Winners 2016/Beverages Gold

Project: The Beer Studio

Client: Hydes

Design: WPA Pinfold

Brewing beer since 1863, Hydes Brewery was beginning to feel its age. With the market at saturation point and the craft beer revolution taking its toll, sales of their core beers were in decline. Hydes undertook some radical restructuring followed by strategic brand planning to analyse all aspects of the brand opportunities, proposition and positioning for their new brewery and portfolio of cask-conditioned ales.

The new brewery brand, The Beer Studio is located in MediaCityUK (Manchester) and taps into a new generation of urban drinkers, whilst delivering a contemporary, premium look and feel. This was a brave move for the company but it paid off, with every brew batch being a complete sell-out within the first few weeks of release, with no other influencing factors at play other than the design. Sales outperformed the market by 1846% and there is an on-going 24% year on year increase in volume sales.