Macleod GLBA
Corporate & Industrial
Innovation in glass with Consol
New craft beer and water bottle concepts in glass, from an investigation and an innovation workshop.
Work by Gail Macleod, Stratcom Branding
Explore the architectureThe glass concepts
Three of the glass bottle concept renders: a banded water bottle, a twisted-neck colour concept and a water bottle with a patterned shoulder and base.
Annotated pre-work sketches for beer bottles, with notes on closures, refilling and ways to customise the glass.
Select a numbered pointer on the image to see what it shows.
More concepts
Four further water bottle concept renders from the post-workshop work.
Interactive architecture
From investigation to two glass bottle concepts
The Consol work began as an investigation and an innovation workshop, and went on to create new glass bottle concepts for craft beer and water. Select a step.
- Consol
- Stratcom
StratcomStep 1 of 6
Investigation
Brand positioning, a visual equity analysis (messaging, colour, shape, navigation), product benefits, a competitive review and the retail environments.
Source: Consol work summary, workshop, option feedback and feasibility files, Stratcom account files.
Stratcom worked with Consol, a glass packaging manufacturer, from an investigation and a full-day innovation workshop through to new bottle concepts in glass, a craft beer bottle and a grip-friendly water bottle. Each option was reviewed for how it would be made, and the files hold the work summary, the workshop and option feedback files, and the renders.
The brief and the investigation
Stratcom worked with Consol, a glass packaging manufacturer, on innovation in glass. The work began with an investigation: brand positioning, a visual equity analysis of messaging, colour, shape and navigation, product benefits, a competitive review and the retail environments. It also included visits to a glass plant and to glass decorators, with a report on each.
The innovation workshop
A full-day innovation workshop brought local and international presentations, trends and a blueprint for going forward. The files hold the workshop presentations, and the glass workshop pictures.
Two new bottle concepts
The planned strategy deliverable, a roll-out proposal, was replaced by innovation, creation and development of two conceptual bottles: a craft beer bottle and a grip-friendly water bottle. The craft beer work looked at both craft beer drinkers and small breweries that want a more distinctive bottle than a standard one.
Sketches came first, then option sets for craft beer and water, then renders. The renders on this page are from the post-workshop work.
Made in glass
Each option was reviewed with Consol for how it would be made in glass, looking at glass distribution, neck and finish, closure, label panel and mould opening. Some options could go ahead as they were, some with changes, and some were set aside. Feedback sessions and post-workshop presentations followed, and the project closed with a final presentation.
Consol Glass is also the glass maker where the first Nando's bottles came off the line, as reported in the Strategic Marketing Case in Point article on Nando's.
What the files do not show
Which concept went into production, any result or sales figure, and what Consol thought of the finished work. Costs, quotes, tooling and Consol's own manufacturing detail are not reproduced here.