Club Colombia Packaging redesign

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SABMiller is one of the world’s leading brewers with brewing interests or major distribution agreements in over 60 countries spread across six continents. A portfolio of over 150 brands includes world-renowned international names such as Peroni, Miller Genuine Draft, Castle Lager and Pilsner Urquell. The Brand Union have worked with SABMiller for over eight years with global projects co-ordinated throughout our international network. In 2005 SABMiller acquired South America’s second largest brewer, Bavaria SA. Alongside acquisitions in Peru, Panama, Ecuador and also Central America, this has presented a significant opportunity to lead the development of the beer category in Latin America.

The brief was to develop a visual identity and packaging for Club Colombia to credibly deliver on its new positioning as a truly premium ‘worthmore’ brand that could stand shoulder to shoulder with international premium beer brands, such as Heineken and Peroni Nastro Azzuro. As well as extracting value from the brand this would also have a positive halo effect on the beer category in general, which from a historical standpoint has been treated with a functional rather than brand-led approach and has seen little competition and innovation.

As Colombia presented a undiscovered country to the majority of The Brand Union team, a market immersion was arranged to fully ‘get under the skin’ of both the beer brands and the consumers in Colombia. This involved visiting bars, restaurants and stores across Colombia, meeting the trade marketing teams to hear their challenges and drinking with the consumers to understand their perspectives. The immersion also took in a number of cultural visits and it was during one of these, to the Gold Museum in Bogota that we were inspired to develop a winning creative platform and brand story.

In an isolated highland valley near modern-day Bogota, Colombia, the Muisca people developed unique works of art in metal, including distinctive offering figures, or ‘Tunjos’. These figures were offered to the gods as sacred gifts. We drew an analogy between these tribal goldsmiths present at the time of the Spanish conquest, and the craftsmanship applied to the brewing of Club Colombia. The product itself was re-formulated by being brewed for longer and with additional hops for a more distinctive and premium flavour.

The team developed a powerful look and feel for the brand that leveraged the ‘Tunjo’ icon and gave it prominence, particularly on the beer bottle, to reinforce the brand story and deliver credible premium cues.

The look and feel extended beyond packaging and across point-of-sale and branded environments.

The redesign of the Club Colombia pack produced a sales uplift of 65% in the first quarter. The project was recently awarded the 2007 DBA Design Effectiveness Silver category winner: Packaging – Branded Food & Drink.