Microbrewery Boxing Cat packs a punch via new R/GA Shanghai rebrand campaign
R/GA Shanghai is behind the visual transformation of one of China’s first microbrewery brands, Boxing Cat. The broad sweep of work includes complete look and feel redesign, and bringing Boxing Cat’s newest craft beer to market via an integrated campaign.
With craft beer accounting for just 1% of total beer sales in China compared to around 14% globally, R/GA Shanghai’s role was to break down barriers to consideration, and drive trial amongst younger consumers who equate “craft” with “expensive” and a “heavy taste”.
“We saw an enormous opportunity for Boxing Cat to be the contender that challenged those expectations, by leveraging their heritage as a local upstart and creating a distinct personality for the brand – a crazy, kickass one that is the antithesis of ordinary,” said R/GA Shanghai ECD, Terence Leong.
R/GA Shanghai approached the project holistically, creating a masterbrand from the logo up. A new tagline of “Live With A Punch”, coupled with a clean, pared-back design resulted in high-impact applications across labels, packaging, point-of-sale and promo materials, transforming and unifying Boxing Cat’s range of existing products.
To launch the new beer, R/GA Shanghai threw down the gauntlet, christening it ‘First Blood’ and adding the slogan “Defeat Ordinary”. The brand personality was also brought to life, literally. Drawing inspiration from the logo, a superhero-like boxing feline protagonist, Louie, was developed for a series of animated films that see him pitted against banal beer.
“Louie is the embodiment of the brand. He’s there to challenge the ordinary, so we see him patrolling the streets, ridding them of mundane beer, one haymaker at a time,” said AB InBev Head of Craft & Specialities APAC, Nicolas Eduardo Morelli. “It’s beautiful. The storytelling is impactful and we’re incredibly happy with the result.”
Produced by Shanghai-based production company, Final Frontier, and directed and animated by Buenos Aires studio Le Cube, the “First Blood” films are now being rolled out across China, appearing on Boxing Cat’s official WeChat, and in live superhero-themed launch parties in Shanghai and Beijing.
Credits
Agency: R/GA Shanghai
Executive Creative Director: Terence Leong
Creative Director: Shing Sian Chew
Associate Creative Director: Rich Harris
Copywriter: Fang Cao
Designer: Jeremy Wang
Content Producer: Ivy Low
Producer: Ann Yao
Strategy Director: Connie Ho
Planner: Alan Wu
Account Director: Angela Tan
Managing Director: Sook Ping Chow
Production Company: FINAL FRONTIER
Executive Producer: Chris Colman, Gustavo Karam, Julieta Zajaczkowski
Director: LE CUBE
Animation Studio: LE CUBE
Director: Ralph Karam
Executive producer: Juan Manuel Freire, Fernanda Soma
Music & Sound Production: Kersound Studios
Composer: Akira Terao
Singer: Yang Kai 杨锴
Music Supervisor: Greg Yu
Music & Sound Design: KerSound
Composer: Akira Terao
5 Comments
More meh than meow.
What’s the idea?
I’m surprised this gets past censorship, under the surface of the animation is a message about condoning street brawling. We should be promoting drink responsibly instead of encouraging punch ups under the influence of alcohol. Unless this is made for scams then it probably wouldn’t need to go through censorship. Then again it is China.
Haha good point. I’m certain many of us witnessed the drunks throwing punches at the clubs and that’s not a good sight and it spoils the night. “Live with a punch” now seems like a bad excuse for those aggressive behaviours and thinks it’s cool.
What’s this? What has R/GA become?