Case Study: The Drink

Challenge & what OWL did:

When the indoor aquaponics venture Urban Organics purchased St. Paul’s historic Schmidt Brewery for their new indoor farm project, they acquired a bonus asset as part of the deal: a well tapped into a 35,000 year old aquifer with pure glacial water — popular with locals for generations. The water was referred to as “Schmidt water” by most, and a recent marketing makeover had attempted to rebrand it with the misnomer “Schmidt Organic Water” (water, which is not living, by definition cannot be organic).

Using the Schmidt name now had legal issues, so the resource needed branding, ASAP, and what began as a side-concern for UA ended up taking on a life of its own.

OWL was tasked with branding this cherished community resource, and sharing it with the wider metro area through signage and a website. Now rechristened “The Drink,” the water — replete with an ice age evoking woolly mammoth logo — became a go-to for local chefs and restaurateurs, as well as area home brewers, bakers and others interested in pure, uncontaminated, untreated water.

Talk about brand refreshment!