Raising a Can to Brand Visibility
Published on 21st October 2024By guest contributor - Katy Haugh, Brand Marketing Manager, Wiper & True
I’m Katy, Brand Marketing Manager at award-winning craft brewery Wiper and True.
I was pleased to attend, and speak at, McCann Bristol’s ‘Calling All Attention Seekers’ event in partnership with Aardman. This particular event spoke to me personally because, as a marketer with a background in music and drama, capturing attention is very important to me. It’s something I’ve thought about throughout my entire life, either via digital channels, out of home marketing or on a stage.
So, what does attention seeking mean to me in my role at Wiper and True?
Bristol has a fantastic, thriving craft beer scene with at least one brewery doing something different in each part of the city - according to Google, there are over 20 breweries here. Because of this, a key consideration for us was ‘how do we stand out within a busy market, with lots of competitors?’ and ‘What can we do to offer the people of Bristol and beyond something different?’.
At Wiper and True, we understand that while a market might be busy, quality rises to the top. That’s why we developed a slogan, to epitomise the way Wiper and True do business.
That slogan is Beautiful Beer.
If you were to take a look down your local supermarket (we’re in Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, by the way), you’d likely find a broad array of brightly coloured, mixed palette, busy designed beers cans often with cheeky or pun-based names to catch your eye. However, unlike most beer brands, Wiper and True have opted for white cans with black text and a single gold icon. Our beer is premium, and priced as such, so we want our customers to feel like they’re holding a high quality product that they can feel proud to share. Our timeless can designs are consistently referenced by consumers as an influential factor in their purchase. This black, white and gold base was part of the brand identity since day one and has stood us in good stead since 2012, while fleeting trends have come and gone.
But, not only did we make these decisions to stand out from the crowd, but we also wanted to attract a wider demographic. Beer is traditionally seen as masculine - and we want to challenge that.
But attention seeking isn’t all about branding and neither is Beautiful Beer. It's our compass for internal decision making too.
Beautiful Beer is our ongoing sustainability work to limit our negative impact on the environment, maintaining an open dialogue as we do so.
Beautiful Beer is within the positive, communicative relationships we have with our stockists.
Beautiful Beer is the commitment we have to creating beers of the finest quality - and the moment of satisfaction during that first sip of it.
In conclusion, attention seeking doesn’t start with what’s on the outside. Capture the attention of your audience and standing out within a busy market starts from within.
