FLB refreshes San Miguel brand

San Miguel will unveil new UK branding and packaging at the end of April, designed by FLB.

San Miguel UK brewer and distributor HP Bulmer marketing manager Nick White says, “The packaging had not been updated for four or five years, but he stresses that this is not an exercise in wholesale surgery.”

“It’s more about brand polishing. A key thing to address was the saliency of the brand. We needed to move the brand design forward and capture the warmth inherent within the San Miguel brand personality, while portraying the relevant heritage and quality cues appropriate to a premium lager,” he says.

“We also needed to strengthen the international qualities of the brand, but we’ve done things that make it particular to the UK market,” adds White. “The brand presentation needed to be made warmer, though the Spanish brand will be slightly different from what we have in the UK.”

San Miguel in Spain has just launched its new packaging.

FLB design head and associate director Pat Starke says, “We have added a more English, sophisticated look by using a matted-down gold.

“We have tweaked the logo, the neck label has changed shape and we have changed the bottle cap. The cans have been done in the same style as the bottle.”

FLB, which won the contract, worth less than £50 000, as part of a two-way paid creative pitch against Webb Scarlett, claims to be San Miguel’s UK brand guardian and is in the process of developing a set of brand guidelines.

The new packaging applies to 250ml and 330ml bottles and four, 12, 18 and 24 bottle and can multi-packs.