I wanted to go last year, but my day job is demanding, and my schedule wouldn’t allow me to attend. I heard great things and was looking forward to this year, 2023.
BOPP, short for Biaxially-Oriented (BO) Polypropylene (PP), a favorite for label printing on beauty and personal care products, household products, food and beverage, and you guessed it! Beer labels!
The BOPP Beer Design Conference isn’t just another annual conference – it’s a convergence point for the brilliant minds at the crossroads of design and beer. This event draws in a vibrant community of artists, marketers, and creatives who come together with a common passion for inspiration and knowledge sharing.
At BOPP, the spotlight shines on the pivotal role design plays in shaping the beer industry. It’s a platform that thrusts some of the most intriguing creators into the limelight, fostering candid discussions and introspective dialogues on topics like craftsmanship, industry trends, and the art of building compelling brands.
This years conference, just like the first one last year, took place in the beautiful Greenhouse Loft in Chicago’s buzzing Logan Square neighborhood.
Huge shoutout to Tom Paynter from No Label for paying for me to visit! I got to connect with Chris Hernandez, Kevin Dyer, and Shannon Parker, a few other talented folks that also serve No Label’s creativity.
Who Spoke at the BOPP Beer Design Conference This Year?
The speakers were vast and curated perfectly. Some had big name drops like Goose Island, AB, and Wicked Weed.
Some had experience with local powerhouses that were noteworthy because of their quality despite a smaller scale.
Where others were much smaller with a single location and only a few SKUs in retail packaging.
Some weren’t even from the beer world, but they came with a unique approach that could be applied to craft beer successfully.
Kim Vavrick Senior Manager of Communications, A-B Craft
This Year’s BOPP Beer Design Conference Was a Blast
Before the event even began, I would’ve given it a 5/5. I received an email asking about allergies. I responded, and was reassured that there’d be something for me.
That alone is pretty special.
Then I received an email a few weeks later with the actual menu for both days, asking for confirmation that I’d be able to eat. Wow. That’s real love, y’all. This set the tone for the event, and it didn’t skip a beat from there on.
Once I arrived at Ravinia Brewing for the kickoff meet & greet, it got even better. So many kind faces, good beer, and good food.
Then the sessions began, and it was amazing. Although I consider myself an artist, a creative, I definitely find most of my strength in the marketing applications of that creativity.
That’s why I loved the session: Understanding the Human Behind the Consumer Faith Hurley and Stacey Callighan of PinPoint Collective.
I’ll try to be back next year, and I hope that those of you that are in the creative/marketing space will join me. I’ll be honest, as somebody with nearly 15 years of experience, I expected to be more entertained than educated, but it was a perfect balance of both. I also made some cool connections, and second only to Matt Tanaka, I’m on my way to being the most connected person in the craft beer industry! Hah!
Beers to you, Houston and creatives around the world,
Anthony's a Houston native, a Creative Strategist at https://ledgeloungers.com/, an adjunct instructor of Visual Communication at Lone Star College, and a UH Coog that loves good beer almost as much as he does his city. Anthony lives to help others and that's found a home helping some of the coolest breweries on earth with creative and marketing projects that can be seen on our Portfolio page. Fueled by hoppy lagers, sessionable IPAs, and gangster rap, he's ticked his way through H-Town, rocking the most unusual Nikes he can find. When he's not writing for us, he's with his family or very patiently rooting for the Rockets.
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