Elmwood adds extra sparkle to Carlsberg cider Somersby

Elmwood Leeds has refreshed and repositioned Carlsberg’s apple cider brand Somersby to make it an occasion-based drink.

Launched in 2008, Carlsberg wanted to build on Somersby’s success as well as fend off increased competition from new entrants. The new positioning attempts to “elevate the brand and break with the traditional cider category tropes”, according to a statement. The brewer enlisted Elmwood to ensure it “continued to be distinctive, ownable, recognisable and campaignable across its markets”.

Elmwood Leeds created the ‘Refreshingly Optimistic’ positioning for Somersby, which now places it as an occasion-based sparkling drink rather than a traditional cider stretching it into new drinking occasions traditionally dominated by wine, cocktails and beer.

The new look will be rolled out across 50 markets starting this month, on and off-trade, predominantly in Europe and Asia. The most important markets for the brand are Australia, Canada, Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Bulgaria, and countries in Asia.

The positioning establishes a new brand experience platform for Somersby, with brand architecture and visual identity designed to enhance its distinctiveness in each of its key markets.

Carlsberg Group global marketing director Pernille Arnt said: “Somersby is the perfect combination of craftsmanship and innovation. It celebrates and champions quality, optimism and invites people to embrace life. Our refreshed brand and scalable brand system now ensure that we can build the brand’s distinctiveness across different market environments and different lifecycles of the brand without diluting the master brand.”

Rob Skelly, associate creative director at Elmwood Leeds, added: “As we embarked on this challenge, we wanted to ensure that every little nuance of the brand was considered to communicate an uplifting brightness and optimism… The living tree works beautifully across all platforms and offers us endless opportunities to engage, excite and inspire our audience.” 

To ensure a consistent roll-out of the refreshed brand, Elmwood created a full suite of Somersby brand guidelines explaining the brand platform, its architecture, its visual identity system, as well as how the primary and secondary brand assets can be brought to life in market.