New Two Roads Packaging Celebrates Sub-Brands

From Two Roads:

There’s no better time to celebrate #NationalBeerCanAppreciationDay after launching our first portfolio-wide packaging refresh. The new can art and packaging is a celebration of the Two Roads sub-brands you’ve come to know and love. We sat down with our Director of Marketing Collin Kennedy to talk about the revamp.

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Why did Two Roads decide to revamp its packaging?

Since its opening in 2012, Two Roads’ packaging has remained the same. Alas, after a decade on the Road Less Traveled, the world has evolved quite a bit – as have we! As we enter our next 10 years, we’re taking a more strategic approach to our brands.

While the iconic crossed-arms logo will remain on every Two Roads can, the revamp allows the sub-brands people have come to love like Road 2 Ruin, Lil’ Heaven, and Cloud Sourced to shine.

“Our philosophy isn’t changing and Two Roads and Road Less Traveled is still inherently linked,” says Kennedy, “we just wanted to refresh the brand a little bit.”

What inspired the new packaging designs?

After two years in the making, lots of research, including direct feedback from retailers, distributors, and a series of consumer surveys, panels, and focus groups, the new cans came to life. The main inspiration for the revamped packaging and can designs came from the iconic beer names and original branding.

IPA Variety Pack with updated packaging designs.

One of Two Road’s fan-favorite beers, Road 2 Ruin, our flagship Double IPA, can partially attribute its name to its popularity.

“We develop really awesome names here at Two Roads. Road 2 Ruin is our most popular brand and that’s partly because of its name,” says Kennedy.

Brands also need to stand out, stand for something, and have staying power. So, to appeal to a new generation of craft fans and make a statement on the shelf, the revamped packaging put the sub-brands front and center.

How does the new packaging reflect the “Road Less Traveled” mantra?

Since 2012, we’ve been taking the “Road Less Traveled,” so naturally, it’s linked with each of our brands.

When deciding it was time for a revamp, the approach to the art was done differently. Instead of looking at just packaging for beer, we looked at graphic design trends across the entire consumer packaging landscape.

In this case, taking The Road Less Traveled approach meant doing things more modern, high energy, but cleanly so the cans were less “busy.”

The focus was also on making sure all information was readily available to customers. With the sub-brand featured very prominently it’s now easier to locate us on shelves & the ABV callout is easier to find.

“The biggest thing is that we wanted to make sure that Two Roads was still that north star on the packaging, and it was consistent across every can and every package,” says Kennedy.

What’s your favorite new design?

New packaging for Lil’Heaven, Road 2 Ruin, and Cloud Sourced on 12oz cans.

After two years of working on the development of the new packaging, Kennedy says the brands are like his “children.” If he had to choose though, his favorite is the revamped Honeyspot Road.

The new design features our Two Road’s iconic VW bus prominently, which is a hallmark interpretation of the Road Less Traveled. Back in the day, the bus was a symbol for people who wanted to travel and do things differently.

Kennedy says the inclusion of the VW bus makes it a cool, standout can.

So, what’s next?

As the new packaging rolls out over the next few months, he says he’s excited to see what customers think.

It’s a great evolution,” said Kennedy. “We’ve really pulled a lot of history from our last 10 years and used that to amp up the cans and graphics for the – hopefully – next 10, 20, 30 years to come.”