The big conglomerates that crank out indentikit lagers still dominate the beer scene, but that doesn’t stop them looking over their shoulder at the new craft beer upstarts and trying to cash in on that scene. We’ve already seen established British brewers rebranding their bland product to look more ‘craft’ (most notably with Greene King’s IPA), and now the lager boys are trying it too.
Carlsberg have unveiled their new branding, launching in Germany and then spreading, like an infection, across the rest of the world. ‘Minimalism’ is the word here, in the new design by Swedish agency Kontrapunkt that removes the clutter and gives the matte finish cans a modernist look.
There’s only one problem – once you crack it open, it still has Carlsberg inside. No amount of fancy packaging will change that, and we’d suggest that if the company really wants to match its craft rivals, it puts more effort into making a more distinct, impressive, flavoursome lager – like, say, Frontier.
