Elmwood Brand Design – HEINEKEN MEXICO / CARTA BLANCA

“The Challenge:Carta Blanca is one of Mexico’s oldest and most famous beer brands. It has been around since 1890, and has considerable heritage, but recently they have seen a decline in sales. Although the brand has a fiercely loyal and older consumer base in the north of Mexico, it had lost relevance to younger drinkers, and needed to find new ways to appeal to them.Our role was to uncover the brand’s distinct point of view and deliver a full portfolio redesign that would help Carta Blanca break free from its Northern roots, grow it nationally and to take its position as the ‘original Mexican beer’. Salud!The insight:Video blogging sessions with Mexican beer drinkers, gave us an insight into their lifestyles, beliefs and impressions of Carta Blanca. We found that they wanted an honest, uncomplicated and unpretentious brand for people who just love great-tasting beer.Carta Blanca means ‘carte blanche’: a phrase about freedom and permission, having the chance to be ourselves, and its literal translation is ‘white card’. The white card became the canvas on which we could tell the brand story. And it gave the brand a new distinct point of view, all about creating something original and making a mark in the world.The idea:A brand with this much heritage, and this much loyalty, needed to be treated with respect. The typography was taken back to it’s proud roots, with more emphasis on the ligatures that make it unique.We kept the iconic white, red and gold colourways, and stripped the roundel back to it’s honest and uncomplicated base. Using simpler, punchier copy, and making more of the medals that the brand has won for quality and craft, helped find the perfect balance between heritage and modernity.The key was the unlocking of the CB story and making that the main feature of the new design. By using the ‘Carte Blanche’ ethos we literally wrote the rich heritage that made the brand unique across the packaging and touchpoints.”