Bath Ales brand development

The Loyal Hare Force (2006)

As far back as 2006, Bath Ales were considering launching some kind of membership club. As part of my initial presentation to the company, which outlined a myriad of ways in which more personality could be injected into the brand – and done so in a fun and coherent way – I created ‘The Loyal Hare Force’ as the name for such a scheme. The Loyal Hare Force launched in 2011 as a customer loyalty card, and was a first of its kind for pubs in the region.

Bounders (2009)

Clever marketing had given the cider market a huge boost, with brands such as Magners and Bulmers at the forefront of this popularity. Bath Ales wished to capitalise on the increased demand by producing their own cider under the banner of a trading name, Bath Ciders. The team at Bath Ales came to me with several initial name ideas of their own, and asked me to explore these at the same time as creating several further options.

After several stages of development and diligent trademark searches, Bounders became the name for the new brand. As well as sitting comfortably in same corner of the market as Magners and Bulmers, it conveyed some suitably hare-like qualities and lent itself to fun, memorable promotion.

Dark Side (2010)

One of Bath Ales’ stouts, Dark Hare, was being reformulated and moved from cask to keg in order to better compete with mainstream stouts such as Guinness. To support these aims, it needed more contemporary and slightly edgier branding. The name Dark Side met this brief, and inspired headlines such as ‘Turn to the Dark Side’ and ‘Always look on the Dark Side of life’, which we used on promotional materials. I also rewrote the product’s descriptor, changing it from ‘Our deliciously wholesome stout’ to the bolder and more confident ‘Our superbly smooth stout’.

Gem Solo (2010)

With younger people drinking less, plus lighter and alcohol-free beers gaining plenty of traction, Bath Ales looked to produce a lower-strength (but equally tasty) version of their flagship beer, Gem. Various names were presented to me in the first instance, with Gem Lite being the favourite. I highlighted the possible confusion with other beers using ‘Lite’, and recommended exploring further options. Gem Solo had a great ring to it and didn’t sound like any other beer name. ‘Solo’ also had a strong reason for being as one of the beer’s USPs was that a bottle or pint contained just 1 unit of alcohol.

Barnsey (2011)

Barnsey is the new name what was previously called Barnstormer. I’d inherited the latter, but was tasked with finding a new version when a potential trademark issue came to light. I created Barnsey along with an almost-true backstory that explained the change on the basis of this being what many people shortened the name to in any case (I’d overheard people asking for pints of ‘Barney’ in one of Bath Ales’ pubs), As well as trademark friendly, the new name – being shorter than the original – was also a lot easier to manage visually, making it a change for the better all round.

Prophecy (2012)

There was space in Bath Ales’ core range for a new ale that would offer something different. I led an name-development session with the Bath Ales marketing and brewing team, and subsequently undertook research on the stongest and best-liked names to check for trademark and marketplace conflicts.

Ahead of a second-stage presentation, I bolstered the selection with several additional names, including Prophecy and Anthem. Prophecy was chosen and launched as a permanent ale in the brewery’s line up in 2017, followed by Anthem as a seasonal ale in 2018.

The Prophecy pump clip shown here is in the new style that was the result of another exciting project. Take a look…