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BAVARIAN ADVERTISEMENTS
1957 - 1966
INTRODUCING BAVARIAN'S SELECT BEER

Bavarian Brewing Co. decided to develop a new image for their beer starting around 1955. But it wasn't only because their sales had declined over the past couple of years.  In the early 1950s both Bavarian and a Wisconsin brewer wanted the exclusive use of "Old Style" for their brand.  Even though Bavarian had a Trademark for their brand name brand including "Old Style," the Trademark Office ultimately decided against Bavarian. Bavarian agreed to modify the name of their beer in 1955. However, in doing so, they also wanted to improve their image and marketing. In late 1956, Bavarian hired the design firm of Lippincott & Maguiies (L&H) to create a new logo, label and package plan and engaged Calkins & Holden (C&H) ,both located in New York City, to create and advertising campaign. The brewery officer and Marketing Director in charge of this was Louis L. Schott.

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(For more information about this see 8. Post WWII (bottom of the page) and  9A. The New Look.)

Bavarian Select 12 oz Bottle.jpg

From research conducted, it was decided to discard the "old" image of the beer and adapt a more colorful and contemporary image along with changing the brand from Bavarian's Old Style to Bavarian's Select Beer (or Bavarian/s). Essentially, the word "Select" in the new name replaced the words "Old Style" in the former name. Dozens of different label designs were considered, and the one selected by Bavarian is as shown above and in the illustrations.  This rebranding process distinguished Bavarian/s from the other local brewers and was not confined to simply a change in their beer label.

Having a new brand name required Bavarian to change their packaging, repaint their fleet of a few dozen trucks, develop a new advertising campaign, phase out the "Old Style" beer as they brought in the new Bavarian/s beer, create new promotional items, etc. It was a major investment and undertaking for the owner's of the brewery. The ad on the left introduces the new label in May, 1957. It was followed by the ads below through the end of the year that featured different themes, e.g. "frosty...", "refreshing...", "lively...", "smooth...", and "mellow...". All these ads appeared as black and white in papers, as shown in the first ad below, but were attractively colorized for displays and promotions, similar to what is shown. 

UNGLAUBLICH.  Bavarian/s ... like old-county beer. 

To help introduce a secondary theme in 1957, and pave the way for some  additional use of a few German words in future advertisements in the following year, Bavarian introduced some cartoon like images starting with Unglaublich, meaning Incredible or unbelievable.