There were more than 8,000 craft breweries in the U.S. as of 2019, and since then, the numbers have only continued to rise. Due to the immense amount of competition in the craft beer industry, it’s essential for beer brands to be able to differentiate themselves on store shelves. Custom beer cans are a valuable asset for capturing customers’ attention and ultimately landing in shopping carts.
A 2018 study found that packaging like cans and bottles, alongside price and taste, is one of the three main reasons that consumers decide to purchase a specific type of beer over other options. In stores, cans not only catch attention and reflect your branding and tone, but they’re also an important communication piece for highlighting the other elements that consumers care about like taste and pricing.
A well-thought-out custom beer can design can elevate your beer branding in 2021. Here are our tips for custom beer cans that will help get your brew noticed and boost your sales throughout the rest of this year and beyond.
Better Brand Positioning
Make sure your brand position is clear and well-communicated to better connect with consumers and build a memorable brand. To stand out from the endless available craft beer options, you’ll need to identify and highlight what differentiates your company from other breweries.
This of course includes the taste of your beer, but your brand story and beliefs are also important to communicate in every aspect of your marketing — especially on your labels. The colors and illustrations on your custom beer cans should reflect the tone and personality of your brand. Your ethics and history, as well as a description of the taste, should be communicated through the text. These elements combine to communicate your brand as a whole in a cohesive and easily perceivable way.
Craft beer consumers see their favorite brews as an experience and identify closely with their product choices. For this reason, beer can design is an important element for not only drawing eyes to your products on store shelves but also to start the process of aligning customers with your product’s personality and creating brand loyalty. Branding consistently across different flavors also reinforces the recognizability of your brand and is a great way to start building and capitalizing on customer loyalty.
Eye-Catching Designs
Studies show that it takes a customer mere seconds to form a first impression of a product and decide whether to pick it up and find out more. Building a recognizable and highly visible custom design will help your beer gain attention in the crucial first moments during which a customer views a store shelf before making a selection.
The use of bright colors and bold patterns can help make your custom beer cans eye-catching to consumers. Using metallic label materials can also help draw attention to your products on store shelves since the light playing off of the cans will make your brew more easily visible amidst a sea of others.
Since it is crucial to make your beer stand out, it’s worth keeping track of what your competitors are doing and finding ways to differentiate yourself that are authentic to your brand. Is there a unique color palette that makes sense for you to use? Can you put your own twist on a tried and true artistic style? Is there a specific aspect of your brand like its local sourcing or distinctive flavoring that you can highlight on cans? Keeping a finger on the pulse of the market and finding the right balance between design innovation and brand consistency will be key when it comes to driving success with your can labels.
Options for New Products Down the Line
Planning for the development of future products is a crucial consideration when it comes to finding the balance between adapting to compete and remaining true to your branding. Make sure your first custom label art leaves ample options for playing around with design, colors, patterns, and textures for additional flavors down the line that look similar enough to your original flavors that they’re easily identifiable under your brand.
New flavors keep the brand feeling fresh and give loyal consumers something to get excited about, while also giving your brand the chance to reach additional customers that are attracted by your new offering but haven’t known or bought from your brand before. Holiday- and otherwise-themed beer flavors and/or labels are a great way to capitalize on this without straying too far from your branding.
The Kennedy Group Creates Custom Beer Cans that Excel
The Kennedy Group’s capabilities allow craft beer brands multiple options for eye-catching customization to help communicate their brand better and stand out on store shelves. Our expert team understands all of the options for craft beer labels, including the various materials and print techniques that will bring your vision to life. We are able to efficiently deliver on designs to make your custom beer can dreams a reality.
We also understand the pressure that many breweries are experiencing with the current can shortage. If you’re seeking other options due to the limited availability of painted cans, purchasing blank cans with labels is an ideal solution, and the experts at The Kennedy Group provide high-quality labels for every use. Labels are also great for covering up pre-printed cans if you find yourself with an overstock of one can design that you need to use for a different brew. It’s essential to your business to get beer cans and labels in on time and avoid wasting batches of brew — partner with a company that understands your pain points and has the capability to produce more can labels per minute to get you needed supplies faster.
Our experience as brewery owners means we have a deep understanding of the craft beer market that pairs perfectly with our 45+ years of experience in the label printing industry for helping you execute on high-quality, innovative custom beer cans. We offer additional marketing solutions for beer brands like our patent-pending BevCom labels for use on the top of can rings to cross-promote your brews and sell more beer throughout the year.
