Title	BRON
Brand	ÅBRO
Product/Service	BEER
Category	D02. Beverages (alcoholic/non-alcoholic)
Entrant Company	IDENTITY WORKS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Advertising Agency	IDENTITY WORKS Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Candice Madrid-Dahlqvist	Identity Works	Design Director
Cecilia Nelin	Identity Works	Account Manager
Catalina Aguilera	Identity Works	Art Director

Brief Explanation

Åbro is a popular and well-loved brewery in Sweden. Founded in 1856, the brewery was strategically placed beside a river and a bridge – hence its name Å (river) bro (bridge). Run by the same family through four generations, today Åbro is still an independent brewery that boasts 400 beverages which are sold in 23 countries. Åbro is proudly a no-frills brewery where the focus is on what they love most – good drinks and the community around it.

The Brief

With the rapid rise of craft beer culture, the world took notice – Åbro included. Though proud of its strong heritage within the traditional lager and ale category, Åbro had no intention to occupy the niche craft beer market. Though surveys say less than 10% of swedish beer drinkers consume them, craft beers nonetheless captured the attention of the public and media alike. In response Åbro sought to diversify their range and create a new beer that is packaged to be a bit more fun and unexpected – to prove that a simple good beer can be exciting without being exclusionary like craft beers can often be.

How the final design was conceived

APPROACH/NAMING: To stay true to the brand we started from the very beginning –in 1856 when the brewery was built along a river and a bridge. Inspired by Åbro's name, we created the name Bron (‘the bridge’ in swedish) –the starting point that lead to the concept and design. DESIGN: The design concept captures the mystique surrounding bridges –where mysterious creatures lurk and extraordinary events happen. Bron was done as a two-beer series, each can design set on a vast landscape with the bridge at its centre and a bizarre scene occurring on the river. The first scene portrays a grounded submarine and small group of lost puzzled deep sea divers. The second scene portrays a stormy night with a large octopus attacking a boat, capturing a mortified passenger. A comic book illustration style was chosen to enhance the sci-fi/fantasy themed scenes. Attention was given to details in order to bring out elements of each story unfolding around the can -a full 360° landscape. The can features a matte varnish finish and uses only six colours –one of which is the bare aluminum surface. Bron’s distinct comic book style is enhanced by minor misprints that naturally occur during production.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Bron successfully added a modern and irreverent voice to Åbro’s arsenal of beers. Launched as a limited edition series in the spring of 2014, Bron premiered in all of Åbro sponsored restaurants throughout Sweden. In November 2015, Bron will be sold at Systembolaget, Sweden's sole liquor retailer.