November 15, 2005
stormhoek label update
[The back label of a Stormhoek bottle, with the wee semicircle “Feshness Indicator”.]
A couple of days ago, in order to drive the thinking about the Stormhoek project forward, I started a little impromptu “New Label Design” contest.
Wow. It generated over fifty comments and about two dozen e-mail submissions.
Thanks a lot for everyone who contributed to it. Seriously.
One person, Michelle, left a pretty interesting comment:
So sorry Hugh, don’t want to burst your bubble — but you probably should have given people some boundaries to work within. I work in the wine industry and the label is one of the most regulated areas in the industry. The last thing you want to do is spend time and money on a label only to find it won’t be approved for sale in say the UK or US!! It’s all well and good to think outside the square — but it’s worth knowing your limitations too.
Well the good news is, we know all about wine label regulations and know how to work within them. But the purpose here wasn’t to save money on lable design– the purpose here was more of an intellectual exercise between my readers and myself in order to shake things up a bit.
It’s hard to know what other people are thinking unless you ask them first.
So where are we now? We’re still sifting through all the great ideas we received. Lots to think about. But this is what we’re currently thinking:
At the back of every bottle there’s a wee semi-circle called “The Freshness Indicator” (It’s that little green & yellow thing in the photo). Basically it tells you the dates when the wine is at its best to drink, i.e. when it’s at its freshest. Instead of saying “Best before October, 2006″, it tells you “Best drunk between Feburary and October, 2006″. It’s a nice little device that works, and works well.
A few weeks ago we were at a consumer wine show, pouring out free samples (Yay! Free Alcohol!), telling people all about the wine, and the Freshness Indicator is the part of the story everybody seemed to click on right away.
There are only three snags.
1. It’s small. Almost invisible. And yet it’s so central to what the whole “Freshness Matters” schtick is all about.
2. It’s on the back of the bottle. You don’t see it until you’ve got the bottle in your hand and are already reading the back label.
3. It’s not exactly a [cough] classy design.
So we are thinking:
1. Make it big and easy to read.
2. Make it the central motif on the front wine label.
3. Make the design more pleasing to the eye. Classy and engaging etc. After all, even at the $10 price point, wine is aspirational.
At the wine show, we were telling the Stormhoek story the Feshness Indicator etc, and people liked it. But it was taking thirty seconds to verbally transmit.
We need to visually tell the same story, in the supermarket aisle, in three seconds or less.
Is it a risky strategy? Of course. Maybe people won’t dig it, especially the wine snobs/geeks. But maybe there’s more people out there who are looking for the “Smarter Conversation” thing, than are out there trying to do the wine-snob geek thing.
But a wee voice tells me if this works, it’ll REALLY work. Far better than the standard cutesy-designer-aspirational wine label you normally see.
And if not, we’re screwed. But hey, that’s usually the way.
Regardless, the conversation moves forward. The Label Design project with the blogosphere moves to Phase Two. Any thoughts?
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Hugh,
It may be stretching the “good time to drink” concept a bit, but how about a label that actual “tells time”? It could “measure” freshness … sort of like some of the gauges that they build into disposable batteries. Such a label would likely cost more than a “normal” label, but it would certainly be worth talking about ! And I’m guessing the technology is possible (with new circuitry on flexible substrates)!
Dave (Mr.GadgetUSA)
Reminds me a little too much of the Budweiser “Born-On-Date” freshness thing. Anyone who knows anything knows Budweiser is going to taste like the same watery beer whether it’s 2 hours, two weeks, or two years, or two decades old. Of course it’s different with wine, but the concept seems to similar to me. I’m not a wine snob by any stretch of the imagination, but overplaying the “best dates to drink” would probably turn me off.
If I’m buying a $10 bottle of wine, it’s to drink tonight or within a week. If it’s on the shelf, it better be best to drink it then.
D’accord Ben, but wine is different than beer.
Beer is best drunk ASAP after its bottled (Drink Carlsberg in Copenhagen, where its made, if you don’t believe me). But each wine will have its own “best” window depending on a WHOLE host of factors. And frankly, not a lot of thoguht and effort goes into telling the customer when that window is.
I agree with Ben in that most wine buyers are probably like me. They buy a bottle for that night, the weekend or whatever. they’re not really that interested in when it is the ‘right’ or ‘best’ time to drink it.
I guess at a Wine show you don’t meet people like Ben and me. You meet people who know alot about wine and are probably bored of the same old labels etc. So they’re bound to be interested in soemthing a bit whacky.
The freshness thing is a nice gimmick, but I think there’s a significant danger that that’s all it will end up being — even if it is beautifully designed. Buyers are still gonna drink the wine a few hours or days after they buy it regardless.
So it is a risky strategy in that Stormhoek could well wind up being the “Oh that’s the wine with the gimmikcy label” thing.
from what you and Stormhoek have said previously, at this end of the price range, i’m guessing that the wine snob isn’t interested in Stormhoek. and so i think the support aspect [for the novice] is crucial.
drink this when?
best drunk in the next five minutes, five days, before the weekend, before the year’s end.
got chicken in your basket? get some of this chardonay, chill it for as long as your chicken is roasting and drink it before your gravy has congealed.
is that beef in your trolley? buy this robust merlot and don’t be afraid the broccolli will overpower your wine.
if freshness matters tell them on the front of the bottle, and educate them as to why it matters, sel them the brand on the back once they’ve picked it up.
when all the wines on that shelf are priced within the same range what is it that makes you choose? you’ve either had it before [and remember it being OK] or the label catches your eye. after all they’re probably all the same colour [bottles or wine] and the only differentiation between them is the label. starting the conversation by helping has got to be better than trying to bluff them with another stylish label that speaks expense and delivers plonk. be honest, don’t bluff, but do let everyone know the information: drink now, best with…
it’s not a gimmick when it’s a help, or has the integrity to know it’s place. that would be fresh ideas… honesty in advertising
keep things simple, answer the question that the customer has on the tip of it’s tongue, and don’t do what the others are doing otherwise you’ll get their clients
Adrian
Can we see a better scan of the current indicator to see how it currently works…?
I would still keep the indicator on the back of the bottle and ‚indeed make it bigger. Something I saw this weekend in a Deli in Brussels (www.lepainquotidien.com) was a wine bottle with a black & white photo on the cover(which you don’t see that often) and underneath it said something like: ‘best wine for a Picnic”. It comes close to the idea of giving people info on when to buy because you’re telling him for what occasion you can buy it. Just a tought.
How Fresh?
A while back, I signed up for the Stormhoek blogger’s wine freebie. Not the initial round, as I’m not that into wine, but there’s a limit to the amount of time I can pass up free alcohol… I ended up…
1) you assume this concept of freshness matters to people, there’ll be some who don’t care and others who associate it with overly young wine. Once they’ve tatsed the wine they’ll make their own judgement.
2) By focussing on freshness, you’re focussing on one product attribute — that reeks of old style market segmentation to me and is at odds with where this project started.
Being remarkable is not about being remarkable at one product aspect — it’s about being remarkable in everything associated with the product.
“Being remarkable is not about being remarkable at one product aspect — it’s about being remarkable in everything associated with the product.“
Actually, John, being remarkable is about being easy for others to remark upon. QED.
“Best drunk between Feburary and October“
Now there’s something I could get tatooed on my ass.
Freshness and quality wine just don’t go together in the minds of most $10/bottle-wine drinkers. We are all taught that wine must be properly aged, and that old wine is better wine (whether or not it’s true). I think saying a wine is fresh is the same as screaming “Cheap Wine!“
If it were my label, I’d say “Properly Aged” or “Time to Drink” or “Blow the dust off this baby and enjoy.“
Orson Welles infamously shilled: “I sell no wine before its time.” Yes, it’s played, but it’s a better message.
Hi Hugh
I would put the indicator at the top of the bottle. That way, it is visible at almost every angle. If the window of freshness is a few months, you might even do a seasonal theme (e.g., people in the suburbs tend to hang seasonally appropriate decorative flags out every few months).
The challenge with the freshness indicator is that it might limit the shelf life of the bottle. However, since Stormhoek is not on the shelf of my favorite liquor store, this is not too much of an issue yet.
I had another unrelated thought. I tend to drink $10 wine and give $20 – 25 wine as gifts. For the $10, the screw top is much more convenient. I would want a cork in any bottle I would give. Not sure where your client’s price lands.
How about a temperature sensitive portion on the label and include that in the freshness indicator. The label would change color if high or low temperature thresholds are exceeded.
I’m sure Stormhoek is familiar with vendors offering guaranteed sale of stock. Therefore stores should not be worried about product going bad if the distributor is taking the bulk of the risk.
http://www.rhvactools.com/weekly/serviceaid.htm
the above is not a food product example but these labels can be changed a number of ways chemically to fit an appropriate threshold.
.… damn, someone beat me to the idea:
http://italianwinelabels.com/articles/04/ink.html
I still liked what you said before. Something disruptive. Somethign to talk about. Something that is not about the wine.
How about a label with a lightning bolt on it?
http://images.google.com/images?q=lightning
Or something else stormy:
http://images.google.com/images?q=storm+cloud
“Enjoy the storm.“
If you are shooting for the untapped customers who don’t understand and don’t usually drink wine… (mainly me) you have to be looking for someone who walks down the isle looking for down to earth product that will offer an altered state with a sense of class. Someone who is looking to broaden their horizons, instead of buy another pack of Becks.
I have about as much hope of becoming a hoidee toidee wine selector, with this fancy word or that, as I do desire. (which is to say, none at all)
However, I love a good thunder storm when it does not overstay its welcome.
And I like Stormhoek because it sounds like the wine vikings used to drink before wadeing into the fray.
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22clangor+of+sword+and+axe%22
hugh -
i missed out on the opening round of this bloggosphere design project (but read and thoroughly enjoyed the feedback you got) so let me start with what i might have said:
i’m living on a tight budget and rarely buy wines costing over $10, but i come from a wine-snobby background (my dad is that guy with the pda/cell-phone who looks up ratings every time he opens a restaurant’s wine list)…as such i actually know a little bit about wine, enough to know how to describe what kind of flavors i like, at least. so when i’m looking for a bottle, i want the label to give me a short, accurate description of how the wine tastes. and i don’t mean just some generic bullshit like “full-bodied with a hint of citrus.” i want specific fruits and other flavors, indications of spiciness or acidity — data that actually lets my imagination create a specific taste, and at the same time assures that the wine-maker has crafted a unique product and is competent enough to tell me about it. so for what it’s worth, there’s my conversation. it really annoys me that these descriptors are absent from a lot of wines, and almost always in tiny print on the back of the label when they are included, because to me, everything else about the label is secondary.
i agree with ben’s feeling that making ‘freshness matters’ the central label motif would bring in budweiser associations that would turn me off immediately. put it on the front label, and make it bigger, by all means — but don’t let it dominate the design.
what really surprised me about your response to bloggosphere label design round 1 was that you don’t seem to have latched onto some of the most interesting, and interactive, ideas that were put forward. my favorites were the one featuring pictures of actual satisfied stormhoek customers, and the label-as-letter-and-feedback-form (although the described snail-mail implementation seems almost self-defeatingly archaic) [these suggestions were posted by JJeffryes and Lauren Kozak, respectively]. i would love to see a merging of these ideas: each label features a different customer’s own photo of themself enjoying a bottle of stormhoek, their own concise (one sentence) description of why the wine appealed to them (taste-wise i mean) — both submitted through a Stormhoek webpage — and an exhortation from Stormhoek to the potential buyer to visit a webpage where they can a) read more customers’ opinions; and b) after they’ve tried the wine, submit their own photos/opinions for use on future labels. this allows the label to initiate a conversation not just between the vintner and the buyer, but between previous customers and the buyer, and makes it easy for the buyer to talk back.
and speaking of webpages — i understand that stormhoek has decided to tie itself inextricably to the blog thing, but it’s simply infuriating that there’s no specific information on any of the wines themselves at stormhoek.com. am i missing something, or is that page *just* a blog — and if so, why the hell doesn’t it at least link to some external site where you can easily find out more about the actual product? it doesn’t even tell you what varieties they make! definitely not holding up its end of the conversation.
Ignoring your concept of making it the central motif on the front I, like Tom, thought of having it up top. Perhaps on the neck label as they’re effectively redundant on so many other brands as they’re just a watered down logo.
Unfortunately that’s probably not the kind of ‘solution’ you want to hear.
Hi Hugh
Irrespective of the relevant and educated response from people, there’s one thing that stands out, or rather, doesn’t. I can’t really see the freshness logo
Thanks, Garret. Yeah, it’s around the $10 mark.
BTW I realized why so many people may not see “Enjoy the storm” as much as I do…
… I’m from Southern California, so rain is almost a relief when it comes.
Technically the area I live in is a desert, and put in perspective the rains are fairly gentle. No flooding no landslides or such near my home.
So I’m sure it was clear why my idea wasn’t the best for some reason I felt compelled to shoot down my own idea.
I would like to echo Garrett’s comments to you Hugh, good luck.
Regards,
Shaded
I guess a worm in the bottle wouldn’t do it?
I’m kinda fallin’ on the side of the argument here that wants to ignore the ‘freshness matters’ thang, in any direct way at least. Keep it on the back of the label.
Wine is sacrament or romance. Not dairy and beef, for chrissakes. What are you gonna do put it put it in a glass dairy bottle, with a peel away (collectable) lid? Collect all four and win a trip to South Africa? Hang a sampler of cheese from the neck? If the cheese is a little mouldy, contact sales clerk?
’Freshness matters’ is a thirty second message/argument to begin with. Leave it there. A conversation between merchant and producer.
You’ve got three seconds, to quote a sage.
Throw an abstract photo of a naked couple entwined on the label. Or a Viking with a big woody. Or have a screw cork/twist top with horns ‘fer easy openin’ on the high seas’/. When you’re in the moment. Or the boot in the mud from their blog. Some pride of place.
Restrategize. Send it back for revisions.
It’s too fucking earnest.
I buy red to feel like Jesus. With a little fish and a half hour of Jeopardy I’m on top of the world.
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