Beer Branding: Dustbowl Brewing Rebrands
Established in May of 2009, Dust Bowl Brewing Co. is fast approaching its ten year anniversary. And while the milestone is just around the corner, the growing company took last year to evaluate its industry positioning and brand development.
“We knew 2019 was going to be a big year for us,” commented Brett Tate, founder and owner of Dust Bowl Brewing Co. “We’re celebrating our tenth year in business, we’ve purchased our own canning line and are launching our core brands in cans this spring, we’ve expanded into Southern California, and we’re opening our first satellite taproom in Monterey, California, so we wanted to make sure we approached these projects and growth strategies with the best brand messaging for our rising consumer base.”
Dust Bowl Brewing Co. turned to its long-standing relationship with Blindtiger Design, a craft-focused marketing and design agency from Seattle, Washington to collaborate on an updated look. Oceania Eagan, the firm’s creative director and founder, has worked closely with the Dust Bowl family since the brewery’s start in 2009 in the creation and design of the brand.
“We knew an update was needed to reflect the maturity the company has gained as a regional brewery and better communicate the brand story within this increasingly competitive craft-beer market,” shared Eagan. “When updating the Dust Bowl brand, our goal was to make the brand more cohesive and versatile as a foundation for their continued growth. 1930’s industrial vintage fonts, colors and labels inspired the new look, while maintaining the integrity of the brand story and character. Packaging updates focused on establishing a uniform look across the core line up for both new and longstanding beers.”
The new brand look features a deep navy blue, a rich cream and a rusty red, which Tate likens to the color tone of Oklahoma dirt, another tie back to Dust Bowl Brewing Co.’s brand roots. Various logo iterations were created to give the brewery the flexibility to maintain brand recognition across multiple platforms and layouts. One of the most recognized features of the original branding is the company’s famous “twister,” a small tornado shaped in barbed wire as a reminder of the dust storms Tate’s family withstood before heading west for a new life in the 1930s. The twister icon received a refreshed look as well along with a little subtle messaging built in. Savvy consumers will notice a “D” and “B” woven into the new, sleeker tornado.
Dust Bowl Brewing Co. previewed the new branding to wholesalers in 2018, and has been transitioning to the new branding since the beginning of the year. The shift is expected to be complete by summer, with all packaging, marketing materials and merchandise reflecting the new brand look.
About Dust Bowl Brewing Co.
Dust Bowl Brewing Co. produced its first beer in May 2009. The company is owned by Brett and Karen Tate and Brett and Camy Honoré, who became the Tate’s business partners in 2011. The company built and moved its production to a 30,000 sq. ft. brewery and taproom, located in Turlock, California, in June 2016. Dust Bowl Brewing Co. beers are available in 5.2 and 15.5 gallon kegs along with selected styles in 22 oz. and 12 oz. bottles and 16 oz. and 12 oz.cans. Distribution includes Central and Northern California, parts of Southern California, Nevada and Oklahoma. The craft brewery showcases a wide variety of its beers at its two Turlock, California taproom locations, the Brewery Taproom and the Downtown Taproom. A third taproom in Monterey, California is slated to open in 2019. More information may be found at www.dustbowlbrewing.com.
