After successfully relaunching the Cascade beer range with Landor’s help, Foster’s wanted to capitalize on this momentum by developing a new product. A full day workshop was held at the Melbourne Zoo in the interest of harnessing the energy and memory of the extinct Tasmanian tiger (the brand’s icon) and a number of potential brand propositions were developed. Inspired by this session, Landor encouraged Foster’s to create a totally innovative product— a “green” beer. This was a natural fit with Cascade’s heritage—which is associated with the Tasmanian wilderness—and true to the brand, which prides itself on using pure ingredients.
Cascade Green: Greening an authentic brew
Challenge
We knew that Cascade’s green claim needed to be completely true at every step of its life, and not just talk. This was especially important because its brand promise was all about honesty—and its green claims needed to stay on brand. First, we committed to reducing the environmental footprint of the whole Cascade brewery. The emissions from Cascade Green’s entire lifecycle were also offset (the net impact of the total emissions were reduced to zero)—from picking the hops to recycling the empty bottles. Landor was conscious of minimizing the carbon footprint wherever possible when working on the project. Cascade Green achieved the rigorous Australian Government Greenhouse Friendly™ accreditation from the Department of Climate Change.
Solution
Landor chose the “green” name because its straightforwardness played into the authenticity of the Cascade brand, and lent itself well to the younger, fresher flavor profile. When designing the packaging, our objective was to minimize the carbon footprint, and we used two-color biodegradable vegetable inks to reduce toxins. Their look also added to the raw, natural design style and stripped-back aesthetics we wanted for the label and packaging. Materials were selected based on their recycled content, including 100 percent recycled cardboard stock, and the highest recycled content glass available in Australia. In Cascade Green’s first month on the market, initial sales targets were exceeded by 30 percent, and it had a repeat purchase rate of 20 percent.
Two-color biodegradable vegetable inks were used to reduce waste.
Both packaging and point of sale materials used 100 percent recycled materials.