SESSION LAGER -- BRAND INVENTION, LAUNCH + LINE EXTENSION / Multiple awards for brand identity and packaging
When we set out to invent and launch a new beer brand for Full Sail Brewing, success was anything but assured. The brewery had gone through five straight years of declining sales, the craft beer market was saturated, and drinkers were turning to other options. Our solution: Instead of creating yet another me-too microbrew, we created a new category of beer altogether. Neither macrobrew, microbrew, nor import -- but a little bit of all three -- Session would become the beer that was cool enough for PBR-swilling bike messengers and craft beer snobs alike. The name was a double-entendre of sorts -- a play off an obscure British term for lighter, more drinkable beers (barely known in America at the time) and a nod to the boardsports heritage of Full Sail. Session became an instant hit and quickly grew to outsell all of Full Sail's other beers combined. A dozen years later, the brewery was sold to a private equity firm for a reported $100 million. And "session beers" are now a household term. Now that's the power of branding. Design and co-creative direction by Steve Sandstrom.
