Message on a bottle: Strategies for wine branding

MESSAGE ONA BOTTLE: STRATEGIES FOR WINE BRANDINGTommaso Minnetti Regional Manager APAC, Export Union Italia

INTRODUCTION

HELLO.Tommaso Minnetti

3 years experience in the Chinese and Asian wine industry both on the importer and exporter side.WSET Level 3 Juror at Asia Wine Trophy

8 years advertising careerAssociate Creative Director at Ogilvy MilanLecturer at Istituto Europeo di Design Recipient of the European Design AwardJuror at the Italian Art Director’s Club

INTRODUCTION

PRESENTATION OBJECTIVES▸ For wine producers:

Provide a practical approach to wine label design and range differentiation

▸ For wine importers and distributors:Provide tools to judge wine labels andassess their efficacy on target market segment

Consumers are intimidated by wine purchases and doubt their ability to choose the appropriate wine for fear of social rejection.

Olsen et al., 2003

RESEARCH INSIGHT

An average US supermarket will carry 750 different wines while a hard discount store will carry 150.

Wine consumers will use risk reduction strategies

to decrease the likelihood of making a bad choice

Rasmussen and Lockshin, 1999

RESEARCH INSIGHT

RESEARCH INSIGHT

RISK REDUCTION STRATEGIES▸ Using price as a quality indicator

▸ Selecting a brand known for quality

▸ Relying upon a recommendation

▸ Developing advanced knowledge of the product category

▸ Match the occasion for which the wine is purchased

▸ Using the package and label design as quality cues

Spawton, 1991; Sherman and Tuten, 2011

RISK REDUCTION STRATEGIES

SELECTING A BRAND KNOWN FOR QUALITY▸ No wine brand has market share

greater than 4 percent. (Sherman and Tuten, 2011)

▸ In 2014, media spend for wine brands was only 7% of that for beer (Nielsen AdViews)

▸ Pre-selling' wines in a retail environment by conducting expensive advertising campaigns is not cost-effective (Solomon et al., 2010)

Iconic brands dominate certain categories, unlike in wine


RELYING UPON A RECOMMENDATIONOrder of relevance for consumers:

▸ Wine type

▸ Price

▸ Familiarity

▸ Label appeal

▸ Country of origin

▸ Wine critic score

(Sherman and Tuten, 2011)

Sorry Robert, but scores are the least relevant for consumers

Consumers seek out wine labels when choosing wine by going through retail

aisles of wine, rather than seeking guidance from wine guides, reviews,

advertising or from employees at specialised wine shops which

are generally wine experts.

Olsen et al., 2003; Barber and Almanza, 2006



DEVELOPING ADVANCED KNOWLEDGEOF THE PRODUCT CATEGORY▸ Wine knowledge and its relation

to purchasing decisions can be a considerable factor in determining the consumer’s wine purchasing process Lockshin and Hall, 2003


THE WINE NOVICE

THE WINE INTERESTED

THE WINE LOVER

THE WINE CONNOISSEUR

Hall and Mitchell, 2008


Has not integrated wine into their lifestyle

Starting to become curious about the product

Interested in learning more about the product

Wine is their hobby


Most price sensitive

Most value sensitive


Most sensitive to label design

Most sensitive to wine characteristics


MATCH THE OCCASION FOR WHICH THE WINE IS PURCHASED▸ Consumers customarily spend

200% more for a bottle to give as a gift than they do for a bottle intended for personal consumption. (Sherman and Tuten, 2011)

A gift to the boss will never conform to one consumer habitual spending


GIFT DINNER PARTY

PERSONAL RESTAURANT

▸ Type of wine

▸ Familiarity

▸ Type of wine

▸ Price

Purchase drivers:


USING THE PACKAGE AND LABEL DESIGN AS QUALITY CUES▸ Bottle labels are particularly

relevant to the decision-making process, especially for infrequent wine drinkersBoudreaux and Palmer, 2007

Best performing labels under 10$Nielsen Wine Audit Report, 2015

Consumers shop with their eyes, perusing wines personally, reading labels as they consider

the possible selections.

Barber and Almanza, 2006


Consumers reduce the risk of adverse consequences by selecting fewer information option rather than more.

Chaney, 2000

BRAND

GRAPE VARIETY

(PRICE)

The only relevantproduct informations for wine novices (Thomas, 2000)

THE LABEL IS A CRITICAL OPPORTUNITY TO INFLUENCE PURCHASE INTENT

KEY FINDING

The real aim of all packaging design is to find a balance between conformity,

which reassures the end-user, and originality, which creates

an element of surprise and allows a product to stand out

Heilbrunn, 2006

RESEARCH INSIGHT

WINE LABEL FUNCTIONS

BRAND NAME

WINERY NAME

IDENTIFYTHE PRODUCT

FUNCTIONS OF A WINE LABEL

▸ The above is to position the wine

Thomas and Pickering, 2003; Keller et al., 2012

DESCRIBETHE PRODUCT


(VINTAGE)ORIGINGRAPE VARIETY

(REGION)▸ The above is to

differentiate the wine

PROMOTETHE PRODUCT


IMAGE

COLOUR

▸ The above attracts prospects attention

WINE LABEL SEMIOTICS

VISUAL ELEMENTS

TEXT ELEMENTS

WINE LABEL SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS ▸ Visual elementsImages, pictures, logosTypeface styleColoursBackground colour

SHAPE

PAPER

(VISUAL-TO-TASTELEXICON)


VISUAL-TO-TASTELEXICON▸ A visual-to-taste lexicon

is made up by the learned associations of appearance and taste for food types.

▸ For example, the relation between the colour of soft drinks and taste perception.

▸ Food colours communicate the taste of products. Koch and Koch, 2003

Purple suggests a fruity taste,the grape a fully natural content


THE INTERDEPENDENCE ISSUE

▸ Wine labels represent “multimodal texts”: they use several different semiotic codes in the communication process. König and Lick, 2014

▸ Elements that are put into the center of a visual composition convey the gist of the information, upon which all the other elements are contingent. Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006

▸ Images, pictures, and logos are the most important visual design elements of wine labels.Thomas and Pickering, 2003

PERCEPTION & PURCHASEINTENT

RESEARCH INSIGHT

THE OVERALL PERCEPTION OF THE PRODUCT CAN BE IS A STRONG PREDICTOR OF PURCHASE INTENT.▸ TYPICALITY

Consumers are highly conservative when it comes to wine and prefers the more traditional bottles in terms of visual aspect. When purchasing wine, consumers seek typicality. Celhay and Passebois, 2011

▸ PERSONALITYBrand personality characteristics of success, charm, spirit, and currency are the most influential on purchase intent.Boudreaux and Palmer, 2007

THE TYPICALITY MODEL

EVERY PRODUCT CATEGORY HAS WELL ESTABLISHED VISUAL CODES▸ White and blue for dairy products

▸ Black and red for coffee

▸ White for electrical appliances

▸ Black and grey for Hi-Fi equipment

etc.

Same visual codes for Italian and Korean milk


COGNITIVE CATEGORIES& PERCIEVED TYPICALITY▸ Everything we recognise

is stored in our memory as part of "cognitive categories" and is ranked within these categories according to their degree of perceived typicality Mervis, 1975

For human brains, a Pug is less of a dog than a Labrador

Perceived typicality directly influences the visual choices that advertisers and marketers make when promoting and branding their products


THE "PREFERENCE TO THE NORM" PHENOMENON▸ The more a stimulus is familiar, the

more it will be perceived as typical of a given category, and the more it will be appreciated from an aesthetic point of view. Campbell and Goodstein, 2001

▸ In wine, the “norm” is the visual aesthetic of Bordeaux labels, established since late 18th century and never changed since.


THE "PREFERENCE TO THE NORM" PHENOMENONVisual Code of Bordeaux wine:

▸ White background

▸ Centred layout

▸ Serif Capitals and Cursive Script

▸ Black, Red, Gold colour scheme

▸ Chateaux image

▸ Abundant text information

▸ Regional bottle shape

Same traditional designs do not enjoy Bordeaux popularity and their perceived typicality may be limited by lack of exposure

outside their country of origin

WHEN PERCEIVED RISK IS HIGH, TYPICALITYJUDGEMENT INFLUENCES PURCHASE INTENT MORE THAN THE CONSUMER'S OWN AESTHETIC PREFERENCES

KEY FINDING

THE PERSONALITY MODEL

BRAND PERSONALITY IS THE SETOF HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH A BRAND.▸ It influences consumer preference

and usage (Sirgy, 1982) ▸ It builds emotional ties to the brand

(Biel, 1993) ▸ It creates trust and loyalty among

consumers (Fournier, 1994) ▸ It determines consumers’ response to

changes in quality (Aaker et al., 2004)

Aaker, 1997

Nike is an examples of a “conqueror” brand personality

Wine is a symbolic product. As such is used by consumers to imbue themselves with the brand's personality

and create associations with the product's perceived user group.

Belk, 1998; Malhotra, 1988

RESEARCH INSIGHT


FIRST IMPRESSIONSMATTER▸ Perception of human personality,

is drawn based minimal or incomplete evidence. Even in the face of conflicting evidence, people tend to feel quite confident about their perceptionsKunda, 1999

▸ Consumers may prefer brands that do not necessarily match their own, but represent ideals with which they desire associationAaker, 1997

SINCERITYEXCITEMENT

COMPETENCE

SOPHISTICATIONRUGGEDNESS

BRAND PERSONALITY

BRAND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS

SINCERITYEXCITEMENT

COMPETENCE


WHOLESOME

HONEST

DOWN TO EARTH

CHEERFUL

IMAGINATIVE

SPIRITED

DARING

UP-TO-DATE

RELIABLE INTELLIGENT SUCCESSFUL

OUTDOORSY TOUGH UPPER CLASS CHARMING

BRAND PERSONALITY

BRAND PERSONALITY TRAITS

SINCERITYEXCITEMENT

COMPETENCE


WHOLESOME

HONEST

DOWN TO EARTH

CHEERFUL

IMAGINATIVE

SPIRITED

DARING

UP-TO-DATE

RELIABLE INTELLIGENT SUCCESSFUL

OUTDOORSY TOUGH UPPER CLASS CHARMING

Daring Trendy Exciting

Spirited Cool

Young

Imaginative Unique

Up-to-date Independent

Unique

Down to earth Family oriented

Small town

Honest Sincere

Real

Wholesome Original

Cheerful Sentimental

Friendly

Reliable Hardworking

Secure

Intelligent Technical Corporate

Successful Leader

Confident

Outdoorsy Masculine Western

Tough Rugged

Upper class Glamorous

Good looking

Charming Feminine Smooth

BRAND PERSONALITY

BRAND PERSONALITY FACETS

CHEERFUL

IMAGINATIVE

SPIRITED

DARING

UP-TO-DATE

SUCCESSFUL

TOUGH UPPER CLASS CHARMING

BRAND PERSONALITY

BRAND PERSONALITY: THE FACETS THAT MATTER IN THE WINE CATEGORY

When a consumer does not perceive any risk in a given purchase

situation, moderately atypical packaging may be preferred.

Campbell and Goodstein, 2001

RESEARCH INSIGHT


WHAT FACTORS AFFECTS BRAND PERSONALITY PERCEPTION?▸ Each element of a label's visual

identity, including color, imagery, typeface and label size, shape, and material, has an influence on the different aspects of a product's brand identity. These elements can support or undermine one another, and a product's position tends to be strongest when they are congruent Doyle and Bottomley, 2004

A label skewed towards a young, female consumer demographic


IMAGE▸ Image had the strongest effects on

desirability both on market success factors and on brand personality

▸ Unusual animals are perceived as “imaginative”, but this is not positively correlated with purchase intent

▸ Coats-of-arms are low on “ruggedness” but high for “upperclass” and “value”

Boudreaux and Palmer, 2007


COLOUR▸ Colour has a strong effect,

but its effect depends on how much color is used

▸ Warm palettes (burgundy, red-orange, and neutrals) are seen as successful, desirable, and expensive

▸ Bright palettes (wasabi green and red-orange) were seen as exciting and imaginative

▸ For backgrounds, unprinted/unprinted layout reflects “upperclass”


TYPEFACE▸ The font style used on wine labels

has an important impact on consumers' quality perception of red wine. Henley et al., 2011

▸ The level of perceived wine quality is higher in the case of a Roman font style (serif) compared to an Arial font style (sans serif).


RANGE DIFFERENTIATIONIMPACT▸ It is important to evaluate

the constituent elements, individually and in interaction,as they are perceived by the design’s intended audience

▸ This is particularly importantwhen a basic design will be varied along one or more dimensions to differentiate elements of a product line

Quality differentiation shown by colours and size, with fixed branding elements and

information hierarchy across the range

A bull expresses”toughness”, consumer may choose it for a barbecueA sun expresses “cheerfulness”, consumers may choose it for a party

WHEN PERCEIVED RISK IS LOW, THE IMPACT OF TYPICALITY ON PURCHASE INTENT IS LOW. THE EFFECT OF AESTHETIC APPRECIATIONIS TOTAL.

KEY FINDING

DON’T TARGET CONSUMERS. TARGET OCCASIONS.

Manage wine label designs in accordance with the type of consumption occasion which you would like to target.

TARGETING OCCASIONS

TARGET CONSUMPTION OCCASIONS▸ Divide your market according to

different consumption occasions

▸ Innovative labels will targetlow risk situations: Wine to be drank at home Gifts to novice wine drinkers

▸ Traditional labels will target high risk situations: Dinner partiesBusiness giftsGifts for experienced wine drinkers

Wine marketers should get out of the up-scale dinner ghetto!

INNOVATIVETYPICAL

HIGH RISK LOW RISK

SHARING PERSONAL

HIGH PRICE LOW PRICE

REASSURING CHALLENGING

TYPICALITY VS PERSONALITY MATRIX

INNOVATIVE STYLETRADITIONAL STYLECENTRED LAYOUT ASYMMETRICAL OR LEFT/RIGHT

ENGRAVING/SKETCH PHOTOGRAPH/GRAPHICSERIF/CURSIVE TYPE SANS SERIF TYPE

UNPRINTED BACKGROUND COLOURED BACKGROUND

TYPICALITY VS PERSONALITY MATRIX

GOLD/RED/BLACK VIVID COLOURSCRAFT FINISH SERIALISED FINISH

HERITAGE IMAGERY ABSTRACT/NON CONTEXTUAL IMAGERYDETAILED INFO BASIC INFO

REGIONAL BOTTLE CONTOUR NOVELTY BOTTLE

TOP BRANDS IN 3 MARKETS

OFF-PREMISE TOP BRANDS USA

Bordeaux styles dominate, with the notable exception of Barefoot brand, which reinforces the low-price point – moderately unusual label combo,

same for Yellow Tail. Merlot shows a “blue” visual code.

SUPERMARKET TOP BRANDS ITALY

Notably only one label has an identifiably Italian style, with others more closely associated to Bordeaux visual codes. Freschello seems the only brand

able to pull off a moderately unusual design and be successful

ONLINE TOP BRANDS CHINA

Extremely conservative in design, with the notable exception of Yellow Tailthat highlights the dependance of the market on globally dominating groups,

which are better positioned to supply such a big nation

THANKYOU.

▸ Tommaso Minnetti [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]