Beer maker South African Breweries (SAB) has revealed a new logo and slogan as part of a holistic brand repositioning campaign.

The new logo features a gold circle that transitions into a red line, which intersects with a red typeface to form the letters SAB. The new typeface was designed so that the 'AB' pays direct homage to the logo of SAB’s parent company Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev.

“The gold speaks to the liquid that is the very bedrock of our business. We love beer. We're passionate about beer. The red speaks to the passion that we embody. We are passionate about propelling our country forward. That's our purpose.

“The transition from gold to red speaks to the magic that happens when our passion meets our purpose,” SAB corporate brand director Sphe Vundla explained at the launch event on November 16 in Johannesburg.

Along with the new logo, a new slogan was also coined for the company: “To a future with more cheers”.

This is the first brand repositioning for the company in more than 20 years, SAB CEO Richard (Boris) Rivett-Carnac told Engineering News, noting that the new brand logo was a visual articulation of the brand’s purpose espoused in the new slogan.

“This is an admittedly overdue reintroduction of SAB to South Africa to articulate a dream that we have ignited from within with our workforce. Beer has played a significant role in our culture and society. It has become a part of who we are,” Vundla said, noting SAB’s 127-year history in South Africa.

SAB supports more than 250 000 jobs throughout its value chains, with another 40 000 jobs expected to be created over the next year, Rivett-Carnac said.

“We have committed to invest R4.5-billion during the current financial year. I'm proud to say that we can invest more than that this year,” he said, referring to the investment that was revealed at the Africa Investor Conference in March.

About R650-million will be invested at the SAB Prospecton Brewery, in KwaZulu-Natal, to expand its facilities. This investment would generate 24 000 jobs through the full value chain, Rivett-Carnac said.

A further R270-million will go towards upgrading the SAB Ibhayi Brewery, in the Eastern Cape.

Additionally, Rivett-Carnac noted that significant investment had been committed to bolster the local bottle-making aspect of the business, stating that R2-billion of the R4.5-billion commitment went into buying glass from two key suppliers.

“Our big dream is to contribute meaningfully to the growth of South Africa. We are very optimistic and positive about the future of the country. This repositioning is really about that big dream, and speaks to us getting the strategy right so that we can achieve it, which is important. This repositioning is the start of that,” he said.