Blue Moon made a drastic design change to get millennials' attention

Blue Moon is launching its biggest rebrand in 20 years.

The MillerCoors brand that calls itself the "No. 1 craft beer in America" is doubling down on the "craft" aspect of its marketing, with a brand revamp and a new series of ads.

"Now in our 21st year, we've had an opportunity to reflect on where we've been and how to stay in touch with today's changing craft beer consumer," the company said in a press release.

The ad campaign represents a shift from Blue Moon's previous beer-focused message of "Artfully Crafted" to "Something's Brewing," which focuses on creativity, according to a company representative.

New branding removes "dark" elements of packaging, resulting in a lighter, more retro-inspired logo.

"Since the drinker's world has evolved quicker than our creative expression, our articulation of creativity started to feel old and heavy," the press release said. "It became clear we needed to recruit new consumers into craft, and welcome drinkers into a beer that is both confident and playful, sophisticated and fun."

New packaging will hit shelves April 1.

The brand revamp clearly is doubling down on Blue Moon's craft elements - despite protest from the craft-beer industry that only independent brewers can be considered craft. To top off the brand's craft-inspired efforts, MillerCoors is opening a new Blue Moon brewery in Denver, with plans to build a facility with an annual capacity of 10,000 barrels.

The rebranding follows Bud Light's makeover, announced last December, which similarly emphasizes craft elements of the brew.

"Our inspiration for the design was very much looking forward, while finding inspiration in our past," Bud Light vice president Alexander Lambrecht told Business Insider.

Of course, many craft brewers seen big beer's attempts to classify brands owned by major companies as craft as inauthentic.

"Acquisitions go against the very nature of craft beer - by commoditizing it, big companies are pulling the wool over customers' eyes," Sarah Warman, the craft brewer BrewDog's head of marketing, told Business Insider. "We support craft, and craft breweries should be independent, not bastardized by megacorporations who will compromise the quality of the beer to cut corners, cut people, and make a profit."