Most beverage brands start with a product. We started with a place.
Ironhill is a farmstead brewery and distillery located on the rural edges of Melbourne, Australia.
Surrounded by open paddocks, native bushland and mobs of local kangaroos, it’s rugged underfoot but with something special in the air.
Founder Mark Woodland and his family moved there with a plan to make it both a new home and new business, creating a base to launch three independent beverage products - a whisky, a beer and a filtered water - all sitting under the Ironhill master brand.
Believe through make-believe.
With the products still in early stage development, the main challenge was launching something before we had anything to show.
The solution was to lead with storytelling - to make people believe through make-believe, build interest through intrigue and grow an audience from the ground up.
Working with Mark, we wrote the story for the Ironhill - shaping it into an imaginary world inspired by his love of mythical creatures and legendary locations, including the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) from Germanic folklore.
A place of questionable characters.
With the backdrop set, the characters could come into play.
Each of the three beverage products is brought to life by its own mythical character from folklore - Warden of the Wild (whisky), Skunk Ape (beer) and Mermaids’ Tears (filtered water). The products don’t belong to the brand, they belong to the characters.
Ironhill acts as a harvester, collecting what the characters make and offering it to others with their blessing.
Break the norm.
The beverage market is tough. To give yourself the best chance of breaking through you need to tell a story that no one's heard before.
Maybe one about mermaids, bigfoots and skunk apes living on a hill.
Richie Meldrum is an independent brand consultant. He's led large-scale brand strategy and narrative projects across a wide range of industries and sectors, including healthcare, architecture, culture and tourism, technology and public policy, for clients in the US, Europe, the Middle East and APAC region. He is also an educator, workshop instructor and founder of live online learning program Bare Brand Strat where he teaches brand strategy and narrative development to communication professionals, businesses and industry organisations. He believes in making good work with good people for good reasons.
Credits:
Brand Strategy, Narrative & Verbal Identity: Richie Meldrum
Visual Identity & Website Design / Development: Uncommon
Creative Director: Oliver Munoz
Design and Art Direction: Diana Marcela Mejia Correa
Creative Developer: Julien Renau
Most beverage brands start with a product. We started with a place.
Ironhill is a farmstead brewery and distillery located on the rural edges of Melbourne, Australia.
Surrounded by open paddocks, native bushland and mobs of local kangaroos, it’s rugged underfoot but with something special in the air.
Founder Mark Woodland and his family moved there with a plan to make it both a new home and new business, creating a base to launch three independent beverage products - a whisky, a beer and a filtered water - all sitting under the Ironhill master brand.
Believe through make-believe.
With the products still in early stage development, the main challenge was launching something before we had anything to show.
The solution was to lead with storytelling - to make people believe through make-believe, build interest through intrigue and grow an audience from the ground up.
Working with Mark, we wrote the story for the Ironhill - shaping it into an imaginary world inspired by his love of mythical creatures and legendary locations, including the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) from Germanic folklore.
A place of questionable characters.
With the backdrop set, the characters could come into play.
Each of the three beverage products is brought to life by its own mythical character from folklore - Warden of the Wild (whisky), Skunk Ape (beer) and Mermaids’ Tears (filtered water). The products don’t belong to the brand, they belong to the characters.
Ironhill acts as a harvester, collecting what the characters make and offering it to others with their blessing.
Break the norm.
The beverage market is tough. To give yourself the best chance of breaking through you need to tell a story that no one's heard before.
Maybe one about mermaids, bigfoots and skunk apes living on a hill.
Richie Meldrum is an independent brand consultant. He's led large-scale brand strategy and narrative projects across a wide range of industries and sectors, including healthcare, architecture, culture and tourism, technology and public policy, for clients in the US, Europe, the Middle East and APAC region. He is also an educator, workshop instructor and founder of live online learning program Bare Brand Strat where he teaches brand strategy and narrative development to communication professionals, businesses and industry organisations. He believes in making good work with good people for good reasons.
Credits:
Brand Strategy, Narrative & Verbal Identity: Richie Meldrum
Visual Identity & Website Design / Development: Uncommon
Creative Director: Oliver Munoz
Design and Art Direction: Diana Marcela Mejia Correa
Creative Developer: Julien Renau
