America’s Original Hard Cider
The Complexity
Woodchuck invented the American hard cider category and then watched someone else take it over.
By 2016, Angry Orchard had claimed the market that Woodchuck built. The brand had drifted from what made it worth loving. They removed Chuck, the beloved mascot that had always been the personality at the center, and replaced him with something that felt like every other brand on the shelf. The original was starting to look like the imitation.
The Idea
Woodchuck’s 25th anniversary was the moment to fix it. We went back into the brand’s history and found the story that had always been there. A winemaker in a two-car garage in Proctorsville, Vermont, refilling kegs with a turkey baster and shipping them via UPS to build a category that didn’t exist yet. That scrappy, ingenious, fiercely independent spirit was Woodchuck. We built the brand strategy and the visual identity around it, bringing Chuck back with a new illustration that gave him the attitude the brand had always deserved. Nefarious. Knowing. Completely his own.
The Outcome
The packaging, brand architecture, and strategy gave Woodchuck a foundation to grow from, rooted in the same gumption that started it all in 1991.
- Brand Strategy
- Creative Direction
- Art Direction
- Graphic Design
- Web Design
- Illustration
- Digital Strategy
- Content Creation
- Martech
Woodchuck reclaimed its rightful place as America’s first and best craft hard cider.
- Dan Gretta - Sprout