This industry op-ed is by Johanna Augustin, CEO of Stockholm agency Pond Design.
Once a sea of sameness, the beer aisle used to be the epitome of bland – hyper-masculine, mass-market, and visually interchangeable. Then came the craft beer revolution. Brands like Brooklyn Brewery broke through with bold packaging, irreverent branding, and a clear personality. Craft brands revived a flat category, forcing the big players to evolve or risk irrelevance.
The male skincare category stands at a similar crossroads. The majority of brands still play it safe, especially the mainstream. They default to navy blue, ‘rugged’ language, and dated stereotypes. But just as the microbrewery boom changed beer forever, a wave of indie beauty brands is brewing – and they’re not afraid to shake things up.
So, what lessons can big players in the male beauty space learn from beer to make sure they’re not left behind?
Play to Personality
First, the best brands in craft beer are experts at cultural relevance and leaning into different subcultures and personalities. Just as some microbreweries recognised that not all their potential audiences are purist craft beer geeks, male skincare brands need to embrace the fact that modern men want products that reflect who they are, not who they’re assumed to be. They need to be more in tune with their consumers and not afraid to speak to specific attitudes and preferences.
Swedish beer PangPang, for example, is bold, playful and unapologetically local. With the tagline ‘unbalanced since 2010’, it is known for its punchy names, bright colours and street-style attitude, turning its offering into a lifestyle statement. Unilever is buying viral male skincare brand Dr. Squatch, showing that this approach also reaps rewards in male beauty. Dr. Squatch is a brand that still doubles down on ‘manliness,’ but it knows how to tap into cultural moments, partnering with Marvel or creating digital content with actress du jour Sydney Sweeney. It has built a brand with attitude, one that knows what it stands for – and others in the category need to take note.
Make the Most of Your Packaging
The second invaluable lesson from craft beer is about the creativity and craft it puts into its branding and packaging. The likes of Brooklyn Brewery and Danish brand Mikkeller have elevated beer branding from the functional (and boring) to design-led. The former, one of the first to take beer branding seriously in the US (with a logo by iconic Milton Glaser, no less), crafted a visual look and way of communicating that spoke to its community of Brooklynites, not just the microbrewery connoisseur. It elevated craft beer, helping it to enter urban, design-conscious spaces beyond the local pub or taproom.
Mikkeller, meanwhile, redefined beer through art, collaborating with illustrator Keith Shore and taking an aesthetic-first approach to its brand. The brand’s design-led approach undoubtedly fuelled its growth from solo start-up to international success story. And while being global, the brand’s niche feel, with its artistic, character-driven cans, made beer suddenly collectable and personal. Fellow Nordic brand Omnipollo pushed the experimental, artistic approach even further, showing that beer could hold its own against high art in a strategy that thrilled a design-savvy crowd.
Let Creativity Guide You
The key here is that these brands let design lead the way. They shrugged off the tired palettes and references of conventional beer, moving away from the traditional tropes. Eye-catching packaging is often the first point of entry to a category – surprise, humour, even unexpected softness can cut through on a shelf cluttered with sameness. Denmark’s To Øl, for example, has defined its space through minimalist Scandinavian design, with clean, bold, modern packaging. The craft brewery embodies a spare, high-end design language that speaks to its commitment to innovation and quality.
In male skincare, some outliers are trying to break from the homogeneity and explore more personality-driven expressions. Disco, for example, boasts a playful name that stands out among the sea of ‘for hims.’
In Pond Design’s work with Lumin, our entire rebrand revolved around playfulness. To reimagine it, we placed male skincare in the realm of sci-fi, leading to a more cinematic aesthetic and playful brand tone of voice (plus pops of yellow and character illustrations on pack).
Offer a Lifestyle
After all, the best packaging is self-expression – it makes a product shelf-worthy, whether in real life or online. In beer, there’s a can for the sophisticated minimalist and one for the flamboyant urbanite. What you drink hints at the life you lead.
Male skincare brands should offer the same promise. What could be more personal than beauty and skincare – why not offer men the chance to express their personality and complement their unique lifestyle through these products? A never-ending array of greys and navy blues doesn’t hold a narrative or encourage deeper loyalty.
Yes, you have the celebrity-driven male beauty brands that bring a figurehead for consumers to identify with or emulate. But a lot of them don’t stand for much beyond their famous face. Pharrell Williams’ Humanrace is an example of a male celebrity beauty brand (officially gender neutral, but with a strong male audience) that actually has attitude and a point of view. However, it’s a notable exception to the predominant approach within the sector.
Embrace the Story
Storytelling should matter in male beauty (whether you’re a celebrity brand or long-standing mass-market range) just as much as it does in craft beer. Beer brands know how to tell their stories, which often include their processes, ingredients, founders, provenance, and communities. They weave the stories through the brand’s visual assets, tone of voice, and all communication. Dogfish Head’s branding, for example, is especially story-driven, leveraging founder Sam Calagione’s charisma and the company’s history to share the stories behind its beers. Male skincare must emulate this.
The craft beer revolution proved that even the most traditional industries can be revitalised with creativity and courage, seizing the opportunity to reach new audiences and achieve commercial success. Male skincare is ripe for its own revolution. The question is: which brands will be bold enough to lead it?
Johanna Augustin is CEO of Pond Design, where she has spent over a decade leading its creative output – crafting award-winning designs for global brands like Absolut, Jameson, and Gant. With a background in architecture, marketing, and advertising, she blends strategic insight with creative excellence.
All imagery © Pond Design.
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