Moosehead Summer Series played off iconic Canadian themes in a modern way.
PROJECT
Moosehead Summer Series
CLIENT
Moosehead Breweries Limited
Moosehead Breweries Limited is Canada’s oldest and now largest independent brewery and is currently distributing its beverages across 14 countries. It was founded in 1867 by Susannah Oland in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has remained in operation under the Oland family for six generations. For its 2015 summer campaign, Moosehead was looking for outdoor-themed designs that spoke to Canadian culture while showcasing a younger, trendier look and feel.
Related Services
Packaging Design
BACKGROUND
Moosehead Breweries is now located in Saint John, New Brunswick, under the ownership of Derek Oland. To this day, Moosehead remains faithful to its mission of crafting premium beers and holding true to its Canadian values by welcoming its customers to be part of the company’s heritage and of course, the beer.
Moosehead continues to be admired as an industry leader in Canadian lagers due to its quality, brand reputation, and variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage options.
The Challenge
Moosehead wanted to engage and excite customers about its products and recognized the need for new package designs that were distinctive from its previous Canadian can designs. Moosehead wanted fresh, edgy designs that were simple yet captured a fun feel in order to appeal to the masses, and specifically appeal to younger customers. It was looking for a hook that enhanced the glory and significance of its heritage while creating an opportunity to increase brand loyalty and ultimately drive sales. Moosehead wanted the series can design to epitomize summer in Canada.
Shikatani Lacroix was called on to provide brand direction and lead the strategy and design for the project. The design work needed to capture the various lifestyle activities enjoyed across the country to create a story that delivered brand engagement for the client.
Iconic images can be refreshed through modern, playful interpretation
Our Process
Define
The client found inspiration in colorful graphic designs, which drew from pop-culture and felt playful and bold. Our initial mood boards explored these expressionistic yet modern bursts of vibrant color, but with Moosehead’s label and colors. Shikatani Lacroix designed five different mood boards, which ranged from image focused designs, energetic colorful splashes and streaks, and strictly typographic messaging. Each board drew inspiration from Canadian-themed activities such as camping, canoeing and sailing.
Design
To showcase the Canadian pride that’s synonymous with the Moosehead Breweries brand, Shikatani Lacroix created strategic can designs that feature an array of uniquely Canadian icons, such as a maple leaf, evergreen trees and the CN Tower, and the iconic Moosehead moose. The newly designed cans showcase Moosehead’s Canadian pride while also catering to younger generations who enjoy its products. We added one additional color to Moosehead’s brand colors, a bright blue-green teal, which complimented the Moosehead brand colors and captured the feeling of summer heat without looking overly busy.
Deliver
The Canadian-themed summer can designs enabled Moosehead’s identity to play a greater role in building its Canadian brand equity. By including Canadian icons on the packaging, consumer loyalty was increased. This unique summer campaign helped influence consumer’s at-purchase decisions and feel a closer affinity to the brand.
The new cans sold successfully throughout Canada with the resulting summer sales performance exceeding previous summer sales of Moosehead lagers.
