Branding and Packaging

Just the Drop’s strategy work and design agency Thirst Craft’s branding for Born & Raised Wines.

Wine Intelligence, in their recent report on global trends in 2020, indicated creative packaging as being one of the top five key areas for development this year. Having your products stand out in an increasingly crowded market is only the beginning – your labels need to reflect your brand and values on a deeper level. Here’s an example:

Born & Raised Wines, a small producer from Heathcote (and surrounds) in Central Victoria, Australia, recently won two international design awards for their labels:

Silver - Harper’s Design Awards (2019)

Bronze - World Brand Design Society Awards (2019/20)

Tatiana Fokina, one of the judges for the Harper’s awards, noted the creativeness displayed by wine labels: “Normally wine producers are far less adventurous than spirit producers. Wines dominated in certain categories. And it’s not only at entry-level wines, but more premium brands are doing something very interesting and very innovative.”

Born and Raised’s brand philosophy is based around terroir and the importance of provenance (the “born” aspect), and then how this is expressed and crafted by the winemaker (hence, “raised”). Or as the winery puts it: “it’s nature, nurtured.” Just the Drop advised on how to express this concept across the labelling of the brand, making the brand philosophy accessible for consumers. The labels reflect this with two elements each; a rougher, more natural splash of colour, and a shaped, circular element in contrasting colour. Printing and branding in bold white jump off this background. To further convey the ideas of “born” and “raised”, Just the Drop suggested segmenting the wine information under these two headings: “born” reflecting the terroir and conditions, and “raised” detailed how the winemaker crafted each wine. Labelling should be a visual representation of your brand’s identity, philosophy and values, and is your best medium for expressing these aspects. There’s certainly room to be creative whilst respecting your brand’s heritage.

As with the wider food and beverage industry, sustainability and traceability are important factors for millennial consumers, and methods to include this information (or access to it) on labelling should be a priority. If your production is vegan-friendly or has an organic certification, this is easily communicable on your packaging and will increasingly factor into purchasing decisions as awareness around these issues continues to build.

Interactivity is also a feature used to great success by wine brands. Australia’s 19 Crimes brand, which features famous criminals and convicts, uses the Living Wine Labels app to bring the brand’s labelling and stories to life for consumers. This increases the share-ability of the product and brand and creates a memorable experience for the consumer at no additional cost. Many brands are exploring this technology for sharing information about the products origin or the brand’s heritage.

Treasury Wine Estate’s “19 Crimes” wine, with the Living Wine Labels app.

We’ve partnered with Thirst Craft, a specialist design team who have extensive experience in packaging creation. For a discussion about what our strategy and their design thinking can create for your brand, get in touch with Just the Drop.