While often considered secondary to packages that actually hold wine inside, shippers and boxes are still a billboard for any wine brand.
To understand what this secondary packaging is and its importance in the packaging ecosystem, we asked the wine and spirits design pros at Affinity Creative Group (ACG) to explain just what determines the wine packaging hierarchy.
"The primary packaging is just the way it sounds," explained Ed Rice, Affinity's managing director. "It's that most immediate expression of the brand: It's the bottle, it's the label, it's the capsule, it's the closure, it's the back label. It's even the shape of the glass bottle or the die cut of the label. That's what most people think of when you say packaging and packaging design.
"Then there's this overlooked brand tool, which is called secondary packaging. That might be just the shipper-you know, the carton in which the wines are transported," Rice continued, adding that gift boxes, box sets and other options can be just as important in relaying a brand story, conveying premium cues or even driving sales.
Kayla Winter, marketing innovation manager at multi-brand O'Neill Vintners & Distillers, agreed. "We do see the indirect, but valuable, payback by incorporating the primary packaging designs of our numerous wineries in the identifying logos and artwork on the shipping boxes."
Jerome Maureze, ACG's creative director, pointed to O'Neill's FitVine bottles as examples of secondary packaging that builds, supports and showcases the primary packaging of the brand.
"It's not just a box: it's a detail for a display," he explained. "By using two or three sides of the shipper, you can create a billboarding effect when they are stacked differently. This ties into possible point of sales promotions."
Some detractors might ask why a winery should take the time to design a shipper when the consumer might not see it. Rice argues that, regardless, it's another vehicle to communicate the brand and influence a whole ecosystem of participants-including distributors, packers, stockers, etc.
"You are influencing distributors who see the packaging in the warehouse. You're influencing transportation participants who are moving the shippers. You are influencing store workers who see the shipper in the back room. You have an opportunity to influence a whole array of potential consumers because all these workers are also consumers who buy stuff, right?" Rice asked.
Serving the DTC channel
While shippers most often function as a utilitarian object to transport large quantities of wine, either in artfully enhanced cartons or plainly generic boxes, the other forms of secondary packaging, particularly for higher-end and luxury wines, are best intended for the direct-to-consumer (DTC) market as they are designed to house individual bottles or sets of bottles.
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