Built in Class, Sold as Craft
At Niagara College’s campus, students aren’t just learning about craft beverages, they’re making them. Award-winning beer, wine, cider, and spirits had already built a strong reputation locally, but the brands themselves felt fragmented, inconsistent, and disconnected from the larger story behind them.
Niagara College partnered with Cinnamon Toast to rethink how its growing craft beverage portfolio showed up in the world, not as separate student projects, but as a confident, cohesive craft brand built at the intersection of education, experimentation, and craftsmanship. The result was NC Craft: a bold new masterbrand designed to unify the portfolio while elevating perception across retail shelves, hospitality environments, and consumer experiences.
From Fragmented to Focused
We worked closely with leadership, faculty, students, alumni, distributors, consumers, and industry partners to better understand how the portfolio was perceived, where opportunities existed, and what emotional territory the brand could uniquely own. Several themes surfaced quickly: the products deserved a more refined and sophisticated presence; the educational story needed to feel like a differentiator, not a disclaimer; consumers responded strongly to authenticity, experimentation, and craftsmanship; and a unified system was needed to connect the portfolio together.
Goals:
Bring beer, wine, cider, and spirits together under a single cohesive masterbrand that clearly connects back to Niagara College.
Shift perception from student-produced work to a premium craft portfolio rooted in innovation, education, and expertise.
Create a scalable brand system designed to support future growth, consistency, and recognition across all touchpoints.
A Brand Built to Scale
More than a visual refresh, NC Craft was designed as a long-term brand platform capable of evolving alongside Niagara College’s growing craft beverage program. The identity system was intentionally structured to support future product launches, seasonal releases, collaborations, retail expansion, and experiential activations while maintaining consistency across every touchpoint. From packaging and merchandising to hospitality environments and digital storytelling, the brand was built to scale without losing clarity or recognition.
Designed for Shelf Presence
Cinnamon Toast developed a cohesive visual and packaging strategy designed to improve recognition, strengthen consistency, and elevate perception across retail environments. The new system balanced sophistication with approachability, creating a stronger presence across beer, wine, cider, and spirits while allowing each product line to retain its own personality. The result was a more confident and visually unified portfolio capable of standing alongside established craft brands in market.
The Impact
NC Craft unified Niagara College’s craft beverage portfolio into a cohesive masterbrand, elevated its perception from student-led production to a premium craft offering, strengthened consistency across all product lines and touchpoints, and established a scalable brand system designed to support long-term growth, recognition, and expansion.
