Fizzy drink Irn-Bru gets sparkling new branding and packaging design

Soft drink Irn-Bru has a new visual identity and packaging design, created by consultancy JKR, which aims to “modernise” the brand while bringing it in line with its heritage of “industry and strength”.

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Consultancy JKR has created new branding and packaging for fizzy drink brand Irn-Bru, with the aim of conveying “strength” and an industrial feel.

The new look introduces a cleaner packaging design with less furniture, less imagery, less shadows and flatter typography and colours, which aim to make the brand more visible on shelf, says JKR.

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It sees an orange can, with a blue girder icon at its centre that also resembles an “I”, encasing the logo and a man emblem in the centre of it. The sugar-free version sees a silver background colour to differentiate the two.

The simpler design aims to “modernise” the brand, says JKR design director Stephen McDavid, while also creating a unifying feel for the brand’s two product variants of original and sugar-free.

“One of our main objectives was to bring the brand’s two variants closer together, creating a masterbrand identity,” he says.

The new visual identity also aims to link to Irn-Bru’s “heritage” with its iconography – the incorporation of a girder emblem was inspired by the brand’s original slogan “Made in Scotland from Girders”, as well as its use in previous advertising campaigns.

A timeline of Irn-Bru can designs through the ages
A timeline of Irn-Bru can designs through the ages

It also keeps the icon of a “strong man”, redrawn by illustrator Chris Mitchell and “places it proudly at the centre of the brand”, says McDavid, with the aim of implying “strength, industry and authenticity”. The logotype has been redrawn, now completely in white, with no black outline or embossment.

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The new designs will be rolling out across cans, bottles, external packaging and marketing collateral. The branding aims to be “consistent” and “flexible” across all touchpoints, says McDavid.

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The new designs are part of a £6 million marketing push to promote Irn-Bru’s new partnership with The Football League and the Scottish Professional Football League.

Irn-Bru is owned by soft drinks company A.G. Barr. The company says it wanted the rebrand to work for existing customers while also “appealing to a new wave of consumers”.

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Comments
  • Harrison Reed May 3, 2016 at 8:59 pm

    Fantastic – this is how to re-brand an iconic brand.

  • Billie McMillan May 4, 2016 at 4:29 pm

    As a LOVER of Irn-Bru I was dubious about the can but I am sold by the striking imagery on the van and billboard!

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