Independence Brewing Company: One of four companies John Harris has helped launch.
The initial logo, presented to Harris, was a picture of the Statue of Liberty.
Harris said – “that’s a NY icon, absolutely not.” Hence, Harris designed a logo around a Philadelphia historical landmark: Independence Hall. The logo combined graphical elements of past and present, a black and white rapidograph drawing of Independence Hall overlaid with full color art of wheat and hops and blue sky. Add the perfect collection of old world fonts and as Harris states – “one of my favorite logos of all time.”
This exceptional logo depicting Philadelphia history (the birth place of our nation) needed a tagline – Harris thought and then said – who are we: Philadelphia’s first authentic microbrewery. It said it all. The tagline was born.
At conception, Independence offered two varieties of beer: Independence
Lager and Independence Ale. Harris wanted to keep things simple so he
made the lager’s label blue and the ale’s label burgundy. The idea was that while other beers were introduced the color-coded system would brand the brewery with a consistent mark – Independence Hall – and each new beer would be assigned a distinctive color. It made good branding sense and was economical from an art and production sense.
Harris coordinated the design and purchase of all packaging and POS – labels, caps, 6-pack holders and cases.
In addition and maybe most importantly, Harris as Vice President, Director of Marketing built a contact management database that consisted of every media outlet in the Philadelphia DMA and every brewpub publication known to man. The database also consisted of every watering hole and distributor within a one hundred mile radius. And, the database was segmented to include an inquiry/customer section. Monthly mailings ranging from postcards to profiles where distributed and history monitored.
Harris was responsible for all copy. In addition to conceiving the tagline,
Harris wrote: Independence Brewing Company. Philadelphia’s first authentic microbrewery. Not a brewpub. Not a contract beer. But an authentic microbrewery in every sense. Our equipment. Our recipes. Our brewery. All of our ales, lagers and specialty beers are brewed at our only location. We use only the finest and freshest ingredients. No chemicals. No additives. No pasteurization. Guaranteed. Declare your independence.
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