Okell’s – one of Britain’s oldest and most distinguished independent breweries – has undergone a rebranding as part of a major expansion which includes plans to modernise its image and widen its appeal to a bigger audience.
Okell’s, the country’s first steam brewery established in 1850, commissioned Glasgow-based Good to overhaul its image following the design agency’s successful rebranding of Argyll-based Fyne Ales.
The new brand identity, part of a £130,000 campaign, incorporates the three-legged symbol of its Isle of Man base and other elements of its Celtic heritage in a clean, contemporary design.
Ambitious sales plans
The brewery expects to increase export sales by 400% in the next year, which would double its profits. Okell’s will be sold in 2,000 outlets with plans to add 25% more sales year-on-year over the next three years.
The new brand identity will be applied to Okell’s’ traditional ales, including the core range of Okell’s Bitter, Olaf (dark beer), Jiarg (red beer) and IPA, as well as its special and seasonal ales and across its range of merchandise. The company has ceased production of its mild beer because of falling demand.
The brewery, owned by Heron and Brearley which recently purchased 15 pubs in the Market Town Tavern chain to complement its existing group of outlets, commissioned Good to produce a design that articulated the brand’s key values, using the agency’s unique, “Simple Truth” approach to create a short, single message to define the brand that is then applied across a range of touch points, including packaging, digital, advertising, sales tools, experiential and public relations.
Pure Perfection
Keith Forbes creative director of Good, said:
“Okell’s is a small brewery with big ambitions… With a history stretching back 162 years, a beautiful island location and a unique purity brewing law, we had an embarrassment of riches with which to define their values and position their beers to appeal to a wider audience.
“We’ve articulated this positioning graphically using a combination of island photography and contemporary illustration to create a look and feel that reaches right across the range.”
The “Simple Truth” of Okell’s is encapsulated in the strapline “Pure Perfection” highlighting its Celtic island location, historic laws and independent spirit.
About Okell’s
Founded 162 years ago by Dr William Okell, a surgeon from Cheshire, who adopted a scientific approach to the process of brewing, it was the first brewery in Britain to use steam to boil the brewery coppers instead of coal, thereby avoiding the charring and caramelisation of the sugars that often led to a burnt flavor in many final beers.
All of its beers are brewed in accordance with the Isle of Man’s Brewing Purity Laws which, similar to the Bavarian beer laws, forbid the use of any additives as a substitute for the natural brewing ingredients of malt, sugar and hops.
About Good
Good is amongst the top 1% of the most effective design agencies in the UK as listed by the Design Business Association (DBA).
Its work for Fyne Ales, a microbrewery employing seven people, was recognised at the DBA’s 2011 Design Effectiveness Awards, where it was named as one of the UK’s most effective brands. Following the redesign, Fyne experienced a 49% increase in sales – taking its turnover to £822,000 – a 20% rise in net profitability and it outperformed the market by 30.6%.
Its ‘Simply Persuasive’ process delivers effective solutions to complex business problems that can drive entire communications strategies from one core idea.
Good’s founding partner, Keith Forbes, is a former creative business managing director of the year, an ex-board member of the Design Business Association and has been quoted on lists of the most influential members of the media and marketing industries in Scotland.