Cardiff Design Festival

Brief

Many micro breweries have cropped up in Wales over the past 5 years – most of which have somewhat obvious sounding names, and brands that reference woodland animals, sci-fi characters or local sporting ‘legends’ amongst other things… Nick Otley wanted to brew beers that were distinctively different – the likes of which had not been brewed in Wales before. To reflect these fresh beers Nick wanted a clean and contemporary brand that broke away from the ‘ye olde’ real ale look and feel.

Result

“We’re really chuffed with the brand that Smörgåsbord delivered, and indeed our on-going relationship. We’ve recently returned from two sales missions at Olympia and the NEC and I’m happy to report that as well as receiving a huge amount of orders from the UK and Northern Europe, sales in 2010 are up by 170% on this time last year. I hate to say it but we almost get as many compliments about our brand as we do about our beers!”. Nick Otley Founder/The Otley Brewing Company

Solution

We decided to look no further than the family name for inspiration for the main marque. The ‘O’ coupled with a no nonsense monochrome palette and naming system became the cornerstones of the brand. This honest and direct approach is also reflected in the brands ‘tone of voice’, which uses an open and resonant style of copywriting. We have recently completed a consolidation process relating to the Otley bottled beer range – both in terms of naming and refinement of design.

Project website

http://www.otleybrewing.co.uk