Bringing out the Best
LocationDunbar, Scotland.
DeliverablesBrand Strategy, Brand Identity, Packaging, Brand World, Brand Guidelines
As Scotland’s oldest brewery, Belhaven has been crafting award winning beers at its home in Dunbar since 1719 with its flagship beer Belhaven Best claiming top spot as Scotland’s No1 ale. Championing its authentic provenance whilst looking to the future with a stronger brand identity has been key to this brand evolution. We partnered with the brewery to give Best’s image a refresh to defend and grow on and off trade share.
Needing to appeal to the next generation whilst not polarising our existing loyal drinkers, we identified a new target audience who appreciate tradition, celebrate progression and seek real easy-going moments. As a beer that champions effortless moments together we needed to inject refreshing confidence, natural simplicity and unmissable vibrancy.
Each element of the visual identity needed to play a role in telling the brand story. The evolved lion is crafted with bold depth and detail to elevate the powerful icon and work at both large and small scales. The reworked lion’s face has adopted a prouder stature and the redrawn handful of barley celebrates malting heritage, with additional barley grains adding character to the tail.
The bespoke glass further captures the brand story, inspired by the current Belhaven half pint glass. The subtle sculpted outline of the chimneys influence the shape of the glass, with an embossed ‘Brewed in Dunbar’ message wrapping around the glass to create a tactile grip that feels great in hand.
The new ownable blue captures the Scottish element of the brand whilst also providing stand out from other ales in the category. Heritage is celebrated proudly through the depiction of the iconic 300 year old brewery on every touchpoint.
The final detail across the brand identity is the optimistic rays reflecting off the brewery chimneys as a nod to Belhaven's home by the coast, Dunbar, fondly known as 'Sunny Dunny.'
Each element of the evolution brings out the Best.