Durham Brewery

This award-winning family-run brewery enlisted the support of Adessi to meet the demands of a rapidly changing market.

In recent years the real ale market has experienced dramatic expansion, with an increased demand coming from a younger audience. In 2009 the number of 18 to 24-year-olds choosing cask ales increased by 17 per cent, while the overall real ale market grew by five per cent, making it a £1.4billion industry.

With over 150 beer festivals being held across the UK in 2011 by CAMRA alone, business is certainly booming – and the arrival of a younger generation of real ale drinkers, ignoring their previous favourites such as lager, alcopops and wine, is being greeted as outstanding news amongst traditional and regional brewers.

To help The Durham Brewery to take advantage of this expanding market, Adessi performed an in-depth analysis of its current marketing activities and recommended a brand overhaul to help update its image, along with an e-commerce website in order to bring its ales within reach of these new customers.

As part of the campaign, Adessi focused on designing and developing a new website which would allow the brewery to sell products online and to promote its brewery tours, an always-popular chance to see – and taste – freshly brewed real ale at its source.

Adessi also worked to refresh the brewery’s exhibition tools and the photography and language styles used throughout The Durham Brewery’s suite of promotional materials.

At the heart of the rebrand was a brief to achieve a blend of contemporary and traditional – keeping the iconic imagery of St Cuthbert’s Cross, with its strong links to Durham Cathedral, as an integral part of the new image.

Adessi was also tasked with maintaining a ‘luxurious’ feel to the firm’s identity, as well as maintaining a level of class that would enable the real ales to be aimed at a food-lovers’ market as a viable alternative to wine.