Lightning Labels Blog

Judging a Wine by its Label

A couple of weeks ago, Mike Carter reported on his Serious About Wine blog about a new study that was published last month in the Journal of Marketing.  Titled "Holistic Package Design and Consumer Brand Impressions", the main finding of the study is that yes, we do in fact judge a wine (and many other products) by its label.

Many studies have been done that have emphasized the importance of the label and packaging in wine and any other retail products, but this study went a step further. It tried to get answers to exactly how we are judging the packaging, and what factors are influencing our judgments.

The authors of the study, two marketing professors (one from Oregon and one from Germany), photographed 160 wine bottles. Then they showed these photos to 125 graphic designers to analyze the aesthetic attributes of each bottle. They sorted the designs into five primary design types: massive (or bold), contrasting, natural, delicate and nondescript. Then they showed the bottles to 268 consumers in Oregon, asking 15 questions about each bottle's brand personality. Not limiting the study to just wine, the researchers repeated the analysis with photos of 120 fragrance bottles.

The results of the study will assist brand managers in selecting or modifying package and label design for achieving desired consumer responses to their products. For example, the label pictured here for Wine by Joe is categorized as a massive design, and people found these designs eye-catching but they expected the product to be lacking in sophistication and to be less expensive.

If you are interested in learning more about this study you can read the full report here.

A Unique Case of Red Wine

At first glance the photo above is nothing unusual - a picture of a dozen bottles of red wine. But if you look at the labels you will see that each label has a slightly different design. These labels are the brainchild of Jeffrey Caldeway, a leading wine label designer in Napa, CA, who created these unique labels for St. Francis Winery's new wine called simply "RED".

RED is a reasonably priced wine aimed at the younger market, so Caldewey decided to do something completely different in order to catch their attention. He created 12 different red paint spatter pattern images for each of the 12 bottles in the case. So on the shelf in the liquor store customers will see different patterns on each bottle. To ensure that there were always 12 different labels in a case these labels had to be printed sequentially and then repeated down the roll so they could be applied to the bottles with their label applicator.

The only way to do this was through digital label printing. Now, to be clear Lightning Labels did not print these labels, but it is such an interesting use of variable image printing that I wanted to mention it here. It is a great example of leveraging digital label printing to enhance a brand. The overall design stays consistent, just one component of the label changes to give each label a unique look. When RED was launched it was ground breaking for the wine industry - no one had done anything like it before.

This is just one idea that you can use to create a truly unique label for your products. In the last issue of our newsletter, the Lightning Flash, I wrote about five product label ideas that can help you break through the clutter at the retail store. With digital label printing there are so many new opportunities for label and packaging designers that simply were not available a decade ago. Forward thinking companies like St. Francis Winery can really differentiate themselves by being one the first companies to leverage this new technology.

The European Wine Label Challenge

The wine labels above are bright, colorful and fun. Unfortunately, we didn't print them, they are Australian wines from the liquor store chain Liquorland. Last month the UK magazine, Design Week, featured these wine labels in an article about wine branding. Basically, they were saying that US and Australian wineries were leaving the Europeans behind with their fun and fresh wine label designs.

I don't think there is any product where the label is more important than in wine. As the article says, people often enter a liquor store with a price range in mind and have no idea what brand they will purchase. The visual appeal of the label can have a huge impact on whether or not a wine is purchased. If you were shopping for a white wine on a hot summer's day and came across the labels above, they would certainly catch your eye.

This is the challenge for anyone, whether it be a European winery or a small company selling soap at Whole Foods. If you want new customers to try your product, you have to have a compelling and visually appealing label.

A Huge Collection of Wine Labels

Over the holidays I stumbled upon this great collection of wine labels from all over the world. It may well be the largest collection of wine labels anywhere online. There are over a thousand different wine labels here conveniently sorted into around a hundred different categories.

If you are looking for inspiration for your wine labels or for that matter, any product labels, you can see some great examples here. The categories run the complete gamut, from violins (where I found the featured label above), to roses, sailing boats, ducks, snails and windmills and many more. You will see several examples of wine labels in each category.

It is a Swiss web site so European wines feature heavily, and all the wine labels have been scanned at a low resolution. But if you want to get some ideas to help you put your own labels together this is a great place to explore.

Cartoons on Wine Bottles

 

Stormhoek, the South African vineyard that has taken the world by storm with its unique blogging and marketing campaigns, is pushing the envelope again. This week Stormhoek sponsored the British Comedy Awards by providing the wine for all the tables of celebrities. But rather than just giving away their wine and letting that be the end of it, they created some special wine labels just for the occasion.

Seeing that the event was a comedy awards they decided to create new wine labels with cartoons from Hugh MacLeod of the GapingVoid (Stormhoek has worked with MacLeod as a consultant before and he has been responsible for some of their award winning marketing campaigns). But they didn't just do one cartoon, they produced 30 different cartoons, like the one featured above, on the wine labels. The whole idea was to get the celebrities swapping wine bottles and talking about the wine.

This is another great example of the innovative use of digital label printing. There is no need for every label to be the same - if Stormhoek had done that their wine would have had much less impact. You can make every label different and start getting people talking about your product.

A Unique Holiday Gift Idea

There are now less than 30 shopping days left until Christmas - but for those seeking corporate gifts there is even less time. Here is a simple idea for you that will be really appreciated by your customers or employees. I am talking about custom labeled wine as a Holiday gift. Lightning Labels has partnered with local Colorado winery, Bookcliff Vineyards, to bring you this special program.

To find out details about the program you can call Bookcliff Vineyards at 303-499-7301 or you can read their blog post about it. Above is an example of a wine label we have printed the last couple of years for the Flagstaff Star. Our in-house designer can help you create your very own design, so your gift can be truly unique. There is still time to order your custom labeled wine this Holiday Season, so why not do something different for your clients or employees this year.

Upside Down Wine Labels

I stumbled across this wine label last week and I thought it was pretty cool. It is such a simple idea and a great way to stand out on the shelf in the liquor store. The wine is called Kono Baru and it is from California wine maker Don Sebastiani & Sons. The wine pictured here is their Malbec, from the mountainous regions of Argentina.

The label designer used a simple technique of making the label appear upside down. The only part of the label that is not upside down is the blue box that is made to look like a tear off label. The blue label says "intentionally misplaced labels from well placed vineyards throughout the Southern Hemisphere." So they are making an obvious play on "down under" by using the upside down label. There are several varieties of Kono Baru and they all are sourced from vineyards in Chile, Argentina or Australia.

Making an upside down label wouldn't work for every product, but it works well here for these wine labels. They have kept the design simple and plain, which adds to the visual impact. There is an obvious reason why the labels are upside down and it becomes an integral part of the brand for this wine.

Mixed Reaction to Proposed New Alcohol Labels

The government has been mulling new labels for wine, beer and liquor for several years now. There has been a push to require more comprehensive information, similar to standard nutrition labels on food, on wine and beer labels and it appears this movement is gaining strength. Last week the government released its proposal for public comment.

All the big companies seem to be supporting these new changes. The folks over at Diageo PLC, the owner of such famous brands as Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker, have welcomed the move saying it is a "giant and very positive step in the right direction." Similarly Beam Global Spirits and Wine Inc., owners of many premium alcohol brands including Jim Beam Whiskey and Clos du Bois wines, had positive things to say, "we agree with the spirit of the government's efforts to provide consumers with more information."

Some people are concerned about the visual appeal on the labels of these new regulations. I pulled this graphic off Tom Wark's Fermentation Wine blog. It shows an exaggerated picture of the potential impact of these new changes. He says, "it appears that the future of wine labels may include a hefty dose of Ugly."

I completely disagree - here is my take on the new regulations. I realize that a beautifully designed wine label can have a huge impact on the success of a wine, and these new regulations should not change that. Most wine is labeled with both a front and a back label, and the front label can remain unchanged. So the visual impact of wine labels will not be impacted, the consumers will never even notice these changes unless they pick the bottle off the shelf and turn it around. And any designer worth their salt should be able to incorporate these new regulations unobtrusively into a small box on the back label.

Anyway, these changes won't be happening any time soon. The government is soliciting public comment until October 29. Then they will consider the changes and after they make the decision companies will have three years to comply with the new standards.

New Wine Packaging From Robert Mondavi

Today, the leading California wine maker, Robert Mondavi announced something completely new in the world of wine: the 12-pack. A mainstay of the beer and soda world for decades, you will now be able to buy a 12 pack of 187ml (around 6.3oz) wine bottles.

The wine industry has often lead the way when it comes to pushing the envelopes on labels and packaging. Many innovations, such as high resolution full color label printing, that we now take for granted began because of the demands of wineries.

This innovation makes perfect sense to me. Robert Mondavi is making it more convenient for their customers to consume their product. What I like is it provides a great example of one industry copying packaging ideas from another industry and adapting them to their own purpose. That is one of the easiest ways to come up with new and innovative packaging ideas, but it does take thinking outside the box.

You will see these 12-packs of Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in stores later this month. I expect they will be a big success and by the Holiday Season we will see a number of wineries offering these convenient 12-packs, or different variations on this theme.

Aussie Winery Using Numbered Wine Labels

On my recent trip to Australia one day my wife went out to get some wine for dinner, and she came back with a bottle of Polin & Polin Shiraz that was recommended by the clerk at the liquor store. Of course, I immediately looked closely at the label (as I always do with any product) and I noticed that they were using individually numbered wine labels.

So I decided to do a little investigating. I contacted Matthew Polin, one of the founders of the Polin & Polin Wines. They are a small family owned winery in a wine growing district northwest of Sydney. When I asked Matthew why he decided on going with individually numbered bottles he sited several reasons:
1. They wanted to emphasize that they are a low production, single vineyard winery.
2. Promotions to the members of the winery - they get a bottle corresponding to their member number.
3. To keep track of the bottles.

Now, numbering wine bottles is not a completely new idea, but there are still so few wineries doing it. An informal survey of my local liquor store revealed no wines with numbered labels. Today with the advanced digital label printing technology available this is very easy to do and not that much more expensive than regular labels. And it is a way to have your label stand out from the crowd. For a small winery like Polin & Polin I think it is a great idea, because it does give an exclusive and boutique feel to the wine.

By the way the Shiraz was truly outstanding, but unfortunately it is not available yet in this country. If you go down under, make sure you pick yourself up a bottle.