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Cultivar is a multi-disciplinary creative studio & consultancy based in Portland, Oregon. Our mission is to help cider brands grow and thrive through intelligent design and strategy.
Founded by a former creative & digital marketing agency owner, turned award-winning cidermaker, our expertise lies at the intersection of our background in the creative, marketing, and craft cider worlds.
We understand that your brand is nuanced just like the cider that you make. That’s why we take the time and care to hear your vision, so that we can help you communicate your story to consumers more effectively.
Whether your brand is well-established and needs a brand refresh, or you are in the initial planning stages and need a full brand identity designed, we can help create and refine the look of your products.
We love conceptualizing and designing for different types of brands…From modern and bold, to earthy and farm-based, to bright, modern, and minimalist, we excel at designing visually stunning branding, packaging, and web graphics.
Your brand identity is one of the most important things you can invest in. Developing a timeless logo and accompanying design elements helps consumers identify with your brand and tells them that you care deeply about your products.
We approach building a brand identity by carefully listening to the vision and ethos behind the brand, so that we can understand who you are and what your brand means to you. We can then extrapolate from these exploratory conversations to start building a visual identity.
This holistic approach to creating an identity gives you a mark that will last a lifetime.
The look of your products plays a vital role in shaping consumer perceptions of your brand, as well as the overall drinking experience.
Shelf appeal is more important than ever as emerging brands come to market and companies vie for shelf space at retailers.
Needless to say, packaging design is one of the most important things your brand can invest in.
Even larger, established companies need to refresh their branding periodically. A good brand refresh helps established brands stay relevant, and is reassuring to its existing customers, as well as attractive to new ones.
Implementing a brand refresh can help magnify the impact of new ideas, collaborations, or growth within your company.
Your website is an important piece of the marketing puzzle. Think of it as the brochure that contains everything a consumer would need to know about your company.
We specialize in UX design, and custom WordPress e-commerce development that not only looks amazing and adheres to your branding, but also functions well for the end user.
On the more technical development side, we can implement a custom VinoShipper shopping cart experience within your website that allows consumers to order directly from you without leaving your site.
Another functionality that we like to build into a site is a dynamic “Cider Finder” map that auto-updates regularly so customers can find your products at local retailers near them.
We have the tools and breadth of experience to develop other integrations on your website as well.
Having professional Photography and Videography assets is vital to the success of marketing endeavors.
The assets that are created during photo and video shoots are used across different departments within your company to present a cohesive, united brand image to wholesalers, retailers, and consumers.
We have several photographers and videographers that we work with in the NW, or we can help you find a reputable one near you.
Successful marketing of a cider brand requires a careful assessment of your competitors, as well as the market landscape. We can help you build a winning strategy to reach your consumers more effectively through strategic digital, social, and print ad placement.
Starting up your cider company can feel daunting at times. There’s an enormous amount of planning, and inevitably obstacles come up that you don’t expect. We have the skills and experience to set your company up for success from start to finish.
We have experience planning and executing facility buildouts, writing SOPs, recipe development, equipment/ingredient/packaging sourcing, and much more.
“I found Kirk’s work on our marketing and brand management to be refreshing and invigorating. He has a great knack for ‘out of the box’ thinking and is very well-informed on current trends and marketing analytics. His project approach was thorough and organized.”
“Kirk has an eye for design and composition that has been a critical asset for the RAW Cider Co. brand. My experience working with him has been prompt at meeting critical deadlines for labels. Kirk makes the process easy by offering visual options for my team to review and discuss and choose what’s best for our brand.”
Want to know more? Just chat about cider? Get Creative? Get in touch!