The importance of wine labels in the time of COVID-19

Thursday, 18 June, 2020
Eugene Yiga
With much of the world under lockdown due to COVID-19, many people are hesitant to spend any unnecessary time in stores (assuming they are allowed to leave their homes at all). These include wine drinkers faced with an abundance of choice when selecting a bottle to enjoy with yet another dinner at home.

The brands that will do well in this time are those that can stand out enough to get chosen quickly by consumers who are anxious to avoid crowds or are simply shopping online while juggling several other stressors at the same time.

“Everybody who wants to empower his brand with a special label is our perfect partner,” says Matthias Vollherbst, CEO of printing company VollherbstDruck. “Our sales team is educated to find the perfect technical solution for print execution through extensive dialogs with brand owners and design agencies.”

VollherbstDruck is the creator of LABELinmotion. These augmented reality labels will, for example, allow wine enthusiasts to learn more about the product just by scanning the bottle with a smartphone app. This result in a fascinating experience during which, for example, a virtual winemaker ‘pops’ up to tell the story about the wine.

“If you understand which technology is the next game-changer and you have a good network in the industry, you can be one of the first – if not the first – to use them,” he says. “Our CREATIONS team, which is also conceptualising the augmented reality experiences, is working on label innovations like craftLABEL (a technique where we bring natural ingredients like soil into the label) and designs innovative label concepts directly for our clients.”

While many people are struggling to adjust to the new tools required to work from home, 35-year-old Vollherbst’s love for technology began with using the internet and a smartphone when he was in his early teens.

“I’m a typical Generation Y person and my life today happens a lot in the online space and social networks,” he says. “I love online networking and online marketing, especially because it’s so easy and so dynamic. It all happens every time and everywhere.”

While Vollherbst admits that it’s a combination of many things that makes his mid-sized family business successful – the company celebrates its 100th anniversary next year – the challenge for the company, like many others in the age of COVID-19, is to stay up to date by investing in the right technology at the right time. It’s not easy or self-evident but he believes that it’s crucial to deliver the best solution for their clients.

“If we look at augmented reality again, I think we are benefitting from our young team and mind-set,” he says. “There are other companies offering their own augmented reality app to the market – but their augmented reality developments are rather old-style from our point of view. We will always include and actively ask for the feedback of our youngest employees (aged 18 to 30) and if they don’t like what they see, we will go back and adjust. This openness in the development process of any new technology and taking the perspective of youngsters serious is our way of making use of any new trend.”