. The beer was different because it used exotic, unnamed hops from the Australian coast. This become the inspiration for the final name—“Ripper”—Australian slang for a huge wave, just like the wave of juicy hop flavor in our new beer.
SHELF PRESENCE
I oversaw the branding of all Stone beers, ensuring each core beer had a distinct look and feel and also looked like a cohesive family on the shelf. We decided on orange for Ripper’s key brand color, to stand out from our other brands and echo the bright, beachy nature of our brand name.
THE LOOK AND FEEL
Inspired by coastal surf culture we took our design cues from the bold patterns and colors of a Baja beach blanket. We wanted our brand to reflect the care put into hand crafting this beer so all the art felt hand-done as well. From the hand drawn logo to the textured color blocking. We chose a deep, ocean blue to contrast the brand orange.
THE PACKAGING
Instead of repeating the beer name large on all sides of the packaging, we treated the 6-pack panels like a billboard. We set our tagline on a beach horizon, helping our branding stand out on the shelf and reinforcing the laid-back beach vibe. We released Ripper in May, the start of prime beach weather, which helped us further reach our audience who would be looking for a cool drink for the upcoming hot days of summer.
ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION
We created promotions that ran online, on socials, in stores and in restaurants and bars. We extended the beach theme to our merchandise, creating branded t-shirts, coasters barware and, of course, beach towels.
STORE DISPLAYS
To merchandise Ripper without the help of a sales rep we created a custom bin stacker. 6-packs were loaded into each stacker which folded around the beer. Stores simply unfolded the panels for an instant display. I also created an innovation by designing a poster to be printed on the bottom of each 6-pack tray. Stores could then use these in windows or as part of larger displays like the one below.
