James Boag's.
Beverage · Heritage Rebrand
James Boag's has brewed in Tasmania since 1881. By 2022 the brand carried real heritage equity. But the packaging system had drifted. Variants competed against each other on shelf rather than reinforcing a single Boag's story. The brief: modernise without breaking what 140 years had earned.
Modernise without breaking trust.
Heritage brands face a precise risk: every cue is a trust marker, and removing the wrong one breaks the bond with the loyal drinker. But leaving everything in place leaves the brand looking dated next to new entrants. The question wasn't 'rebrand or not'. It was 'which heritage cues do the heavy lifting, and which are just noise?'
Audit, rank, sharpen.
We audited every shelf-facing element across the Boag's portfolio and ranked it by recognition value. The wordmark, the Tasmanian provenance line, and the dark green were doing 80% of the work. Everything else was decoration. Once we knew what to protect, we knew what to sharpen.
From sketch to system.
Every refinement was sketched against the historical Boag's archive. Where the new mark met the old, we asked one question: does this protect the recognition value, or chase a trend? The answer kept us honest.
“We didn't rebrand. We re-systematised. The mark, the colour, and the Tasmanian narrative stayed. What changed was how they worked together across the range.”