Putting the squeeze on the competition with a new fruit-forward design.

Anheuser-Busch’s premium craft brand Devils Backbone Distilling SMASH was the #1 selling canned cocktail on the East Coast, but it needed to stand out in an increasingly crowded category. They wanted to appeal to a larger audience across the country and realized that their can design elements needed to more strongly convey both flavor and brand name. The new can design delivered the client’s request for the name to stand out more by placing it vertically, emphasizing the name being “smashed” by the fruit on each side of it and visually telling the story that SMASH is made with real fruit juice. The flavor-specific color palette and the addition of the “salt rim” graphics to the margarita flavors add to the appeal and help differentiate the margarita flavors from the vodka drinks.