Via Row read a post on the basic postures, ubiquitous communication wine around the world. According to its author, wine is a quintessential product category because it has an inordinate competition on the shelves of stores and because it occupies a privileged place in the privacy of the consumer to sit at his table every day.
What position is preferred by customers and producers? It depends. Europeans take hundreds of years for the same positions and so far convinced. But the winds blow from the New World and renewed zeal demystifying the air of a young and experimental market that is not identified with the image of wine taking mom and dad. They are curious, try new packaging and are not falling the rings instead open a bottle corkage. Designers are responsible for taking appropriate positions so that the hand is extended to the product through an image that leave a trace in memory. It is the responsibility of quality wine producers who create and the quality / price set.
We translated the article by Tony Auston. Here we let him. It therefore both traditional and experimental for the curious.
Packaging: the development behind a wine label.
Ten positions in brand positioning through the eyes of a designer.
Wine is a product category par excellence. It has to compete on the shelves of stores hundreds of identical products, so they must fight at all costs for consumer attention. It is one of the few products that sit at the table while it is consumed, permitting a more careful and close.
As designers and brand, these two characteristics, not only challenge us to seek immediate attraction but also to provide information that may be disclosed in a more polite. Allows a seductive approach. It is the perfect opportunity to reinforce the brand positioning, to get the message and encourage repeat purchases. Considering the high competition that exists on the shelves, the first impression is crucial and in most cases, is formed exclusively by the image of the product.
As brand designers and we are responsible for purchasing for the first time. Once you convince the consumer to try the product, we delegate the responsibility of repeat purchase in the producer and established the relationship between quality and price. But we must admit that our ongoing responsibility because it is important that first impressions last, memorable, encouraging consumers to repeat purchase and place the mark easily.
Brand image:
Beyond the ten brands of wine sold in terms of reputation and reviews in journals, the most important aspect of a product is its image. Initially it was built through the design of the package. It consists of a number of elements combined in a certain way up the gestalt of the brand. It is not only the label is the union of the type of bottle, cork, capsule, closure, boxes for shipping, and materials used and visually build brand image. These are the basic elements that come together to create an accurate picture for the consumer, no less a task considering the size of the competition.
As designers, our daily challenge is how to detect attributes that differentiate each brand. Given the myriad of brands out there competing on the shelf if you can understand the importance to be given the knowledge of our clients and customers of our clients. This learning is based on in-depth interviews with customers, recording every detail, paying attention to what the let us make the best leverage to tell his story to the world. We study the competence to know how to fit within a particular sector and also detect the elements that differentiate the brand.
The fact that no two faces alike and we can recognize someone who once saw two or three years may be a mystery to most of us, yet it is the same mechanism that explains why a brand recall for so long. Each brand has its own face, a single path and a story. This should be reflected in your package to ensure that once introduced, it is easy to remember and be recognized.
It can distort these attributes through brand specific categories, which, above all must be divided by price range. Within each range can be as many sub-categories such as stories to be told and faces to be seen. Some will have individual stories, more intimate, producers and family tradition. While other criteria will be positioned for marketing focused on attracting a specific target consumer.
There are a number of positions to be taken to focus on a certain position. I understand how I will play 10 common to all cases and are very effective and viable in themselves.
The Brand Positioning:
Traditional: represents the position of older, more common and more secure. This look is traditional in European wine labels, which has not changed much over the last hundred years. Classical Roman style, which appeals to the engraving, usually with scenes from the vineyards or the winery, on a cream background, appeals to a certain demographic and all price ranges. It appeals to those who feel that the way it should be the image of a wine. While insurance is the most common look and shared by most of the competitors. Then on the other hand, does not contribute much to differentiate and to impose a brand among many.
In a price range under this represents what might be considered a "safe buy" by a novice wine consumer. It gives them security when choosing a wine to bring to a dinner or serve your guests. In the intermediate range of prices this becomes less desirable position. There are too many struggling small and medium producers in this segment that do not have enough scale to ensure a minimum retail sale in the local market and do not have enough economic power to promote themselves through advertising. For all this it is essential that as a brand is not diluted and that their stories can be told quickly and seductive. And this is very difficult to do when the package fails to differentiate itself from the others.
In the highest rank, the traditional look can be supported by a story about the tradition in production methods in the future and act as a reinforcement of an image referred to a higher quality wine. In the segment of the New World, especially in California, to anchor the brand in the lineage factor is positive if we speak of a cellar over 30 years with a successful reputation in creating high quality wines.
Ancestry: ancestry reflexes or longevity of a brand. Closely linked with the traditional positioning, this look is generally used by those brands that without having the fortune it takes to assume a certain pedigree, wants to evoke a feeling in your image and look of the pre-prohibitionists.
The label design is certainly conservative and traditional looks. A monogram or coat of arms is so often the focal point and is positioned just above the mark which is usually the name of the family.
More is more: it increases the perceived value of the brand by creating a sense of omnipresence. It can be purchased in all kinds of point of sale less the top level, assuming the image of a wine whose price range is one or two steps further than your own. At the low end this is done through the sometimes excessive use but masterful prints in gold embossed with pictures of the chateau and the vineyards. Again, this category represents a safe purchase for a buyer inexperienced.
Boutique: evokes the look and feel of a small-scale production and limited edition. To most people like to think that the wine they are buying is made from a traditional way by a real person who has a small area of vineyards and a winery welcoming, implanted in a charming and romantic region. Beyond this is true or not, this look can follow different paths of realization. The use of a type of paper pulp, bitten edges of the labels, bucolic image printing, and the use of soft colors.
While still essentially boutique, this style can be offset by the small brand, extreme, underground, they develop other strategies to draw attention to their products.
Wine demystified: the presentation of wine as a drink for mass consumption. Nothing worse for a young wine consumers whose image is the same as that of the wines that made their parents as they grew. The demystification of wine through its packaging, appealing to a wider market than the Gen-Y and the Millennials, but these two groups tend to be the main focus of this position.
The tendency is to get rid of conventions; use names and pictures more intelligent and irreverent, non-traditional graphic styles and bright colors. Thus was born a new category of wine that frees him out to be something for a special occasion to drink more, a commodity.
Obviously, this strategy of positioning is a landmark within the wine industry has had unprecedented growth thanks to the younger consumers. Often seen as a gateway for brand positioning, like it or not, will become parents. With this metamorphosis, it is hoped and believed that incorporate wine into their daily lives, and as they mature, they will enter to consume higher quality wines and more money.
New World is almost all looks less traditional European brands. This category is somewhat synonymous with demystifying wine and led the transformation of shopping came in a consumer product.
Labels and positioning strategies fun and irreverent were developed by Australian wine producers and imitated all over the world achieving great success. The effect was so powerful, that had a negative impact on the sale of French wine and forced the producers to update their image.
This type of label is evolving, but the underlying ideology remains, mutating into forms that take as many addresses as the imagination scope to produce.
Added to this is that this position has evolved naturally into the alternative use of packaging and packaging. In the U.S., the rock is not afraid to serve a Sauvignon Blanc with screw cap, in fact is well regarded by those who are "inside the move". The same applies to different types of containers, bottles, boxes, tetra paks, PET and aluminum containers. Consumers are very open to these alternatives and have fun experimenting.
Curiosity provocative inviting curiosity through our innate need to know. This type of positioning develops a work of art on the label may be rare or may not be interpreted immediately. Applicable in positioning brands with medium and high. It is critical that the design is striking enough to arouse curiosity, either verbally or enticing the consumer to lift the bottle to get a closer look.
Wine lovers are displayed as they are sharing their knowledge and discoveries with friends and family. This position reinforces the authority on the subject of those who would claim to be "inside" of a brand beyond what is strictly within the bottle.
Tell a story, evoking the history behind the brand. To the extent that we always have on hand a salesperson to consult, this positioning allows an approach through significant conceptual solutions that can evoke clearly the essence of the brand from the shelf in the store. If we have the privilege of a salesperson in a retail store, then the package functions as a visual aid to describe the attributes of the brand.
There are stories of all kinds, but most issues touching the family tradition: the tastes of the owners, ranging from fly fishing to symphonic music, collector cars, etc., the terroir, the specificities of the vineyards , historical aspects of the region. You can appeal to all types of graphics to tell the story. From a geographic positioning system maps of the property, to soundtracks, symbols, or whatever it takes to tell the story.
The back label information is very valuable and can serve to reinforce the story. Although very important in the wines of medium and high position, are important for all price ranges.
Detract from the elegance, reflecting the highest quality through a minimalist approach to design. The polar opposite of more is more. In our study we refer to as the formal announcement of the look of white labels or beautiful. Brands are best for midrange and high and have the privilege to be coveted by consumers. It is generally found in stores or restaurants top high end.
With limited production, good reputation and reviews in leading journals, these brands do not need to shout his name, everyone will search. The package will build self-confidence of the consumer for an expensive purchase and in some cases boast of this austerity.
These designs are usually on white paper with the name, the name, variety and vintage typography presented with a simple, all in one or two colors. Without art, without gold, unadorned.
Contemporary: building the perception of advanced practices in the creation of wines through a partnership with leading-edge thinking in art and design. Excluding ancestry category, the rest of the categories take a modern approach, although the block is best for him to downplay elegance.
While in the past this position was reserved for premium wines, now transcends price differentiation and to the extent that the retail environment and consumers are increasingly considered, it works both in stores and exclusive shops or grocery stores.
There is a niche for everyone: to the extent that the world is getting smaller, people feel more confident to express themselves in what makes them unique in their individuality. This has allowed the wine industry to micro marketing in a defined and bounded demographic areas and create wines specially targeted to their tastes and interests.
In the field of soft drinks, there are two brands that fight over most of the market and develop commercial images. The wine is on the opposite side. We create hundreds of thousands of producers around the world whose businesses have the most varied dimensions. This is what allows wine labels and wine marketing to maintain their individuality and creative approaches. Integrity. There has been defeated and homogenized to appear on the lowest common denominator.
They are small producers who have the privilege to speak in a more risky and creative. While they can respond to risk, may appear with more quirky packaging that can be created. As unique as might appear, the closer to a market sector as specific as your brand. For example if we put a sailboat on a tag you can ensure that the boating community will be tempted to approach the bottle.
As the cola giants, the major brands of wine production are the need to move large volumes from one harvest to another. This makes great efforts are not made or run risks in the development of the image. This results in a loss of creativity and gives a commercial brands sold in supermarkets and grocery type stores. That said, the beauty of wine marketing is that even the most commercial brands can be presented in what makes them unique difference and through a most interesting packaging.
All positions above represent only a handful of possible categories for strategic brand building built to last. Finally, there is a wrong position to the extent that development is really behind it thought, to consciousness. Must communicate the essence of the brand in an effective, attractive, so you can highlight on your shelf and be easily recognized for future purchases. And above all things he should say, "I am the wine, take me".
