Founded by immigrants to the United States in 1876, Budweiser has come to represent the American Dream globally. For decades, the brand’s image and its design had tarnished. The idea was to align the brand’s design with its inner spirit. Budweiser uses a 28 day Beechwood Aging process, longer than any other major beer brand. Inspired by that care and attention to detail, the design team set out to restore the Budweiser brand back to its former glory.

After an immersion in the Budweiser archives, the team drew inspiration from the best parts of the packaging’s 140 year legacy of iconography. Every typographic element of the iconic packaging, over 14 custom type specimens, were painstakingly redrawn and crafted. The brand’s affected “Bowtie” logo lacked geometry or rational and was redrawn in a functional two color version. To drive global cohesion, a custom sans serif was created, inspired by the 19th century American industrial type used on the original Budweiser bottle. “Bud Bold” is heavy and impactful with nuanced contrast, perfectly suited for the confident voice of the brand. The visual identity is void of cliché, simple and stripped down... appropriate for every market.

Improved production techniques allowed the elements to be more impactful and feel more premium. While the bottle feels timeless and classic the aluminum can feels rightfully more contemporary through cropping & scale.

The redesigned visual identity system and packaging finally unified the brand across the globe. The simplified design language has allowed for fresh and dynamic brand activations, regaining relevance with young consumers. The global redesign, along with unique executions, has stemmed the sales decline of the brand. Qualitative and quantitative research showed higher percieved brand value. This premiumization and brand behavior, promoted through the new design, has driven Budweiser up the 100 Best Global Brands ranking.