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Mark-Making Ltd creates brand
identity for
independent, locally based lager brewery –
The Cotswold Brewing Company
1 December 2005
Oxfordshire-based design company, mark-making* Ltd, has created the brand identity for The Cotswold Brewing Company (CBC) - one the UK’s first independent lager breweries, which supplies cask-conditioned lagers to Free Houses within a 30-40 mile radius of its base near Kingham in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. mark-making* was briefed to create a identity that truly reflects CBC’s business philosophy of supplying high quality, locally produced lager for mature, discerning pub customers, and to break away from the sort of imagery that dominates the branding of mass market lagers.
The CBC identity created by mark-making* achieves the desired look and feel by incorporating the subtle colours of Cotswold green that is found on exterior paintwork throughout the area, and the warm yellow of the local stone. The shape of the image which incorporates CBC’s name and strapline “Premium Lager from the Heart of the Cotswolds” reflects the gently rolling landscape of the Cotswolds, and runs across the bottom edge of all branded material suggesting a Cotswold landscape against an open sky. It is used consistently across all business stationery, marketing materials, pump labels, glasses, and CBC’s website www.cotswoldbrewingcompany.com
The Cotswold Brewing Company is owned by Richard and Emma Keene, with Richard being responsible for the brewing and Emma looking after sales and marketing. Emma is delighted with the identity and believes that it achieves exactly the right image for the company and its aims. She said: “We wanted to set up a brewing business that served the local community and would appeal to people who enjoy high quality, locally produced food and drink and who care about where it comes from. The area has a high proportion of Free Houses and many of them serve good food in a congenial atmosphere, so the conditions were right for us to create the market for the product we wanted to produce. People are proud of living in the Cotswolds and they like to get behind Cotswold products, so the identity created by mark-making* really pushes out all the right messages to our target consumer market – which is the local Free House landlords and their customers.”
In line with their own belief in locally-sourced goods and services, and in strong local business communities, Emma and Richard wanted to use a local design company so that frequent face-to-face meetings could be arranged easily. mark-making*, based in nearby Chipping Norton, was the clear winner in the competitive pitch for the contract. Emma explains “We were so impressed by the way that the team at mark-making* spent so much time asking about us and our business, so that they could produce a unique solution for our branding needs. The mark-making* approach is clearly successful, as they produced ideas that matched our own thoughts and desired outcomes, and broke away from the stereotype branding of the major mass market lager brands. When it came to producing the branded stationery and marketing materials, the mark-making* team used high levels of creativity combined with attention to the smallest detail – even down to the compliment slips saying ‘Cheers!’ instead of ‘With compliments’.”
Resources
Case study
follow the link below to view samples of work produced for Cotswold Brewing Co.
Case study
Website
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