Wine Packaging Design – how much does it matter?
for Grapegrower & Winemaker magazine
I was interviewed by wine journalist, Paul Le Lacheur, to discuss my thoughts on wine packaging design for The Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker magazine – Australia’s longest established wine industry publication. Original interview below. Read the full 4-page article on pages 66–69 in the March 2021 edition by subscribing here.
Is there such a direct effect between label design & market perception or product reception?
There is an extremely strong correlation between label design and the how a wine product is received by consumers.
A statement I often hear from winemakers approaching me is “my distributor said my labels need improving to help them sell more product”.
Quite simply, it’s difficult to sell wine if it’s poorly presented. The overall presentation of a wine greatly influences purchase, and it is also contextual. If a wine is intended to quaff at home then label design may not be as high a consideration, though when purchased for a specific occasion packaging design becomes of utmost importance. Wine packaging sets a tone that says as much about the purchaser as the product itself.
Consider how people purchase different labels for different occasions – be it an ultra-premium label for a gift to impress, a fun and hip label that will get attention at a party, or an intriguing label that will spark dinner table conversation with friends. I often hear someone present a wine at a dinner party and say “I haven’t tried this one before, but I liked the look of the label”.
An interesting label can nudge a consumer to pick a new bottle off the shelf, and providing the wine is to their taste, they may end up being a long-term repeat customer.
Are those cues visual, emotional or aesthetic?
A combination of visual, emotional and aesthetic cues come into play when wine is selected for purchase.
Firstly the label has to look the part. Questions we unconsciously ask ourselves at the point of purchase are things such as, “does it look like good value and high quality for the price point?”, “does it reflect my own personal style?”, “will it impress those I will be sharing it with?”.
Time-tested visual cues such as gold foil and cursive fonts are often used to instil a sense of tradition and quality, while custom embellishments such as wax seals or printed ribbons may suggest something truly special, and bright artistic illustrations may suggest a fun wine made for drinking with friends.
We look to packaging cues to gain a sense of what’s inside the bottle as well as what occasion it may best suit. Our perception of these visual cues triggers an emotional response – something that varies from person to person depending on our past experiences and views of the world. Some may emotionally interpret a label design as rare and premium, while other may interpret the same label as dull and uninspiring.
It is important to have a clear focus on a defined target market for your product and to design the aesthetics of your packaging to appeal to them specifically. Label design acts as a bridge connecting winemakers and consumers.
Are certain label designs just not suited to certain bottle shapes or glass packaging design cues?
Custom glass bottles are a great way to project the uniqueness of a brand, though some label designs are simply not suited to certain bottle shapes or glass packaging. Paper labels generally require a completely flat surface for proper adhesion to avoid creasing, bubbling or lifting. Premium and custom glass bottles often have a reduced flat surface area, requiring designers to get creative with label size and shape. They also need to work closely with printers and bottling lines for the planning of designs that will actually work practically on application.
If you only had 1 question to ask your winery customer, what would it be? Why so?
If I only had one question to ask my winery clients, it would be “What are you hoping to achieve?”.
Surprisingly the answer may not always be to sell more wine. For example, the winemaker may be wanting to shift existing market perceptions, or build a specific reputation. Exploring this simple question and designing with the desired outcome in mind helps create winning results.
Many questions need to be asked and answered before a designer can hit the nail on the head of a wine label brief and create a highly successful end product. The more a designer knows about their client’s business, brand, customers and competitors the better. Deep insights lead to unique solutions and positive outcomes.
Chicken 'n egg question. Which comes first in the marketing design mix, bottle or label?
This depends on what stage the brand is at in the winemaking process.
Often a wine will already be bottled and sitting in cleanskins by the time I’m approached to assist. In this case the bottle is already decided so the label is designed to suit.
Other times it is a blank slate and an open brief before the wine has been bottled, allowing the glass to be factored in as part of the overall design. This is the ideal situation as it allows all elements of the packaging to be considered as a unified whole for the creation of a truly unique expression of the brand. Both glass and label design play an important role in shaping consumer perceptions and selling wine.
As much as people like to think their decisions aren’t affected by labels, in general wine consumers are highly influenced by the psychology of packaging design, being more than happy to pick up and try a new wine just because “I liked the look of the label”.