Black Madre Illustrates 60 Vibrant Years of Brazil's Beer of the Summer

Skol is a Brazilian beer brand known for its vibrant identity, humour and proud 'Brazilianness' - something that was at the forefront of minds for the Black Madre design studio when working on its latest campaign. '60 Years Descendo Redondo', led by creative agency GUT Sao Paulo, celebrates the beer's iconicity and history over the last six decades, and as well as a hilarious hero film, it includes a series of designs from the Black Madre team.

Black Madre has worked with Skol for 13 of those 60 years and so developed 11 key visuals for digital, print and OOH use that capture Skol's distinct yellow packaging and emblematic design elements - including the brand's arrow logo, and its iconic yellow tables and parasols.

"Our inspiration came from these characteristics and from everyday Brazilian life," says Andre Maciel, founder and creative director at Black Madre. "We took these examples and translated them into the Skol universe." Having contributed to some of the brand's most historic and memorable campaigns, as Skol was one of the design studio's first clients, Andre explains that they decided to opt for "a more contextual approach" when celebrating the beer's 60th anniversary. This meant the illustrations focused on everyday life and popular references - the traditions and joy that Skol is associated with.

"For many years, Skol was considered the beer of the Brazilian summer, and this tradition remains strong," he says. "The innovation for us was to translate this feeling in a more direct way, with design and graphic refinement. We used popular objects with a design eye, simplifying the shapes and highlighting the colours. We created a kind of minimalism of the popular."

This wasn't the studio's first collaboration with GUT São Paulo - who Andre describes as, "An incredible agency, extremely creative and talented." The GUT team established many of the locations and scenarios for the illustrators to work with, before letting Black Madre work their magic. "Our job was to give these elements a look of design and sophistication, incorporating them into a visually appealing composition," says Andre. "GUT has always given us the freedom to develop the graphic proposal, valuing the creative process, which is a fundamental characteristic of the agency. We love working with them and are proud of everything that has been produced in this new partnership."

The studio's now 13-year partnership with the brand is equally important, as Andre explains that Skol has always evolved how it communicates with its customers, adapting to fluctuations in the market. "For us, this has meant evolving and adapting our work to communicate more effectively," he says. "Skol, in general, reaches a younger audience, and being up-to-date is part of its relationship strategy. This has led us to evolve as well, while remaining relevant in the market."