There are lots of brands with historical value, but can a brand museum offer an educational experience?
The Alexander Keith’s Nova Scotia Brewery on Halifax’s Lower Water Street was restored and re-opened three years ago as an historical working monument to the founder of Nova Scotia’s most popular beer – and visitors love it. Over 90,000 people have visited since opening day in June 2000.
The idea for the restoration took root when people at Halifax’s Oland Breweries (brewer of Keith’s India Pale Ale since 1928 and now a division of Labatt) noticed a growing number of people strolling downtown and wondering about the historical building, erected in 1820 and shut down in the early 1970s.
‘People coming off cruise ships or just walking down the street were looking to get into the brewery or get some historical information about it. We thought it was amiss by not allowing people to come inside, but it took us years to decide what to do with it,’ says Irene Lane, public relations manager for Oland and then-manager for the museum project.
Oland’s 15-person restoration team, along with members of Toronto branding and design firm Shikatani Lacroix, looked worldwide for inspiration, visiting the Bass Museum in Burton-on-Trent, U.K., the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Ga., the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. and the Budweiser Brewery in St. Louis, Mo.
Eventually the insight that drove the $4.5-million construction and restoration project was that a working brewery could be designed to reflect what life was like in Halifax during the time of Alexander Keith. More than just a brewer, the Scottish-born Keith played a major role in early Halifax, serving as mayor in 1843, 1853 and 1854 and later as the first president of the upper house in Nova Scotia’s newly elected Canadian legislature in 1867. Two years later, a unanimous vote elected him Grand Master of the Mason Lodge of Nova Scotia.
‘The gist of the project was to help build awareness of the Keith’s brand,’ says Eric Boulden, a senior environmental designer with Shikatani Lacroix. ‘But there’s so much equity in Alexander Keith as a brand that the facility had to be about that. The strategy was to show people who Alexander Keith was and give people a taste of what it was like in his time from his perspective, and the perspective of entertaining.’
The museum celebrates this history, as well as his well-known ‘socials.’ Visitors are greeted in Keith’s historic home by actors from Halifax’s Neptune Theatre playing fictional characters from the past.
‘The breweries we’d toured as customers were really static,’ Lane says, ‘we thought it would be more fun to have someone take you through the experience.’
From here, vistors are lead through the historic underground tunnel Keith built as a direct line to the brewery in 1863. The brewery has been restored to produce specialty brews and visitors can get a glimpse of the old copper kettles Oland uses, just like Keith would have done in the 19th century. Next comes the cooperage area, where the beer is packaged. The tour is capped with a visit to the Stag’s Head Inn – a replica of a period pub, replete with a cast of old time characters and a barmaid serving up brew. The price of admission ($10) gets you two beers.
The ironstone walls, wood beams and old wooden bar were already there. Shikatani Lacroix, a firm that has worked with Labatt for over 10 years, spent almost a year designing a brand experience that combines the aesthetics of the past and the interactive display technology of today.
In Keith’s dining room, for example, an old-fashioned portrait of the brewer hangs over the fireplace. The portrait is actually on a flat-screen plasma TV and morphs into a short presentation on the brewery. The dining room itself is familiar to Nova Scotians who’ve seen it in commercials.
‘We looked for a subtle way of integrating the brand into the whole experience,’ says Beverly Wells, also a senior environmental designer for Shikatani. ‘That was something that Coke did well. We really tried to identify the key aspects of the brand all the way down to the colour. In the dining room there is a 12-person dining table and it has a stag’s head inlaid. For all the drapery fabric, we used Alexander Keith’s tartan. This isn’t necessarily pointed out to people, but the designs, and the green and red and gold create an undercurrent to the whole experience.’
Keith Francis, Shikatani’s director of strategy planning and new business development, says that one contemporary aspect is the use of 3-D branding. ‘Even the tap handles were designed in-house.’
Signage was also carefully developed, using a Halifax sign firm that was able to do unique pieces, aged to perfection. Halifax historian David Fleming offered counsel.
A retail space completes the experience, offering Keith’s related wares.
The museum complemented an ongoing ad campaign that has celebrated Keith’s 185-year-old heritage since 1993. Thirty- and 60-second history-based ads culminated in a 14-minute mini movie that aired in four segments on the ATV network in February 2000. The movie/commercial showed familiar characters Admiral Broderick and Roger in search of ‘Her Majesty’s supplies and provisions’ in Halifax.
Now that their roots in Halifax are more than myth, Keith’s marketing has shifted focus. Spots that aired in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick last May poked fun at a visiting Torontonian and others ‘from away.’ Coincidence?
