Elmwood New York has crafted the new brand identity for Tecate, the second-largest beer brand in the Heineken portfolio. The design elevates Tecate’s iconic assets and extends its traditionally masculine identity to feel more progressive and modern.
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Tecate has historically been a leading beer brand in Northern Mexico. The Tecate team wanted to build on this regional success and extend the beer’s popularity to all of Mexico, including the younger and more cosmopolitan Mexico City. The design firm revisited Tecate’s assets to build distinctiveness and help the beer stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
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Explains Executive Creative Director Meg Beckum: “With a brand as beloved as Tecate, we knew that a boots-on-the-ground immersion across Mexico’s many regions would be necessary to inform a meaningful design. From this process, we understood that the brand is deeply entwined in the country’s cultural fabric. Yes, it’s a great beer, but it’s more than that: it’s an authentic lifestyle icon ingrained in Mexican sports, music and entertainment. We needed to shift the narrative beyond product — to an attitude encapsulating Tecate’s unapologetic boldness and modern masculinity. These insights helped clarify the many behaviors and cultural traditions that the new Tecate design needed to support.”
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This included emboldening the brand’s iconic eagle and wordmark as well as stripping back unnecessary visual clutter. The designers then partnered with Tecate’s advertising agency, Nomades, to craft a new brand world that encompasses everything from music festival and soccer sponsorships to point-of-sale and out-of-home advertisements. Ads with the new brand identity began to run this summer, while updated packaging is currently rolling out to stores across Mexico and the United States. Credits include: Executive Creative Director Meg Beckum; Design Directors Bruno Nesci and Mike Tabie; Account Director Melissa Braun; Account Manager Daniela Sabler; Senior Strategist Robert Pietrzyk; Senior Designer Jonathon Jones; and Designer Dee Dalencour.
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