Ippon Matsu Beer by Ippon Matsu Beer

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CLIENT

Its pur­pose is to spread the mes­sage of char­i­ty, raise aware­ness, and help those liv­ing in the after­math of the 2011 tsuna­mi. All prof­its are donat­ed to the recon­struc­tion efforts in Rikuzen­taka­ta, Japan.

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BRIEF

To cre­ate a beer brand that rep­re­sents the mes­sage of hope and gets peo­ple to donate to tsuna­mi relief in Japan.

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APPROACH

“Ippon Mat­su” means “one pine tree.” The design process was main­ly influ­enced by the sto­ry of Rikuzentakata—out of an entire for­est that once lined its coast, only a sin­gle pine sur­vived. The con­cept was to incor­po­rate this lone pine tree as a sym­bol of strength and hope through­out the pack­ag­ing design. Our solu­tion was to sim­pli­fy to the purest form. We used one die cut in the shape of a pine tree and no descrip­tion of the prod­uct in order to trig­ger the view­er’s curios­i­ty and to dif­fer­en­ti­ate it from oth­er com­mer­cial products.

The messaging and design of Ippon Matsu Beer (IMB) has gotten us noticed on local and international levels. From California to Korea to Norway to Brazil and beyond. Supporters are everywhere. IMB has been featured in online publications for beer and design, and in a couple of design magazines, including Communication Arts. More recently, TV Tokyo featured a story about IMB and an international distributor of alcoholic beverages has contacted us with interest in contributing to our cause. Overall the attention we earned has resulted in donations and demand for IMB reaching past our initial goals and expectations. — Milos Mihajlovic, Head of Communication of Ippon Matsu Beer