BourbonBlog (Branding and Content Strategy) #casestudy

Branding and Content Strategy

BourbonBlog.com is the leading authority on Bourbon & American Whiskey journalism. Tom Fischer is an industry leading authority, personality, and writer in the spirits industry.

CHALLENGE

BourbonBlog has a well established reputation as one of the oldest whiskey blogs on the internet. Since its inception in 2005 it has amassed over one hundred thousand highly engaged followers across a variety of social media accounts including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The previous logo had been used primarily on the website, and other outlets used a variety of typefaces and marketing copy. Our goal was to unify the brand, and enable use across a variety of applications.

We spent a lot of time discussing the significance of the brand with the founder. It was important to capture how personal the company is and we held many strategic sessions that allowed us to understand what emotions resonated most strongly. We ultimately wanted to evoke a sense of legacy and tradition, with a modern, uplifting treatment that fans would love.

APPROACH

From the font choice, to the symbolism of the deer antlers, to the subtle angled slats of wood as seen on whiskey barrel tops, we made sure every single element of the new logo communicated something meaningful.

Logo Anatomy and Symbolism

Being one of the oldest whiskey blogs on the internet is an important part of the brand’s identity. We thought long and hard about the origin stories and meaning behind well known whiskies, all the while sampling them, for research of course…

The recurring theme that arose during our discussions was that of the deer. To us, the deer is a regal creature, to be respected for its its beauty and power. It parallels the heritage of such a brand as BourbonBlog that has relentlessly helped shape the world of whiskey blogging and has been a trusted resource for over a decade.

The logo’s symbol was derived from combining a non brand specific bottle shape with subtly placed antlers which form the silhouette. The other elements of the logo include angled lines that represent the wooden slats that are visible on whiskey barrel tops. They are angled upwards to convey progress and enlightenment. The stamp, or ring, is a common element on whiskey barrels as well. Often displaying the distiller’s logo, and barrel or batch number.

Print and merchandise

Brand Identity Guideline

We created an extensive brand identity guideline covering all possible use cases for digital and print. We included directives for use on black and white backgrounds, one-line usage (no symbol), a circular condensed version (i.e., patch) for social media avatars and small uses, as well as a standalone symbol.

Download PDF

We had been considering updating and improving our logo and elements of our brand identity at BourbonBlog. We absolutely made the right choice in going with ATTCK as their team is talented, thorough, and patient because they realize just how much BourbonBlog means not only to our team, but most importantly to our readers and the whiskey community.