April 11, 2006
a bottle of stormhoek
[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc. Licensing terms here.]
Here’s the deal with The Stormhoek Bottle Redesign [“Why shouldn’t a small wine company see Apple or Google as its competition?”].
When I came on board the Stormhoek project a year ago, the weakest link in the chain was the bottle design. It was, to say the least, unremarkable.
So last autumn we decided to do something about it. First, to stir things up, we offered a $2000 prize to any gapingvoid reader who could help with our thinking the most. A lot of people joined in, and posted their thoughts on the wiki. Though no idea in particular offered the direct solution we were looking for, it did jar our thinking in the right direction. So there will be a prize given, once the new bottle design is released to the public.
Watch this space etc.
So what’s the new bottle like? Well, don’t expect the glass equivalent to a Web 2.0 logo. It’s not funky or “techie”. It’s simple, classy and elegant.
That being said, Phase Two of the redesign could be interesting. Phase Two is when we’re thinking of launching “Stormhoek Limited Edition”, hopefully some time this year.
And Limited Edition, so we’re currently thinking, will feature my cartoons in the design.
Different cartoons, different labels. And lots of them. So hopefuly the bottle with different cartoons will become some sort of collector’s item. Something like that.
The trick is making the cartoons interesting, without losing too much relevance to the product, or undermining the elegance of the bottle. Or maybe relevance is overrated. Who knows. Either way, we’re fashioning it in such a way that allows us to try lots of different alternatives. Allows us to attack the market in a plethora of new and creative ways.
Like Doc Searls said, this kind of marketing isn’t about pushing a rock uphill, it’s about pushing lot of little snowballs downhill, and seeing which ones gain traction etc.
What sayest thou?
i’m sure you’ve seen the bonny doon artist labels, but just in case:
http://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/dooniversity/content/artists
in particular, the one ralph steadman did for “cardinal zin” is h.s.thompson-worthy…
Great to hear that the Bottle Innovation Project is coming to fruition. The current design, while ok, is very easy to miss. I’ve spent quite a while staring at shelves of wine looking for the Stormhoek and almost missing it entirely.
Looking forward to seeing the result and hoping it’ll be easier to find on a self!
Slowly the de-comodification is unfolding.
Here the interesting thing happenning is creativity(Hugh’s Cartoons) is commoditized( by way of making it widely available, making it free etc) to help a commodity(wine) to be de-commoditized.
This is like readjusting your home and work location such that you are in the opposite side of the general commute direction.
Rock on pal!
I like your way of putting it, Balaji. Thanks =)
Ever heard of Jones Soda?
http://www.bradthegame.com/jones/labelfaq.html#1
(Sorry to be the one saying ‘Nothing new under the sun;’ but I’d say it strongly validates your plan.)
Link is to a fan site, BTW; not the company. As far as I can tell.
Incidentally, I’ve been thinking about linking to some of your cartoons in a journal that I half-assedly maintain on a ‘social’ site (VERY few page views.) Because I keep finding myself telling friends about them. But, that site doesn’t store pics on site, so I’d either need to link directly to your images, or upload them on some other image site. Where would those issues fall in your creative license? Would you allow either of those to happen?
So you’re saying Anthony Lane is now officially redundant?