Sagres: reconnecting with millenials through packaging redesign

Portuguese beer brand Sagres is set to shake things up by relaunching its portfolio with new packaging and visual identity. Following a creative and strategic pitch Bulletproof were appointed by brand owner Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas SA in March 2016.

Originally created for the 1940 Portuguese World Exhibition, Sagres was named after the 15th century village which marked the casting off point for intrepid Portuguese explorers to the new world. This pioneering spirit and boundless ambition remains at the heart of the brand today, with Sagres now the market leading beer brand in Portugal.

Always innovative, over the years Sagres had expanded its portfolio to match consumer needs with new formats, styles and flavours such as Mini, Preta, Sem Alcool and Radler. But the packaging and visual identity didn’t reflect the true quality and brewing expertise of the brand and needed urgent modernisation.

Sagres was also facing intense competition within the Portuguese beer market, which had become crowded and fragmented with an influx of international and craft brands. Bulletproof was briefed to help Sagres reconnect with Millennials by reinforcing the brand’s DNA of Portugality, quality and conviviality.

Our thinking and doing

“The forward thinking attitude of the Sagres brand and the excellence of the beer itself wasn’t being communicated by the existing packaging and visual identity – Sagres needed to rediscover its confident Portuguese soul.

We began by strengthening key assets such as the shield and the red, white and green colourways, establishing a clear role for each within the new design. Elevating the Portuguese shield to heroic status and shedding the previous ‘cartoon-like’ styling, we created a clear and ownable holding shape for the whole portfolio, delivering quality and authority. On secondary packaging the shield is supported by the iconic Sagres bottle to also drive product intrinsics.”

Filipe Bonina, marketing manager at Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas SA comments: “Bulletproof was the perfect partner, dedicated to truly understanding the Sagres brand history and ambition in order to deliver a modern yet authentic design. Their collaborative approach embodied the conviviality of the Sagres brand and was key to achieving our shared vision to make Sagres relevant to consumers, while staying true to our Portuguese soul. Our bold new design is sure to win both in market, and in the hearts of our consumers.”

*This case study was originally uploaded by Bulletproof to the Contributor Network on 12/01/17