A lot of new wine brands created innovative packagings: Barokes and Lubie, to name just two brands I worked on for Wine Brands. Some "old" brands also launch wines under new packaging: this is the case of the long-lived German brand "Black Tower" now lauching a sparkler in cans. "The launch is part of a drive to turn the 1970s icon into a million-case-selling label by the summer", writes decanter.com.
Why is this trend of canning wines and sparkling wines so predominant at the moment? Is it only to show that wine is good, wine is easy to understand, wine is fun, wine is trendy? Or is it to improve sales of an ageing brand? Certainly for some of those brands. The Australian Barokes wines come in various styles (varietals and blends) and even in a 4-can pack. It is heavily marketed by the company. “Today's global wine consumers are increasingly embracing simple means of beverage enjoyment, often in the new economies where wine is seen as the modern trend from western culture. Further than that, Generation X and Y drinkers from many diverse ethnic origins are readily accepting ready-to-drink beverages of a spirit, wine or soft drink base as the drink of the current era. Success in the beverage market comes from being chic, relevant, drink accessible, and importantly single serve.” (From wineinthecan.com)
The same is true of the young Bordeaux-based Lubie. In strategy, as well as in its products, it is a little more subtle and elegant than its American and Australian counterparts.
Instead of aiming wildly at a “global” market, Lubie targets young and upper-scale consumers, mostly the young crowds in night clubs and the more mature wine drinkers in upscale wine and grocery stores in major cities. Their very first target is feminine, since they describe the wine as “feminine, natural, contemporary and self-indulgent”. Women are more sensitive to an elegant and unusual packaging. It is so much fun to show up at an evening with your pack of four small bottles of wine instead of a regular wine bottle!Barokes and Lubie are now reaching their audience after a few years on the market. Isn't it a little too late for an ageing brand such as Black Tower to try to rejuvenate with a now banal packaging?
