What we’re doing with all our new designs is to create a real sense of place within each beer’s story and develop that broader impression of Suffolk and Norfolk. This approach is most prominent in Southwold Bitter, where we’ve shown a real change of perspective. Southwold Jack is still there, nice and proud, but Vanessa took a step back to show both Jack and the brewery.
Adnams and the town of Southwold are intrinsically linked, and both come together in a small figure hanging out on the brewery wall. Southwold Jack is a famous icon around these parts and his association with the town significantly predates ours. In the past, he has taken centre stage in our corporate logo and this, together with his prominent position looking over East Green, might lead people to only associate him with the brewery. However, he is fact a replica of a clock jack that holds court in St Edmund’s Church, just behind our fermentation building., that strikes a bell for the start of service.
We chose him to be our trademark in our early days to highlight our sense of place. He is Adnams oldest trademark, and we thought enough of him to incorporate him into our logo, before choosing him to be the emblem for Southwold Bitter.
In Southwold Bitter’s previous branding, Jack has been a little disconnected from his home on the brewery wall. He’s been out there on our pump clips and bottles, but he hasn’t truly been shown in situ. This project has enabled us to show Southwold Bitter with Jack on the brewery, as you would see him if you were to visit us in Southwold. This helps us convey Bitter’s position as the lifeblood of our brewery and reaffirm Jack’s position as the guardian of the town.
Southwold Bitter was the first painting artist, Vanessa Sorboen was given to tackle for our rebrand project, as she explains: “I think the team thought that it might be quite tricky, given that there was a lot of detail, and it was quite different to what I normally do - plus the building required some lettering.
Now people can come to Southwold and look at their bottle or their can of Southwold Bitter and truly get the feeling that this is where it is from. It’s the feeling we want to capture going forward. You aren’t going to see the battle of galleons on Broadside, but you may catch that perspective and that true sense of where these beers belong.
“In terms of the look, they really wanted me to put my twist in it, but there was also a requirement for certain brand colours and with Southwold Bitter, that was the blue and the orange. I remember for my very first attempt I literally started to copy the graphic provided by the design agency. I thought that was what they wanted me to do. Then then they were like - no, we want you to do it in your style.
“Despite its fluidity, my work can still be quite illustrative. I quite like black lines, especially when I do buildings. I’d never use a ruler and I like things quite blocky with a shadow edge. I also like a flat strong colour, so that worked perfectly for Bitter.”
Now people can come to Southwold and look at their bottle or their can of Southwold Bitter and truly get the feeling that this is where it is from. It’s the feeling we want to capture going forward. You aren’t going to see the battle of galleons on Broadside, but you may catch that perspective and that true sense of where these beers belong.