Sean Baxter on the fight for attention; plus, what bars can learn from Never Never’s brand refresh

I write a lot about how it is harder than ever for bars to stand out these days; the standard of bars, particularly of smaller, indie bars, has never been higher. That’s a good thing for drinkers, but it means a tough time for bar operators. You have to be on, all the time.

But it’s not just difficult in the bar industry — in the gin market, and spirits in general, the standard has also hit new heights, which means there are more brands making good spirit than ever before.

So what do you do to stand apart from the crowd? That’s the thread that flows through my chat with Sean Baxter on this episode of Drinks At Work.

Sean is the co-founder and brand director of Never Never, the South Australian gin and — coming in October, as we talk about here — vodka brand, a brand that was an early favourite with bartenders when it launched in 2016 during the heady days of the great gin boom of the 2010s.

Never Never is one of the success stories of the Australian spirits boom, racking up awards since they began, and making gin that bartenders love. It was those efforts that saw them acquired a year ago by Asahi.

Never Never has also just gone through a brand refresh, with new larger bottles and a new label design, as well as a slight name change — from Never Never Distilling Co, to Never Never. Punchy! So in this episode I ask Sean about the thinking behind the changes, and also try to tease out what bartenders and bar oeprators might be able to learn from the Never Never brand refresh experience.

Now, not coincidentally, this episode is presented by Never Never’s Step Into The Never Never bartender challenge, which is back with more prizes and more potential winners. Winners from across Australia will join the Never Never team for three days in Adelaide and McLaren Vale experiencing some of the tastiest things the region has to offer. Bartenders need to create a total of two drinks (a long drink and a three ingredient cocktail) and promote these drinks in their venue using a physical menu during the month of August. Which means you’d better get your drinks sorted soon — visit Never Never’s social media channels for the link, you can find them on Instagram at @neverneverdistillingco, or hit the link right here for more.

Below, I’ve got a few takeaways from the chat with Sean, but do give the full episode a listen in your podcast player of choice (and subscribe to the show while you’re at it).

“As we became more available on shelf, we had to have more cut-through in a very, very cluttered gin market.”

The new Never Never label design has a couple of key aims: to simplify the colour on the label, and concentrate the messaging, too. The idea is to make the brand more recognisable on the shelves, and on back bars, because, as we know, there’s a lot of gin out there right now.

The label redesign process began in earnest three years ago, before the Asahi acquisition, but it was when they discovered Sick Dog Wolf Man — “which is the most Fitzroy sounding name,” says Sean — a design agency from Collingwood, that the change got momentum.

How’d they find this agency? Co-founder George Georgiadis noticed that the Australian-owned Spanish olive oil brand, Moro, had undergone a rebrand and liked it; Sick Dog Wolf Man was the agency behind it.

“You see it in wine, see it in craft beer, everybody’s trying to fight for attention.”

This is one of the takeaways I think applies not just to gin and the broader spirits industry, but to bars, too. Much of Never Never’s label refresh is about standing out amongst a sea of gins which are also trying to stand out. So how do you do that?

“That’s where you have to be more strategic about colour, shape, bottle design, all those things that will capture attention from a customer who’s browsing, which is really, really hard to do,” Sean says.

“There’s that reliance on how you initially capture attention. I think through the simplification of our label, the intensity of colour, we’re trying to stop people in their tracks.”

That’s the question for bars today, too, because the standard of bars — particularly small and independent bars — has never been higher. How can your bar stand out on social media, say, or with its menu and aesthetic?

“You can’t have an off night.”

Sean and I also spoke about how, with the cost of spirits going ever upwards — thanks, excise tax — the day when a $30-plus cocktail is the norm is fast approaching. So what can operators and bartenders do to keep people interested in their bars when the price of visiting them gets ever more expensive?

For Sean — who began his career in bartending and has been in and around the industry his entire adult life — it comes back to the experience you offer the guest.

“I truly still believe that great hospitality and great experiences, they tend to navigate a lot of the problems in our market,” Sean says. “It’s just hard. You have to be more focused on those deliverables. You can’t have an off night. You do have to create those moments. And some of my favourite bars, also some of the best awarded bars in the Boothby awards but also in the global awards, they tend to have that thread of constant, always-on hospitality that attracts an audience. I think that’s become more and more required.”

The Step Into The Never Never bartender challenge is back, with more prizes and more potential winners. Winners from across Australia will join the Never Never team for three days in Adelaide and McLaren Vale experiencing some of the tastiest things the region has to offer. Bartenders need to create a total of two drinks (a long drink and a three ingredient cocktail) and promote these drinks in their venue using a physical menu during the month of August. Which means you’d better get your drinks sorted soon — visit Never Never’s social media channels for the link, you can find them on Instagram at @neverneverdistillingco, or hit the link right here for more.