2017
108 Brothers <108 兄弟> is a new brand of beer launched in China by parent beer company Yanjing Beer <燕京啤酒>, targetted at the younger generation of consumers. We were approached to design the branding and packaging, as well as engage the client in a year long market testing and launch of this new product.
Inspired by the Chinese classic Shui Hu Zhuan <水浒传> which is considered one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, it tells a tale of how a group of 108 outlaws gather at Mount Liang to form a sizable army before they are eventually granted amnesty by the government and sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and suppress rebel forces.
The essence of the tale is based on the strong brotherhood, loyalty and friendship amongst the characters, qualities which are extremely relevant in the urban packed environments of today's Chinese big cities where many people leave their hometowns and congregate from all other parts of the country in search of work; their closest sense of kin are through these bonds formed with the new friends they make.
We designed the brand mark around a fist bump; a universal symbol for brotherhood and shared values, an invitation to form a bond by having a drink together which revolves around the tagline <我不靠山，我靠兄弟>. 108 characters were illustrated based on characters in the novel, which were used to create 108 different beer can packagings.
