CLIENT
A different kinda website for a brewery that’s kinda different.
Founded in 1988, Santa Fe Brewing Company is New Mexico’s oldest and most award-winning microbrewery. The brand has taprooms in Sante Fe and Albuquerque, and is distributed throughout the southwest.
CHALLENGE
There are few categories more fiercely competitive than craft beer. Santa Fe Brewing Company overhauled its brand identity in 2018, further refining and cementing its signature clean aesthetic. Following the redesign and relaunch of its packaging, Santa Fe approached Moxie Sozo for help bringing its personality to the internet.
But there’s more to Santa Fe than meets the eye; behind that minimalist facade is a group of beer nuts who are as passionate as they are quirky. So when we sat down on the concrete floors of their soon-to-be retired brewhouse to conceive a new website for the brand, our goals were twofold:
- To create an experience online to showcase the bold, irreverent brand personality and culture of Santa Fe Brewing Company without interfering with the simple-yet-bold aesthetic the brand is built on.
- Make it damn good.
SOLUTION
The new santafebrewing.com brings the brand to life online with an intuitive interface and infectious energy. Motion, animation, and the use of contained videos, GIFs, and still photography throughout help to convey the personality of the brand without distracting from the real reason most visitors stopped by in the first place: beer.
One of the best ways to get a feel for a brewer’s personality is to visit their brewery or taproom. For locals and visitors alike, the site makes finding the nearest Santa Fe taproom easy. It also gives site visitors around the world an immersive look at each of Santa Fe Brewing Company’s taprooms with walkthrough tours, up-to-date tap lists, and even nearby recommendations for a bite to pair with your brew in the off chance they find themselves in town.
And because trial is one of the most powerful tools for growth for any independent brewery. The new site utilizes a best-in-class custom beer finder that helps visitors track down Santa Fe—including telling them which beers are on shelf and how recently they were put there.
There are even a handful of easter eggs for anybody who’s stumbling around the site after one too many.
RESULTS
The brand’s new virtual home resulted in real life buzz and excitement around the brand. In the months following launch, traffic to the site coming from social channels increased by about 600%, and online sales have increased by roughly 30%.
What’s more, as subjective a metric as it is, we’ll claim wholeheartedly that the site is damn good. How’s that for delivering on objectives?
