• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 2, 2011

  To celebrate three decades in business, craft brewer Redhook has unveiled a new bottle and label design and an updated campaign featuring its hip, somewhat risqué beer-bottle persona.

Redhook brews numerous crafts, including its flagship ESB (industry acronym for "extra special bitter") and Long Hammer, the nation's best-selling IPA (India pale ale). Its beers are distributed nationally, but its two brewery locations -- Woodinville, Wash., and Portsmouth, N.H. -- reflect its dominant markets: the Pacific Northwest (Seattle in particular) and New England.

Redhook and its agency, Seattle-based Frank Unlimited, came up with the beer's persona -- a bottle representing "a dependable buddy who will show you a good time" -- in 2008, according to Forrest Healy, creative director and principal in the agency. One of the brand's key messages is that its beer, unlike some craft beers, is "dependably good."

The persona is achieved not by animating or anthropomorphizing the Redhook bottle, but simply through the copy in the ads. "We don't put hats on the bottle or use visual trickery; we just imply that the beer is a guy with thoughts and feelings" by referring to the beer as "Redhook" and "he," says Healy. (One past example: "Redhook totally thinks that blonde will give you her number.")

This year's Pacific Northwest/New England campaign includes 13 different full-page print executions (local publications), 12 billboards, wallscapes, eight online banners (ESPN, Yelp, Pandora, regional sites), radio, point-of-purchase promotions, events and, of course, social media.

The numerous executions allow the brand to feature different beer varieties, but also to convey this year's multiple messages. "Several of the ads focus on the anniversary, several on the new design, and the rest on our more usual branding messages," notes Healy.

To draw further attention to the bottle's new look, the creative's look also has been changed: It now features photographic images of the bottles, rather than the illustrations used in past campaigns.

The copy is also a bit more provocative: "Now Redhook is a friend who will show you a really good time," says Healy.

Examples of copy in ads emphasizing the new bottles: "Redhook's OK with you staring at his new package" and "Redhook likes his new label, but he'd rather go commando." Ads highlighting the anniversary include: "Redbook looks forward to the whole spanking thing on his birthday" and "Redhook isn't the type to use the word 'party' as a verb. This year, he'll make an exception."

Out-of-home has long been an important part of the media mix and this year, reflecting the redesign and anniversary news, the brand has purchased "iconic" outdoor locations in Seattle, reports Healy. Social media become more important each year, and the brand gets excellent results from integrating these platforms, radio partnerships and events, he says.

For example, last year, Redhook held a Mumford & Sons concert at the Woodinville brewery, and promoted it with contests in which the texter or caller who was the "nth" to respond won free tickets. "We got phenomenal, overwhelming response," says Healy. "And this was not a concert in downtown Seattle. The brewery is 30 miles outside of the city."