Lucid Brewing
Lucid Brewing is a poster child for inspired package design, artificial advertising and brand advocacy. Italian style.
Lucid Beer rocketed to fame on the heels of an Italian Heartthrob and a Futurist.
When ABd was given the chance to develop a beer brand, we sought inspiration from Italian Futurist designer Fortunato Depero. A local design critic quickly pointed out many of the “Futuristi” were boosters of Mussolini’s Fascists, and soon we had a minor story on our hands.
Undeterred by criticism, we leaned into the Italian vibe and created an artificial spokesmodel using the (public domain) picture of an Italian Soap Actor, among others (Ducati riders in the 1970s, etc.)
The artificial advocate Lorenzo Lucid set social media on fire and soon he had marriage proposals and 50,000 earnest followers. Eventually we blew Lorenzo’s cover and revealed it all for the local newspaper.
Lucid was rewarded for all the buzz by being voted the Best New Brewery in MN. Very impressive considering popular brands like Fulton and Summit IPA launched the same year.
The elements seen in this section of the original website were reflected throughout the campaign. We used the distinctive L, the eye in the glass and the avian elements throughout print, online and outdoor media. Eventually over 12 different packages and beer brands were created from this source.
This is a picture of Lorenzo during “Movember” when the stunning, albeit clueless, artificial influencer put Lucid Brewing over the top in voting for the “Best Brewery in MN.”
We began to feature his name on the packaging of new beers in a variety of ways — the most popular of which was Lucid Silo Saison.
Packaging designs leaned into the so-called source of inspiration for our packaging. “Duce” was a special edition Red Ale that paid homage to imperialism in jest. Mussolini’s pictures (such as the one below) were used for targets in more than one establishment with this on tap.
The buzz for Lucid extended across bars, tap rooms and keggers across the Twin Cities to the columns of society magazines like Artful Living.
Apparently, the company later ran into a copyright dispute with a hop grower in California and was forced to change their name and packaging to Inbound Brewing which continues to operate a tap room in the North Loop of Minneapolis.
The legend of Lucid refuses to die off, however. Lucid Air is now the name of the world’s fastest electric car and is selling briskly. While he would have preferred a two-wheeler, Lorenzo is reportedly itching for a ride.
