Nütrl Brand Guidelines: The One With the Umlaut

Nütrl made a diacritic its whole identity.

Nütrl is a lesson in turning one small mark into a brand. A vodka-soda that began at the Goodridge & Williams distillery in British Columbia, it was acquired by Labatt and rolled out in the US as Nütrl Vodka Seltzer by Anheuser-Busch (2021). Its pitch is simplicity: real vodka, seltzer and natural flavour, around 4.5% ABV, nothing to hide.

The design makes that simplicity literal. Nütrl runs ultra-minimalist cans with simple per-flavour colour bands — and one distinctive touch: the wordmark “NÜTRL” with an umlaut over the U, which the brand says evokes a smiling face. Its first national campaign was built entirely on it: “Nütrl. The One With the Umlaut” (2023).

(Honest notes: Nütrl is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev (via Labatt’s 2020 acquisition of Goodridge & Williams) — not Molson Coors and not Mark Anthony, two common mix-ups; it is a real-vodka seltzer, not malt; and the umlaut is deliberate brand identity, not a typo. No official brand hex is published.)

Nütrl lives in minimal pastels. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Nütrl’s identity is minimal, clean and pastel — a Nütrl blue, a slate, a mint, an off-white, and an ink. The palette is deliberately quiet and simple, matching a “nothing to hide” story: lots of white space, soft per-flavour colour. It signals a clean, uncomplicated drink rather than a loud one. The honest caveat: with no published brand hex, these tones are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party values.

The lesson is minimalism can carry a “simple ingredients” message. Nütrl’s world is white space and soft colour, so the pack looks as clean as the recipe reads. For designers, it is a reminder that visual simplicity can reinforce product simplicity — and that one small, ownable detail (the umlaut) can do the memorable work. The takeaways: keep the pack minimal to signal a simple product; own one distinctive detail; and treat any single hex as unofficial — using a slate for small text so the pastels stay soft.

The wordmark spirit is a clean sans — minimal, with an umlaut.

Nütrl’s identity carries a clean, minimal, quietly playful spirit — an all-caps “NÜTRL” wordmark whose umlaut over the U is the one bit of character. A clean sans captures the mood: it is simple and modern, the register of a brand whose whole story is “nothing to hide.” Set against soft pastels, the clean type feels uncomplicated and friendly — exactly the simple, umlaut-forward personality Nütrl carries. It is minimal rather than loud, mirroring a can with little on it. (Nütrl’s real wordmark — and the umlaut “Ü” — are trademarks we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact typeface is not published, so we don’t assert it.) Because the specific mark is not ours to use, the honest description is “a clean sans spirit, with an umlaut,” not the Nütrl logo. The type behaves like the brand: clean, minimal and a little playful.

Nütrl stands for the umlaut.

Nütrl is a lesson in making a tiny detail the brand. In a minimalist category, Nütrl found one ownable thing — the umlaut over the U — and built its identity and even a national campaign (“The One With the Umlaut”) around it, while the rest of the pack stayed clean to signal simple ingredients. A small typographic quirk became the memorable hook. The differentiator is a single, distinctive mark.

For designers and brand-builders, Nütrl offers a clear takeaway: one detail can be enough. The lessons: keep the system minimal so a single detail can carry it; make that detail ownable and repeatable (the umlaut, the smile it implies); and let simplicity of design echo simplicity of product. It is also a reminder to stay accurate: Nütrl is an Anheuser-Busch brand (not Molson Coors), a real-vodka seltzer, and the umlaut is intentional — with the palette here an unofficial interpretation. Nütrl owned its umlaut — proof that one detail can be the difference.

Keep Nütrl’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.