With more and more Millenials cutting back on alcohol or doing away with it altogether, there’s been a steady increase of non-boozy options for consumers. There’s no shortage of alternatives, whether it’s beer, wine, or spirits that emulate gins or bourbon. Despite all of these innovations directed at the growing sober movement, one category in the market has been left untouched—hard seltzer.
Now, that’s about to change with the development of the world’s first non-alcoholic hard seltzer, Twisted Pilar. With package design and branding from Pearlfisher, it’s sure to set our bubly-loving hearts aflame.
Today, the beverage category is estimated to be worth over $1600 billion in its entirety (Source: Pipecandy) and is growing at an exponential rate. This includes over half of drinking-age Americans who enjoy one seltzer every week, averaging just shy of one six-pack every month, according to IWSR Research.
As the beverage category expands – poised to triple in size by 2023 – it’s important to challenge new and existing brands on what they bring to the table and Backward Loof Brewery, a family-owned operation in Chugwater, Wyoming, has something unimaginable to satisfy hard seltzer fanatics nationwide.
In partnership with Pearlfisher, Backward Loof Brewery is introducing a suite of non-alcoholic hard seltzers called Twisted Pilar. For years, Backward Loof Brewery has served as an oasis in rural Wyoming along a stretch of the I-25 highway devoid of options for locals and travelers alike. During this time, the founders witnessed a category drowning in a sea of seltzers offering more, bigger, más. Whereas consumers looking for less were left lost. Named for the Latin word meaning “pillar”, the brand is determined to become a pillar in the increasingly popular world of seltzers.
The insights team at Pearlfisher recognized an opportunity for a new pillar of seltzer in the non-alcoholic world based on cultural shifts happening around us. Nowadays, we have the option to drink whatever we want, whenever and wherever we want. Our lives are increasingly flexible. Consumers crave less restriction – be it the number of drinks, memories or opportunities, neither are they defined by being a certain ‘type’ of drinker – someone who drinks alcohol versus someone who does not. Hard seltzer has a reputation for being all about the life of the party and we wanted to make sure Twisted Pilar represents cleaner taste notes without taking away the industry’s social atmosphere from the brand experience.
Pearlfisher’s VP, Executive Creative Director, Hamish Campbell provides insight on the brand strategy and design explaining that, “As sharing our values becomes not only more common, but a necessity if social progress is to be made, beverage brands are stepping up as tools for self expression, as much a marker of our beliefs as they are an indicator of our tastes and preferences. For the existing hard seltzer connoisseur or one-in-the-making, picking the right brand remains an ambiguous and mystified concept. Now with Twisted Pilar, we are raising the bar when it comes to the seltzer sector.“
Referencing the design details, Hamish continues, “we chose bright and fresh colors to compliment the sensorial flavor experience that you get when sipping on a Twisted Pilar – whether at home in the backyard or on a beach with friends – while the typography arrangement and purpose is engaging and mesmeric bringing consumers into this new-to-world non-alcoholic hard seltzer category.”
“What’s special about Twisted Pilar is not just flavor, but the one-of-a-kind experience that any can of Pilar provides,” said Apryll Hokes, innovation female brewmaster at Backward Loof Brewery. “We set out to create something original, and the options are limitless when your key ingredient is something as rare as H2O.” And in such a densely populated category, we wanted to prove our right to remain by challenging category norms – focusing on positive impact and Pearlfisher was the perfect partner to help us do just that with Twisted Pilar.”
Twisted Pilar is available on the first of April. For more information visit pearlfisher.com/twistedpilar-loof.
