Starting out ( on pain points and opportunities )

PK and team have built a robust business. So this wasn’t a rebrand driven by panic or existential threats — it was more a process of addressing persistent pain points and growing opportunities.

Here are a handful of ideas we heard in our early discovery:

– “After 10 years, it’s just time. Everything feels a little tired.” 

– The brand is “spaghetti on the wall.” And you can see clear fingerprints from all the different folks who have touched it over the years — a mix of Deadhead, Rasta, outdoorsy themes, fanciful names, a tangle of typography, etc. 

– The identity itself was shallow with an awkward, tall mark and no deeper bench of secondary iconography. 

– MAP has operated without a clear set of brand guidelines (which exacerbates all of these other issues). 

– MAP wanted their packaging (including a new variety pack) to work harder for them and increase sales, particularly as they venture further afield and have to vie for attention from folks who aren’t as familiar with them as a Bozeman local.

Discovery ( conversations, field work and fly fishing )

Cody and I flew out for a several-day trip to Bozeman to kick this project off that included an entire day of interviews, account visits and checking out Bozeman before culminating in a full day fly fishing on the eastern fork of the Gallatin River. 

I’m CODO’s resident outdoorsmen, so it’s with deep chagrin that I tell you that I not only didn’t catch anything all day, I didn’t even get a single strike. 

Meanwhile, Cody caught a nice Brookie. And PK and James (a stellar brewer from MAP) were pulling out trout left and right all day. 

(I did manage to catch several of the finest Kölsches I’ve had in years back at MAP that evening though.)

It was a gorgeous day on the river and one of those surreal experiences that makes all the hard stressful, humbling and at times, demoralizing work of building our own business worth it.

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And that wrapped up our trip, so, armed with dozens of pages of interview notes, and one hell of a sun burn, we headed back home to begin making sense of our field work and build MAP’s Brand Strategy. 

MAP’s Brand Strategy ( prioritizing key messaging pillars )

On one hand, this was a straightforward project: MAP’s business is healthy, and community support is strong — we just needed to freshen things up. 

On the other hand, there were a few bigger-picture ideas their team had been kicking around for years. Things they wanted to better define. Things they wanted the brand to stand for.

Here are a few of the strategic questions we tackled with MAP:

How can we not look like every other brewery in Montana

Work with breweries across the country, and you’ll quickly notice regional patterns. Breweries in Florida or SoCal often lean into coastal, sunny vibes. Breweries in Texas skew rugged and hard scrabble. And across the West, you’ll seea lot of mountains adorning logos, packaging and tap handles — understandably so.

This isn’t lazy design or copycatting, but rather, an honest reflection of place. Brewery founders want to celebrate the lives they live and the landscapes they love.

Montana is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to outdoor pursuits. So it’s no surprise that many breweries in the state lean hard into that imagery.

MAP did as well with a mountain range built into their logo. But rather than doubling down on the expected, we saw an opportunity to pull things into a more focused, ownable direction. Their existing mark included a cool compass-y hop / drop icon inside a mountain range that doubled as a hidden ‘M’. We decided to push further into that idea instead of simply slapping mountains on there and calling it good. 

A sub point to this idea. Loy Maierhauser — whose official title at MAP is Administrator of Many Things — was adamant that we avoid anything even remotely resembling what she described as, “… a sticker that says, ‘The mountains are calling and I must go.’”

Rather, it just needed to “feel” like Montana. 

If you’re a designer, this may be setting off I’ll-know-it-when-I-see-it alarm bells. But the MAP team is whip smart, so we weren’t too worried about this. Instead, we agreed to have Loy check us if we ventured into this cliché territory. 

How can we make adventure more inclusive?

Here, “inclusive” isn’t an overused buzzword, but rather the idea of reframing what adventure actually means. In a place like Montana, it’s easy to default to rigorous outdoors activities — skiing, backcountry elk hunting, overlanding or fly fishing.

But that framing might alienate people who live in Montana but don’t particularly enjoy Type 2 fun pursuits. 

We started exploring the idea that your adventure doesn’t have to be epic to matter. Maybe it’s reading a challenging book. Or fixing your motorcycle. Or learning to cook a new recipe. Or, even just spending a quiet evening with friends on your back porch. 

Adventure doesn’t have to be outside. It doesn’t have to be X-treme(!!!). And no matter how you define it, MAP is here for it.

On Boze-angeles. ( Or, don’t California my Montana )

In one early kickoff interview, a MAP team member quipped, “Montana’s a hard club to be a part of.”

Bozeman is a lovely, small college town. There’s a constant flow of new people thanks to Montana State University, and even more since the pandemic — folks drawn to the idea of wide open spaces, romanticized by shows like Yellowstone and a general craving for the good life outdoors. 

But with this growth comes tension.

Transplants vs. lifers. Land owners vs. hunters and anglers. Students vs. locals. Red vs. blue. The vibe is shifting — and not everyone’s thrilled about it.

The MAP team sees this clearly. But they’re not here to gate keep or take sides. They’re brewers. They’re hospitality people. And they’re here to create a welcoming place to gather, to make great beer and to be a steady part of Bozeman’s story as it evolves.

No posturing. Just a place to belong.

MAP’s Brand Identity Design 

MAP came into this project with good bones. So our identity work wasn’t about blowing everything up — it was more a process of refining, clarifying and setting them up with a more versatile system.

A few specific goals guided this phase:

– Squaring up the logo: MAP’s existing mark was a little too tall and narrow, which created awkward lockups on cans and signage. We wanted to make this mark more square so it wouldn’t take up as much space on each can, giving space for other details. 

– Clarifying the ‘M’: We wanted to make the mountain-shaped “M” feel more intentional while retaining the compass-like drop that makes the mark unique.

– Evolving the hop/map pin icon: Let’s get this out of the way: We don’t hate hops in brewery logos. But we do groan whenever it comes up. (It’s been done. A lot.) That said, in MAP’s case, the hop shape as a location marker actually felt ownable — it tied into their name and positioning in a fun way that felt right. So we pushed that forward, but treated it more as a thoughtful nod to way finding than a tired trope.

– Exploring topographic elements: We looked at how topo lines might play a role in their broader identity system. MAP was cautious here — for good reason. Topo lines are everywhere in the outdoor industry. And in Montana brewery branding, they’re borderline expected. We even see breweries in Indiana using them. (Which is hilarious. If they used genuine Indiana topo maps, those lines should be spaced about six inches apart.)

So rather than relying on topo as a crutch, we explored ways to incorporate it more sparingly — as a subtle nod to terrain and journey, not the entire visual language.

Tagline & Claims Development

MAP came into this process with a few taglines already in use:

– Every adventure starts with a MAP

– Brewed to explore

– You are here

While each of these had something going for it, we all agreed they were either too wordy, too generic (i.e. something anybrewery could use) or too narrowly tied to a local audience.

We explored dozens of new directions before landing on a line that struck the right balance:

“MAP your own adventure”

It’s active. It’s flexible. It gives the consumer agency. And most importantly, it ties directly into their name and broader brand platform.

One of my favorite things to come out of this project was a subtle riff on a common beer claim.

MAP’s beer is brewed in Montana — just like ~120 other breweries. But MAP also sells exclusively in Montana. 

So we suggested the line: Made for Montana.

This is a subtle shift from the more familiar “Made in Montana,” but it says a lot more. It’s intentional. It’s future-proofed. And it aligns with MAP’s distribution strategy. While the brewery may expand its footprint in the years ahead, they have no plans to sell beer beyond state lines.

“Made for Montana” reflects that focus — beer made in Montana, for Montanans, by people who live and brew and adventure there. 

Revisions

MAP’s final identity system came together pretty quickly — essentially combining the best of both directions. We landed on a clean, balanced logo that pairs the structured lines of D2 with the more character-rich typography of D1.

We built a modular identity system that includes:

– A clear primary logo build 

– A flexible suite of icons and lockups that work well locally in Bozeman and scale up to resonate further afield (Bozeman vs. Montana claims)

– A handful of merch-forward builds

Package Design 

We explored two initial packaging directions, both of which prioritized strong MAP parent brand presence and carried forward existing color cues — important visual equity in a tight local market.

The final system introduced a few key updates, including:

– Bolder brand blocking to strengthen shelf presence

– Metallic topo lines to add texture and visual interest without overwhelming the layout

– Simplified tasting notes for quicker readability

– Refined claims (Brewed in Bozeman and Made for Montana) to better reflect MAP’s footprint and positioningOne of the bigger additions was a new variety 12-pack (the “Adventure Pack) built specifically for Costco.

With a new identity system in place and packaging that finally works as hard as the beer inside, MAP is now positioned to tell a clearer, more unified story — whether on the shelf, at the taproom or out on the river. 

Loy is executing a well done staggered roll out as we speak (follow along on IG) — debuting with Strange Cattle and a bevy of new merch this spring, followed by the full packaging lineup later this summer, all leading up to their tenth anniversary celebration in October. 

Every touchpoint ladders up to a brand that feels intentional and true to its roots, setting the stage for their next chapter.

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(Below): A handful of things we worked through during the revisions phase, including dialing in messaging (i.e. Made For Montana vs. Bozeman, Montana vs. Using the beer name so it reads better in retail). 

Wrapping up 

MAP didn’t come to CODO in search of reinvention. They came to celebrate a milestone — ten years of building a true Bozeman original — and to make sure their next decade was as intentional as the first.

The result is a brand that feels more focused, more ownable and more aligned with the people behind it. A brand that can welcome new transplants and lifelong locals alike. A brand that’s ready to support every kind of adventure — whether you’re bombing down a slope at Bridger Bowl, spending a day on the river, or just enjoying a Kölsch on the patio with friends.

Above all, it just feels like Montana.

Not louder. Just clearer.