Marston's announced a major rebrand yesterday and it seems to have made lots of people, on both sides in the culture war we're apparently having these days, a bit irritated.
Traditionalists like the Pub Curmudgeon are annoyed at the apparent pandering to the youth market - what's wrong with appealing to middle-aged and older people? Isn't their money good enough any more?
Others are dismayed by the lack of respect for history and heritage: Pedigree, a brand invented in the 1950s, is a classic in its own way, so why pretend it was conceived in the 21st Century? (Note: they tried the retro look in 2012.) Why give Oyster Stout, one of the Marston's beers that is better-loved among beer geeks, a would-be trendy name when the old one was quirky and interesting enough? And what's with calling Pedigree 'amber ale' all of a sudden - is 'bitter' a dirty word now?
On a somewhat related note, colonial booze historian Dr Sam Goodman quietly rolled his eyes at the laziness of the new design for Old Empire IPA:
@BoakandBailey *notes use of elephant as shorthand for all things empire for future paper*
- Sam Goodman (@drsamgoodman) November 1, 2016
For our part, we instinctively felt it a misstep and, after a bit of chat over the porridge, decided that the problem was the potential confusion and disappointment for consumers. Someone who isn't an expert but is vaguely interested in trying a beer similar to BrewDog's might casually pick these up at the supermarket only to be let down by the contents. You might trick a consumer into buying once with misleading packaging (what we've previously called craftsploitation) but it doesn't win repeat custom.(Note: we haven't tried the new pale ale and maybe it really is a super-hoppy and bitter session IPA.) Meanwhile, those who prefer old-school beer are likely to give these a miss, or (see above) feel that their custom is not wanted.
Among those more soundly in the 'craft' camp the reaction was sharp. For starters, the design just isn't as cool as its creators think it is, as Charlie 'The Crafty Beeress' Worthington confirmed when she asked a graphic designer pal what they made of the new branding: 'I think the boat has sailed on all that distressed looking type stuff that BrewDog were doing 7 years ago.' In desperately seeking relevance they've somehow made themselves less relevant.
Others were insulted by the suggestion that people who make a point of buying and drinking craft beer are actually just idiots buying labels who can be duped with a wave of the brand manager's wand. For what it's worth, we don't think they're actually after craft beer drinkers, though - just people who might be vaguely aware of the idea and don't like 'old man' beers. Which, of course, leads to a sense that this is just a crass attempt at co-opting a thriving culture by an organisation that, as Richard Coldwell observes, is a modern equivalent of Whitbread or Watney's in their 1970s pomp.
So, that's everyone annoyed, for different reasons. Probably not the intended result.
The funny thing is, beneath all the hoo-ha about the clumsy re-brand, there is actually something interesting going on: Pedigree is now bottle-conditioned. That's a material change that might - let's even say will probably - improve the quality of the product. It's certainly not something they had to do and, we suspect, is a deep-level gesture to beer geeks, and especially to CAMRA members. We'll give it a go when we get the chance and report back.
Why Do People Care About the Marston's Rebrand? originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog
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