AJ Hackett Screamer Pilsner

Agency: True
Lead Designer: Matt Heays
Artwork and Photographer: Jamie Pettigrew
Senior Project Manager: Petra Qvist
Denny Monk: Retoucher
Project Type: Produced, Commercial Work
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Packaging Contents: Beer
Packaging Substrate / Materials: Glass bottle, paper adhesive
Printing Process: Offset and Block Foiling

The AJ Hackett – the maverick brand that brought New Zealand and the world the exhilaration of bungy, now brings you the perfect reward for your fearlessness… beer. And it’s a screamer.

The AJ Hackett Screamer is a pilsner sold exclusively in Queenstown. It’s full-bodied, wide-eyed, and screams out to anyone with a racing heart or an invincible attitude – for those who think life should be measured in decibels. ‘Screamer’ perfectly complements any of the AJ Hackett products – the name, inspired by the guttural reaction that erupts from a complete momentary divorce of body and mind.

The design itself is a nod to a punk/skate vibe, and this informed our approach. The main influences can be attributed to 90s skate graphics and low-tech relaxed illustration techniques – originally hand drawn, and then digitised.

As a complete package, it is deliberately unfussy. Although the Cyan blue references the primary brand colour, we weren’t bound by a specific set of rules or guidelines. The founders themselves were arrested multiples times, and we wanted our beer brand to celebrate this renegade attitude, which lives on to this day.

Barely days after it was launched, Screamer was outselling other craft beers in Queenstown, two-to-one.