FDBusiness.com

JDO Brand Design & Innovation has created a new look for Diageo Ireland’s Harp brand, which will run on its packaging.

The aim was to increase its relevance to a new generation of drinkers in Northern Ireland and restore some of the  heritage of a brand launched 53 years ago by the Guinness Brewery. JDO used the famous Samuel Beckett bridge in Dublin as one of the inspirations for the new marque and added chrome to the blue colour palette to give an engineering feel.

Business development manager Velda Croot told Packaging News: “It’s always been a strong Northern Ireland on-trade lager but with so many big-spending lagers, Harp needed to reinvent itself and be more relevant to the drinker. It has always been perceived as rough and rugged – a beer for the people. The new look Harp retains all this masculinity yet now delivers it with an underlying subtle strength, not brashness.”

JDO design director Ray Smith said: “Our aim was to reinvent, reappraise and reset the Harp brand experience for consumers as well as enhance the value and quality perception of its heritage.”

JDO client business director Fiona Florence added: “We needed to breathe life back into the Harp brand and give it some depth, personality and integrity.”

Diageo brand manager Colum Campbell said: “JDO has enabled us to elevate the Harp brand to a more authentic and sophisticated level.”