The Show of the Year

A unique and memorable wine label is one of the simplest and most cost effective ways of getting wine buyers to give you a second look. We take a look at what you can achieve if you find the right shape.

So you know that you make a great wine, but unfortunately buyers who have never tried it, or don’t remember the brand from the last time they tried it, are blissfully unaware of that. All consumers can see are shelves stuffed full of hundreds of bottles of wine and the only thing to tell them apart is price, bottle shape, colour and label. So how do you make sure yours gets consideration?

Well clearly bottle shape and colour are the big stand outs. Slim and elegant or short and rustic–bottle shape gives a good indicator of what kind of wine you’re going to get, as does the colour of the glass and the label. But for many boutique wine makers, ordering a bespoke bottle just for them simply isn’t an affordable option.

So what have we got left? Well, research shows that the style, colour and shape of the label are hugely important. While many of your wine-savvy customers will be carefully choosing their wine according to grape, vineyard and vintage, plenty more, who only know they want a decent rich fruity red to go with steak, will be looking for other indicators of the experience they’re likely to get. And you’d be surprised how many use the aesthetics of the label as an indication of style and quality.

This is why so many wineries have now started to use unusual and creative label shapes; they can seriously help to tip casual or occasional buyers towards a sale. A label shape a shopper has never seen before, coupled with high quality, modern design, sends out a strong message about the confidence of your brand and the dedication to your craft. This is a particularly important indicator for younger buyers, who have a tendency to prefer wine brands with humour and originality rather than those that stick to old-fashioned, traditonal values.

Changing the label shape is also a pretty simple and cost-effective compared to changing the entire shape of the bottle, and when done well can have exactly the same knock-out effect. So why should you go for it? Number one because it’s a differentiator that will elevate your bottle over a number of pretty similar looking wines. And number two, because if you stick to a consistent, memorable shape that truly reflects your brand, your customers are much more likely to remember the quality of your wine and pick it again. Simple.

Why Outsourcing?
BenQ’s global branding and marketing operation is driven and managed from Taipei headquarter office. As the branding department distributes basic marketing materials like product photos & spec sheets to all other BenQ offices around the world, Localisation of these marketing materials to reinforce the local marketing strategy is critical.

“We always have tasks that requires an innovative touch from an experienced designer, it could be designing magazine advertisement for new products, or just small alterations to existing marketing materials. The work load is not enough to hire a full time in-house designer, and design agencies usually charge a fortune even if it is just takes 5 minutes to get it done, thats when we decided to use outsourcing.” explains Mr. Liu, Marketing & Sales Manager from BenQ Australia.

Why G&W?
The key difference would be ‘working together in person’, rather than spending hours trying to explain ideas & thoughts over the phone and emails, G&W have their designer/s onsite working with you.

“Timing is always crucial in our business, it is assuring that G&W have the capacity to send in additional designers to get the job done. Such efficiency & reliability is simply not possible from individual freelance designers.” says Mr. Liu.

The outcome
“G&W offers innovative & professional design services, working with G&W enables us to meet short deadlines, control the budget and hassle free, their broad range of design expertise also provides our sales team with more marketing support to their clients. The results are outstanding!” concludes Mr. Liu.

Oakway Estate - one of the award wining boutique winery in the heart of Geographe Wine Region of Western Australia. With generations of wine making history, the brand identity & packaging was due for a makeover. Approached by Wayne & Ria Hammond, the owners of Oakway Estate, the project was to bring wider recognition of this fine Western Australian wine to an audience outside its home region.

After we conducted an equity study and developed new brand positioning, inspirations were drew from different aspects of an actual oak tree to streamline the package design to reflect the brand’s heritage and values.

The new modern design, which portrays a sectional view of an oak trunk as well as the capital “O” from the name Oakway Estate, was well received from shelves to cellar doors. With a refreshed brand identity and clean illustration, the new label design created differentiation, and elevated the pride of this smart, authentic Australian brand.