JKR completes global rebrand for Budweiser

JKR’s New York office has redesigned the visual identity for beer brand Budweiser as part of a global rebrand.

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JKR has created a new visual identity for beer brand Budweiser, as part of a global rebrand which aims to align the brand with quality.

Budweiser has retained the brand’s red bow-shaped icon, but this has been simplified, reducing the gold elements, and making the logo more two-dimensional.

“The bow tie is the symbol of the brand,” says Tosh Hall, creative director at JKR New York. “For 140 years, it’s been an iconic label. The first step was to clarify that.”

Typeface inspired by industrial lettering

A navy blue logo has also been incorporated for application on aluminium cans and bottles, replacing the red bowtie logo, and adding a silver emblem and script.

Two new bespoke typefaces were designed for the branding – Bud Bold and Bud Crafted, which aim to contrast between “confidence and quality”, says Hall.

Bud Bold was inspired by the industrial lettering of the original Budweiser brewery in 1860, says Hall, while Bud Crafted is a slab serif font, which aims to replicate the Budweiser wordmark of the 1960s.

Typefaces and symbols drawn by hand

For the logotype, the original script from 1860 was taken then redrawn “to make it feel timeless”, says Hall.

The design also includes 14 pieces of unique typography, and all typefaces and symbols were drawn by hand before being applied digitally.

“Budweiser as a beer is one of the hardest to brew,” says Hall. “It takes roughly 30 days. We wanted to apply the same effort to design principles as to brewing. So we spent twice as long, drawing every piece of type and vector art by hand, such as the medallion, leaves, grains and hops. We put effort into caring about every last detail.”

Unified worldwide look

He adds that the project aims to “unite” the packaging worldwide, by implementing the same bowtie symbol internationally.

The project took roughly two years to complete after JKR was invited to do the work following a successful pitch. The consultancy also completed Budweiser’s previous rebrand in 2011.

The previous Budweiser logo
The previous Budweiser logo
The new Budweiser logo

The new Budweiser logo

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Comments
  • Matthew Squire January 26, 2016 at 10:55 am

    Am I missing something?

    “The bow tie is the symbol of the brand,” says Tosh Hall, creative director at JKR New York. “For 140 years, it’s been an iconic label. The first step was to clarify that.”

    But it doesn’t seem to appear on the cans?

  • John Randall January 26, 2016 at 11:07 am

    Smart

  • James Cope January 26, 2016 at 2:45 pm

    The way the ‘r’ ends really bugs me, either make it flush with the ‘bow tie’ or make it more deliberate, its just looks clumsy.

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