Spotlight: Wine & Spirits Packaging

Ultra-Smooth Graphics and See-Through Label Aimed at Rum Drinkers

The producers of Mount Gay Rum hope the sleek design of its new flavored rum bottles are so visually interesting that aisle-browsing drinkers will be compelled to grab them off the shelf. When the three-dimensional label appears to float and move as they walk by, this hope might not be so far-fetched. The unusual design reflects, or refracts, the unusual flavors consumers will find inside.

Mount Gay Rum launched its new mango and vanilla flavored rums in April with a flashy bottle concept. Working with MLR Design in Chicago, Mount Gay wanted the new designs to represent the distiller’s high quality and assure a strong shelf presence for the brand. The bottles are mostly frosted with the fine-lined label painted on a clear rectangle on the front. The vibrant colors shine through from the back of the bottle.

The orange and blue colors refract through the clear rum inside the bottle and provide a background for the fine white printing on the label. If observers move their heads, the background label seems to float, giving movement to the whole label. The bold colors, graphics and flavor icons were designed by MLR Design, and the overall bottle concept was a collaboration between MLR and Mount Gay.

Mount Gay wants to target 24- to 39-year-old flavored-rum drinker who is looking for new taste sensations from a brand known for authenticity and quality. “We are excited to enter the flavored rum category with such great new flavors and designs,” says Nicolas Guillant, brand manager of Mount Gay Rum. “Our goal was to have a new and unique design that would convey our ongoing commitment to superior taste and quality.”

The design is a substantial departure from the traditional-looking Mount Gay Rum labels. If this is a successful line, however, Mount Gay may borrow elements for new labels of existing products, or find a comfortable middle ground.

The essence of mango is from Mexico, the natural vanilla is from Madagascar, and the rum is Mount Gay’s renowned Eclipse Rum from Barbados. Though Eclipse is normally a golden rum in its own bottle, a clear version was used for the flavored rums so the label concept would work. When the new products were tested among 517 rum-buying consumers at the point of sale, the premium packaging ranked very high with the target audience.

“It was exciting to partner with Mount Gay on such an important brand-building opportunity,” states Christy Russell, president of MLR Design. “Consumer awareness of packaging and quality has increased tremendously, and we are confident these new designs will appeal to consumers and grow the brand in the flavored rum category.” MLR Design is a brand identity and package design firm with a 38-year history that includes some of the world’s most successful brands and companies, such as Quaker Oats, Miller Brewing, and PepsiCo.

Gilbreth Introduces Shrink-Sleeve Labels That Imitate Glass Bottle Acid Etchings

Wine and spirits manufacturers are always looking for ways to convey premium quality to their customers in special packaging without investing too much capital. Acid etching has long been used to
provide elegance to premium wine and spirit bottles, especially during the holiday season—but at a premium cost. Now, wine and spirits manufacturers have an alternative.

New El’Agance™ full-body shrink-sleeve labels from Gilbreth successfully mimic real glass etching, and at a reasonable cost and even more reasonable lead-time. Gilbreth, a leading manufacturer of heat-shrinkable film labels, hopes wine and spirit bottlers will jump at the chance to enhance the premium appeal of their brands with this label. Gilbreth’s edge in the market is its ability to design shrink-sleeve labels that completely cover any odd-shape bottle but do not appear distorted at all.

The traditional glass acid-etching method applied lettering, monograms, or designs to glass, and was time-consuming. The new El’Agance labels are constructed from polypropylene terephthalate glycol (PET-G), a thin film that is applied directly to glass or plastic packaging. These labels create a distinctive, all-over frosted appearance with surface printing and ink, and exactly mimic both the look and feel of acid etching.

“Quality and distinctiveness have a significant impact on customers, especially in the competitive wine and spirits market,” says Brian Riley, general manager for Gilbreth. “El’Agance labels elevate brands by communicating higher quality and actually feel like etched glass, helping to close sales. The premium appearance also supports the retailer’s image, by demonstrating their commitment to carry superior products.”

El’Agance labels are applied to clear containers, allowing wine and spirits manufacturers to reduce costs from keeping pre-decorated bottles inventoried in warehouse space. The labels also allow designs to cover the bottle 360 degrees and top-to-bottom, providing a powerful billboard effect for brands. And finally, since El’Agance labels go on in one single step, the labels simplify production scheduling.

Gilbreth’s shrink labels decorate, promote and protect products of all kinds, from personal care, food, beverage and household chemical brands. From its headquarters in Croydon, Pa., Gilbreth also provides strategic consultation, graphic design support, package prototyping and modeling, and world-class rotogravure and flexographic printing. Designers and graphic artists often come to Gilbreth for solutions to shrink-sleeve application and distortion problems.

Clean Vodka Design Nets Multiple Awards for Deutsch Design Works

Package and product designers always relish the opportunity to marry package shape and brand identity. With recent successes in this vein, maybe it’s not so unreasonable to put the horse after the cart, as it were, and name the brand after the package shape. When major awards are handed down for a product conceived this way, the industry will surely take notice.

The 2004 San Francisco World Spirits Competition was one such occasion,
and a banner event for the hometown package-design firm of Deutsch Design Works. DDW’s design of Shakers Vodka bottles won eight double gold
medals for individual and group packaging, having rolled out Shakers’ three Vodka flavors early last year.

Shakers offers distinctive 200-ml and 750-ml bottles in Rose, Rye, and Original American flavors. The vodka inside the bottles is also receiving very high marks everywhere it is sampled, and the Rose variety won Best Flavored Vodka at the San Francisco competition.

“We wanted to create a bottle that would visually communicate the elegance, quality and uniqueness of the Shakers vodka brand,” says Barry Deutsch, co-founder and creative director of Deutsch Design Works. “The frosted bottle, penguin icon—a symbol of prosperity—foil label, and typeface were all designed to convey the elegance of classic Art Deco cocktail shakers.”

The precise shape of the bottle was the end result of a year’s worth of refinement, and actually evolved from a separate, though related project. DDW gradually became enamored with the bottle concept, and qualitative research showed positive response as well. When the original concept for the new vodka brand was deemed too complex, DDW pushed the shaker-style bottle, and the Shakers brand name followed only after the bottle had been designed.

“The ‘shakers’ concept seemed to be really resonating,” says DDW general manager Steve Goldman, leading DDW to test market the “Shakers” name specifically. To refine the concept even further, the design team researched the 1930s era for Art Deco icons of the period in addition to the cocktail shaker shapes. The tuxedo-formality of the cocktail-scene penguin was one of the most attractive icons they found.

Another challenge was to convey the cocktail-shaker shape in a tall, lean bottle, so that Shakers could stand toe-to-toe with vodka heavyweights such as Belvedere and Grey Goose. A deeper punt in the base of the bottle and thicker glass in different areas allowed the Shakers bottle to at least get it into that same league size-wise.

“The double gold medal is the highest recognition and was only given to four companies this year,” says F. Paul Pacult, editor of Spirit Journal and judging director for the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. “The winning designs are chosen for their high artistic merit and brand-enhancing communication qualities – which are well-represented in each of the Shakers Vodka bottles.”