the oldest Serbian Beer
Elevating Beer Branding: The Tabletop Production Process for Jelen Beer
Honestly! Have you ever seen beer splashing up in the shape of majestic antlers?
Probably you’re thinking we are playing around too much with AI and, generally speaking, you may be right, but this is not the case!
So, what are we talking about? Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
A few months ago, Molson Coors contacted us to develop a Culinary Identity for two of the major beer brandzz in Eastern Europe: Jelen Pivot from Serbia and ********* from Bulgaria. (Sorry for the censorship, but our big team of lawyers said we cannot talk about the second brand… yet!)
Why did they call us? I mean… Are you living under a rock?
It’s because we did a great job for Miller Genuine Draft last year; an award-winning culinary identity that gave the brand a crazy unique way to depict their beer.
You can read more about it here.
So, Jelen!
Jelen is the very first beer brand in Serbia with a centenary heritage. They are having some trouble with quality perception, which is why they came to us, masters of bubbles!
Our strategic team, formed by the creative duo Stefano Crose and Ximena Pineda, began a quest under the wise supervision of the all-stars Olaf van Gerwen and Gert Jan Timmer.
The mission is clear: How can we codify Jelen’s beer in a distinctive way? How can these codes drive taste, recognizability, and at the same time bring consistency in their communication?
The process is bubbly and perfectly fluid: We go through the analysis of the brand and competitors, and we identify domains that we can further develop into creative routes. Once the creative route(s) is decided, it’s time to produce the actual shots.
But let’s not skip ahead!
The strategic creative direction they chose is: The Antler Splash.
This direction taps into the values of the brand and gives us, the makers, the possibility to envision and create all kinds of actions and shots.
Everything starts with a generous pour that moves, sloshes, and splashes beer, creating waves, droplets, rising foam, and much more.
Yes! YEEEES! WE LIVE FOR THIS!… but why the antlers?
Jelen in Serbian means stag, and the stag is also the logo you can see on every bottle and can.
We work closely with the agency on developing this specific visual, which we believe can become a distinctive brand asset over time.
How did we make it?
If you know us, you can appreciate the fact that we do everything for real. We ran a lot of R&D, but in the end, we realized that it was more efficient in terms of time and costs to do it with CGI.
This is why we joined forces with the agency STORM to create the future antler-inspired Distinctive Brand Asset for Jelen beer.
To give it context and the right visual support, we created around it a sequence of macro, gorgeous, foamy, and bubbly close-ups, culminating in a packshot where we see a brimful glass of Jelen swinging and sloshing the beer inside it.
A total of 6 codes have been defined to create the sandbox that we call the Playbook, a tool for makers that is meant to drive consistency across channels and over a long, long time, creating distinction and recognizability.
After working intensively for weeks with the Client, we started the production together with our Director and liquid specialist Erik de Koning, bringing his experience and interpretation of the Creative Foundation to the table.
The initial request was to create shots that can live in the upcoming equity campaign and as a standalone short film focused on the product.
The creative duo, together with the Director, designed 9 mighty liquid shots full of energy, with crazy movements never seen before thanks to the use of the Bolt robot in combination with our Arri Alexa, alongside our trusted Phantom camera for the mesmerizing slow-motion shots.
Five days of testing, with one day dedicated solely to motion control, led to two shooting days with hand models. We called the legendary Pete Saunders , the best beer stylist from the UK, for this production, and together with our food stylist Vince Bouchier, they controlled every tiny detail from the foam to the droplets.
It goes without saying that it was a massive success! We celebrated the wrap with Client, Agency, and Crew with ice-cold Jelen, leaving everyone with the satisfying feeling of a job well done!
Later on, post-production went as smoothly as beer foam down a glass. We worked closely with the Agency, focusing particularly on the tabletop segment, especially the opening and the Antlers Sequence. We ensured that the shots had perfect grading and made necessary adjustments during the online process. All shots were ultimately framed in the main aspect ratios for social media, providing Jelen's team with the tools needed to communicate effectively and consistently across all channels.
WHAT-A-JOURNEY!
Stay tuned for more updates about the other beer brand we work for! 😉
Probably you’re thinking we are playing around too much with AI and, generally speaking, you may be right, but this is not the case!
So, what are we talking about? Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
A few months ago, Molson Coors contacted us to develop a Culinary Identity for two of the major beer brandzz in Eastern Europe: Jelen Pivot from Serbia and ********* from Bulgaria. (Sorry for the censorship, but our big team of lawyers said we cannot talk about the second brand… yet!)
Why did they call us? I mean… Are you living under a rock?
It’s because we did a great job for Miller Genuine Draft last year; an award-winning culinary identity that gave the brand a crazy unique way to depict their beer.
You can read more about it here.
THE BRIEF
So, Jelen!
Jelen is the very first beer brand in Serbia with a centenary heritage. They are having some trouble with quality perception, which is why they came to us, masters of bubbles!
Our strategic team, formed by the creative duo Stefano Crose and Ximena Pineda, began a quest under the wise supervision of the all-stars Olaf van Gerwen and Gert Jan Timmer.
The mission is clear: How can we codify Jelen’s beer in a distinctive way? How can these codes drive taste, recognizability, and at the same time bring consistency in their communication?
The process is bubbly and perfectly fluid: We go through the analysis of the brand and competitors, and we identify domains that we can further develop into creative routes. Once the creative route(s) is decided, it’s time to produce the actual shots.
But let’s not skip ahead!
THE STRATEGY
The strategic creative direction they chose is: The Antler Splash.
This direction taps into the values of the brand and gives us, the makers, the possibility to envision and create all kinds of actions and shots.
Everything starts with a generous pour that moves, sloshes, and splashes beer, creating waves, droplets, rising foam, and much more.
Yes! YEEEES! WE LIVE FOR THIS!… but why the antlers?
Jelen in Serbian means stag, and the stag is also the logo you can see on every bottle and can.
We work closely with the agency on developing this specific visual, which we believe can become a distinctive brand asset over time.
How did we make it?
If you know us, you can appreciate the fact that we do everything for real. We ran a lot of R&D, but in the end, we realized that it was more efficient in terms of time and costs to do it with CGI.
This is why we joined forces with the agency STORM to create the future antler-inspired Distinctive Brand Asset for Jelen beer.
To give it context and the right visual support, we created around it a sequence of macro, gorgeous, foamy, and bubbly close-ups, culminating in a packshot where we see a brimful glass of Jelen swinging and sloshing the beer inside it.
A total of 6 codes have been defined to create the sandbox that we call the Playbook, a tool for makers that is meant to drive consistency across channels and over a long, long time, creating distinction and recognizability.
THE PRODUCTION
After working intensively for weeks with the Client, we started the production together with our Director and liquid specialist Erik de Koning, bringing his experience and interpretation of the Creative Foundation to the table.
The initial request was to create shots that can live in the upcoming equity campaign and as a standalone short film focused on the product.
The creative duo, together with the Director, designed 9 mighty liquid shots full of energy, with crazy movements never seen before thanks to the use of the Bolt robot in combination with our Arri Alexa, alongside our trusted Phantom camera for the mesmerizing slow-motion shots.
Five days of testing, with one day dedicated solely to motion control, led to two shooting days with hand models. We called the legendary Pete Saunders , the best beer stylist from the UK, for this production, and together with our food stylist Vince Bouchier, they controlled every tiny detail from the foam to the droplets.
It goes without saying that it was a massive success! We celebrated the wrap with Client, Agency, and Crew with ice-cold Jelen, leaving everyone with the satisfying feeling of a job well done!
Later on, post-production went as smoothly as beer foam down a glass. We worked closely with the Agency, focusing particularly on the tabletop segment, especially the opening and the Antlers Sequence. We ensured that the shots had perfect grading and made necessary adjustments during the online process. All shots were ultimately framed in the main aspect ratios for social media, providing Jelen's team with the tools needed to communicate effectively and consistently across all channels.
WHAT-A-JOURNEY!
Stay tuned for more updates about the other beer brand we work for! 😉
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