From Smuttynose:
We were one of the first breweries to use photography to define our visual identity & in 1994, that really made our beer stand out on shelves. In fact, our brand has always been defined by these iconic images. We hear from lots of Smuttynose fans expressing their personal attachment to the scenes and characters that grace our six packs, twelve packs and bottle labels. We even started a Brown Dog Pin-up page on this website for folks who want to share their favorite brown (or black or white) dogs with us. Lately though, some of you have noticed we’ve begun sprucing up our designs. Some of the features of our new label and packaging designs include:
- Silhouetted iconic images
- Larger brand type
- Simplified color story
- Larger Smutty logos
The reason for these changes are simple. Beer coolers and shelves are increasingly crowded with new brands and bold designs that we couldn’t have imagined in 1994 and our brand can now better stand out in this sea of visual clutter. Instead of adding more visual noise, we distilled our packaging down to its most primal elements. See, back when we started brewing over 20 years ago, a lot of people were confused as to what we were doing, so our packaging was about the only way to tell a lot of our story. Fast forward 22 years. With the advent of Al Gore’s internet, we have lots of great ways to tell our story without trying to cram it all on our packaging. Hence our new, streamlined look.
The biggest question people have been asking is “Where’s Cy?” Cy is the gentleman in the green hat on the Finestkind IPA label. Even though he wasn’t in the first round of new-style Finestkind labels, his future as a label model is incredibly safe; we want to assure you Cy isn’t going anywhere. He’s on all our 6- and 12-packs for both cans and bottles, but that’s not all. He will be turning up elsewhere as well. Stay tuned.
The biggest single change is a brand-new, custom image for Vunderbar Pilsner. Vunderbar was originally a “Now & Then” release that came out, well, now and then, until it joined our full-time lineup in late 2014. As a delicious any-time-of-the-year pilsner, we thought it best to retire the Lederhosen-clad gentleman and his babushka-wearing lady friend to avoid any confusion that Vunderbar may be a seasonal release. Keeping in line with the German imagery (and beer style), you can now admire our homage to Lola Lola (look it up and see for yourself).
Change can be hard, but sometimes it’s needed and it can be fun. So have a little fun with us while you enjoy Smuttynose beer.
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