There is no doubt that we’d be in a very worrying position if DeType hadn’t been able to react so quickly

Neil Wright

XYLO

Creative Direction, Branding, Animation,
Web Design, Web Development

Xylo is a microbrewery and tap room bar located on the seafront of Margate. Set up in August 2019, Xylo is the brainchild of friends Neil Wright and Ben Atkins, who quit the London rat race to turn their passion for good craft beer into more than just a hobby (a hobby of drinking beer)…

As a 100% offline business with no website when Covid-19 came knocking on the door, the pair knew they needed to act quickly to continue to serve the local community.

We’d always planned to have a website and online shop, but getting the beer brewed and the bar up and running was the priority. We figured we’d start to look at it in the next 12 months.”

Neil Wright
Owner, Xylo

With their existing revenue stream disappearing overnight and having been so impressed with the work DeType did on the brand creation and launch of Xylo, the pair didn’t hesitate to get in touch with Sam to work miracles.

In the background they worked on buying and figuring out a canning machine so their beer could be transported in something other than pint glass – important when delivering liquids…

THE CHALLENGE:

  • No website
  • No physical product or product content
  • No product photography – only stock images
  • No time – to lose or to give!

Within less than 1 week and with minimal ‘back-and-forth’, DeType got Xylo online – balancing the functionality of the website; giving customers the ability to order and checkout online, with the aesthetic; creating a seamless brand experience between the website and the tap room bar.

And people are loving it, with sales of their own brand beer outselling some of the ‘bigger’ names in craft beer they offer.

The response has been incredible, and our local community have been so supportive. Due to demand we’ve expanded our local delivery area and we’re starting to trial nationwide delivery with the hopes of launching that in the next couple of months.

Ben Atkins
Founder, Xylo

Whilst the circumstances haven’t been ideal, the last month has led to the acceleration of Xylo’s existing growth plans. The pair are already discussing phase 2 of the website for when they aren’t busy canning beer and driving around all the postcodes of Margate, and crucially aren’t conducting quality control tastings…

Xylo Promo Video
Credits: keeramsorrun.com

Neil recommends:

Olicana IPA – our newest addition to the Xylo offering is by far my favourite with flavours of passionfruit and lemon (shameless plug it is on the website now to buy for those that live locally).

#PowerMove:

Try it! Craft beer can seem quite intimidating, with not knowing where to start. But all our staff are really knowledgeable and we offer tasters… so I would say Try it – Taste it – Buy it

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