Packaging Design Australia 2023
Effective Packaging Design for the competitive beverage industry
How our Melbourne packaging designers created effective packaging for a new sparkling alcoholic drink that sold half a million units in the Australian beverage market.
When it comes to packaging design in Australia, no other industry is as competitive as the alcoholic beverage market.
Our creative studio worked with Harcourt Valley Vineyards, an award-winning boutique winemaker in central Victoria. They presented us with a branding and packaging brief: design effective packaging for a sparkling alcoholic drink made from fermented mangos.
The unique point of difference with this product is that nothing quite like it exists in the current market. It isn’t a traditional beer nor a classic cider, but it does sit alongside these products on the shelf at a similar price point.
Our focus, as Australian packaging designers, was on enticing the cider and beer drinkers to be adventurous and try something new. With years of experience in the domestic beverage industry, we were up for the challenge.
Here’s how we approached this packaging design and product launch project:
Market Research
Step 1: We gather as much information as possible from the client through a brand design questionnaire, diving deep into the client’s business products and goals.
Questions we ask include:
- Who is the target audience?
- What is the product’s point of difference?
- What is the intended price point?
- What are the aesthetic aspirations?
The answers inform our brand strategy and becomes a basis for strategic and thoughtful design.
Step 2: Then we take things off-screen. For this project, we visited retail stores and took photos of branding and packaging in the beer and cider categories. The purpose of this exercise is to take note of what’s currently in the market. We ensure our packaging design stands out from the competition through our use of colours, style differences, and perceived standard of quality.
During the market research process for Harcourt Valley Vineyards, we discovered one other mango-flavoured product. This was a mango-flavoured beer, however, rather than a fermented mango drink. After discussions with the client, they felt this was as close as it got to direct competition for the same product. Through this insightful discovery phase, we decided to change the product name from a Mango Beer to a “Mango Smash”.
Step 3: All the information is collated and leveraged for the design presentation stage.
Design Presentation
For this project, our client gave our packaging designers complete creative freedom to explore a design direction we felt would resonate with the buyer.
The Mango Smash consumer profile was summarised as:
- discerning buyers
- 18-40 age bracket
- mostly female
- moderate price point shoppers
Based on our market research and our understanding of the buyer, we presented two creative directions to the client –
CONCEPT 1
Inspired by the product ingredient, we created a visual sense of the mango flavour. We combined stylised shapes with a colour story centred around soft, palatable colours. This design has a strong appeal for the female buyer.
CONCEPT 2
Bold in both design and use of colour, a unique illustration was designed to be the hero. It emphasises the product within, bursting with fresh and natural mango flavour. Modern use of typography accompanies a more genderless, all-appealing design.
VERDICT: Concept 1 became the winning design!
Final Results
Mango Smash was released in 2020 and accepted into a number of major retail outlets around Australia.
Our client has a reputation for making quality products, an established network of distributors, and a fresh new brand design. They’ve sold almost half a million units to date, and we are incredibly proud of their results!
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