Earlier this month, Timothy
Taylor caused a stir when then unveiled their new branding, the first in nearly
a decade. The rebrand includes new pump clips, bottle labels and other
paraphernalia, gone are the communist art inspired artworks of old, in its place
is a more simplified vista of bold colours and a sea of beards over a buff
background, specifically aimed to the appeal to the burgeoning youth market.
Unlike the majority of wholesale beer rebrands in recent years, this one has
been met with an unprecedented wave of fury, it has been labelled as a
disgrace, tatty, tarted up and a barefaced bid to abandon its heritage in order
to entice Gen-Z drinkers. A number of major national newspapers like the Daily Mail, Spectator and the Telegraph have run hit-pieces on the brewery’s
latest rebrand, crying foul of their sheer tenacity. Some industry luminaries have expressed their
anger towards the brewery, John Roof (secretary of the Preservation of Beers in
the Wood) took a full-throttled swipe “I doubt whether
a superficial tarting up at the expense of a firmly established brand
reputation will make much difference and is only likely to lead to more
superficial tinkering and a further loss of brand awareness and identity built
up over many years.” Fred de Fossard
chipped in “rather like the artless rebrand by
Jaguar a few years ago, this misunderstands what Landlord's own drinkers are
looking for and why they are drinking it. Often, a brand's longevity is the
point.” Meanwhile, Henry Jeffrys
took a more humorous approach, aiming his guns towards their flagship product Landlord
(4.1%), where he states “he now looks like the
sort of bearded middle manager who would never order a pint of Landlord.
Probably doesn’t drink at all. Gave it up in favour of running and ice water
plunges because alcohol is really unhealthy. He looks less like a landlord and
more like a beverage solutions manager.” Fossard adds “the latest, with his regulation beard and ersatz
lumberjack shirt looks like a tatty facsimile of the Madrí logo.” Many
commentators have compared the new logos to Madri Man, the iconic 19th
century character that appears on the popular Spanish lager brand. Andrew Tindall notes “times are tough for cask ale, category has declined year
on year, often in double digits, while drinkers have opted for trendier, more
modern options such as craft beer or continental lagers like Madri.” What annoys these
people is that this rebrand smacks of capitalisation, rather than leading
customers away from the global megabrands as it historically has done, instead
the brewery has squarely copied the global megabrands that young people flock
to, this is a classic case of cashing in on what’s trendy at the moment,
appealing to a particular audience, rather like a crusty old uncle trying to
get in with the cool kids. It is synonymous of a growing trend among the UK’s
major regional brewers to target the Gen-Z market, from developing ersatz craft
beers to unveiling low/ no alcohol products as younger drinkers eschew alcohol.
To their defence the brewery has
frequently updated their image over the years in order to adapt and survive in the
competitive beer industry. Any major rebrand is a risky financial gamble for a
brewery, yet in the past it has paid off handsomely for Timothy Taylor’s. Markedly,
they are the UK’s most successful independent brewer with sales rising 2.1% to
£35.7million last year which has cemented its reputation as the largest cask
ale brand in the UK by both volume and value, with the likes of Landlord
(4.1%) leading the charge as the highest selling cask ale in the country.
The brewery clearly has every right to refresh their successful brand occasionally
in order to maintain their pole position on the market. Reflecting on the
recent rebrand, Andrew Carter (chief exec at Timothy Taylor), argues the
rebrand isn't about changing the recipes of their beers, he stated to the press
“it’s about making sure the quality and care that
go into every pint are reflected in how Timothy Taylor’s is presented today, so
we’re just as relevant to the next generation of drinkers as we’ve been to the
last.” The brewery also
notes that the changes have been designed to improve visibility in pubs as a
means of attracting new drinkers, while retaining historic elements valued by
their long-term loyal fans. Moreover, the brewery has a point about appealing
to younger consumers, while cask beer sales fell by 7.1% last year according to
the NIQ, younger drinkers have increasingly become a prevalent market that
offers hope for brewers. The British Guild of Beer Writers note “figures show that 25% of 18 – 24-year-old beer drinkers,
the Generation Z demographic, regularly order cask ale at the pub, an increase
of more than 50% on the previous year.” In Timothy Taylor’s
case this rebrand could work to their favour as it has done in the past with
previous makeovers, or it could blow up in their faces by pushing away a
portion of their core market. Tindall recently pointed out why would a
successful brewery need to update its image, he enquires “the job now is surely to double down on what’s working
rather than chase Gen Z while winding up your loyal, hard-won drinkers and
losing the very distinctiveness that brought them in.” Instead of
chasing a particular market, he enquires further “if
there’s cash to spend, why not lean into the quirky Yorkshire history of the
brand and dramatize it? Further own what people love about cask ales in the
first place.” While he doesn’t think the rebrand is that bad, he
believes it could be a potentially poor business decision to drive away the
market that was driving growth in the first place. If you cut out the hysteria,
the rebrand looks a bit flat and characterless, the brewery has seemed to take
an increasingly homogenised view across it brands with its latest facelift,
making the pump clips look rather similar in appearance. This is an approach
also taken by other Yorkshire breweries in recent times like Black Sheep and
Daleside. Daniel John recently noted “I fear the
brand has mistaken old-fashioned for unfashionable. Brand heritage is more
important than ever in today's world of fleeting design fads and, yes,
artificial content.” Those little
peculiarities he elucidates, unfashionable colours, old fashioned text and
characters is what prevents brands from slipping into homogeny of flat colours and sans serif text that is prevalent in contemporary brands. For years Timothy Taylor has always prided itself on its uniqueness and character, this latest rebrand seems like a large chunk of its
heritage and idiosyncratic personality has been chipped away, in an effort to be
more corporate and fashionable, in its bid to join the Gen-Z gravy train as a
number of the UK’s regional breweries
have alighted on in recent years.
