Brooklyn Brewery

Having grown from local legend to international icon, Brooklyn Brewery called upon us to put the Brooklyn back in their flagship beer.

  • Brand Identity,
  • Campaign Design

Born in our hometown in 1988, Brooklyn Brewery was not only a harbinger of the craft beer movement, but is also one of the most recognizable representatives of our borough on the international stage. Its distinctive flagship brew, Brooklyn Lager, helped the company rise to prominence, but was in danger of getting lost in the fray as craft goes commercial.

Looking back to move forward, we were inspired by the treasure trove of historical objects and artwork found when we toured the company’s headquarters and by design legend
Milton Glaser, the man responsible for the Brewery’s original branding. Aiming to revive the boldness of his work from back when the brand had nothing to lose, we fattened up the typography and paired it with simple, direct messaging that matched the unapologetic tone of the (stereo)typical Brooklynite. We repurposed graphic elements from the original packaging and elevated them to icon status.

Critical to the project’s success was creating a system that a system that could flex its Brooklyn-ness in ways appropriate for residents of the borough itself as well as international markets where Brooklyn was a buzzword. To that end, a tiered system of copy and imagery ranging from inside jokes to necessary cliché (i.e. the Brooklyn Bridge) ensured that marketers from Williamsburg to Warsaw have what they need to raise the bar.

International Campaign

The Brooklyn Lager brand system for the brew's foreign markets is intentionally more borough-focused. Bringing ‘Brooklyn’ to life with more explicit Kings County imagery, intentional indexing into the product and a stronger reliance on literal language let's the lager communicate clearly to those still getting to know Brooklyn Brewery abroad.

Digital and Print Collateral

To keep it crispy the Lager system pulls from and then boldly applies the Brewery brand's deconstructed graphic bits. From dynamic digital ads to superior swag, the system smoothly applies across all media for both domestic and foreign markets.