Rebranding effort: Elevator Brewing attempts to beef up profile in competitive industry

Great branding is essential if a brewery is going to prosper. This might be somewhat depressing: Consider that your business’s success relies just as much on colors, logos, names and evoked emotions as it does the actual quality of your product, but try to think of it as an opportunity. (Rebrand the idea of branding in your mind.)

Columbus, Ohio-based Elevator Brewing, for one, is seeing an opportunity. The Ohio craft beer scene, always near the upper tier across the U.S craft beer landscape, is only getting more crowded and competitive, not only with an explosion of in-state brewing talent but also with a large influx of out-of-state heavyweights. According to Columbus Business First, this 16-year-old brewery is starting to refocus and hopefully boost its place in the state’s craft brewing hierarchy with a branding update.

From Columbus Business First:

“When we started, we decided to brand the product, but not the house because no one knew who we were,” owner Dick Stevens told me. “Now we’re branding the house.”

Six-packs and bottles have been redesigned to make the Elevator logo more prominent.
Stevens said that with the increasing craft beer competition – including more than 100 brewers in the state now, with 20 or so of those in Central Ohio and bigger regional and national players selling in the state – 2015 is about finding new ways for his brand to stand out.

The new packaging is part of that. He said the company also is going to be more active on social media and host more events through the year.

Elevator Brewing is just one of thousands of local craft breweries out there thinking about their place within their local and statewide craft beer scene and what they could be doing better. We have some useful features for those considering branding or rebranding. Some examples:

How can craft brewers calculate brand position?

Setting new breweries apart through branding and positioning

Craft beer branding strategies: How to build customer engagement, retention

Have any of you fine readers out there recently completed your own rebrand (subtle or significant) and seen some interesting results? We’d love to hear about what you did and the success you’ve seen. Reach out to ccrowel[email protected] if you’d like to share.