Project Overview

Taylors is one of Australia’s leading premium wine brands. Founded in 1969, it is a highly successful third generation family owned wine business with sales of more than 650,000 cases per annum generated in 30 markets globally. The brand is best known for its Taylors Estate range, the no.1 selling Australian wine range in the $14-$20 segment.

Prior to 2013 Taylors portfolio offering extended between $10 and $60 per bottle in retail pricing terms. With the core of Taylors sales volume being generated in the Premium ($10-$20) and Super Premium ($20-$40) segments future growth opportunities were constrained due to the scale of the brand’s success in these segments.
Taylors identified the opportunity to extend their trademark reach into the Ultra Premium ($40-$200) and Luxury (>$200) segments as a means to not only pursue additional growth opportunities but also with a view to the additional halo benefit that a legitimate Ultra Premium and Luxury trademark offering could extend across the entire Taylors portfolio.

And so Taylors ‘The Visionary’ Cabernet Sauvignon was born…

Project Commissioner

Taylors Wines

Project Creator

The Collective Design Consultants

Team

Creative Director - Margaret Nolan (Packaging and Gift Box Design)
Design Director - Clayton Andrews (Supporting comms design)
Account Director - Anita Burrough
Photography by Keith Saunders

Project Brief

Named in honor of third generation Managing Director Mitchell Taylor’s grandfather, Bill Taylor Senior, The Visionary is the family’s pinnacle release. The inaugural release is a bold step forward in the Taylor family’s continued journey across generations, crafting refined and distinctive cabernet sauvignon wines. However, the story of The Visionary did not just stop with what was inside the bottle.

“Packaging & presentation were pivotal. With respect to the wine, we knew that we had the makings of our finest cabernet sauvignon yet, so it was fitting we match the same benchmark for quality and luxury with what we reflected in the final presentation of this wine.” Mitchell Taylor
Key objectives for the development of Taylors new icon range were to:
1. Establish a Taylors wine range at the $100+ price point
2. Reinforce Taylors credibility for producing high quality Australian wine
3. Ensure the range is perceived as the flagship wine in context with the rest of the portfolio.
The packaging design brief for the new range was to:
a) Utilise strong Taylors branding
b) Be distinctive and unique amongst the competitive set
c) Compete effectively against other brands within this price segment
d) Reflect the brand attributes of: boutique, iconic, special, rare
f) Include individual luxury gift packaging for each bottle.

Project Innovation/Need

The innovative use of materials and luxury production techniques were essential to the attention to detail this Ultra Premium wine demanded.
Each bottle of The Visionary is individually hand labelled, hand numbered and hand packaged in a bespoke design luxury gift box and outer sleeve. The substantial outer sleeve of the gift box is resplendent in a metallised silver paper stock, featuring a large laser die-cut Taylors seahorse crest with a de-bossed foil block at the base. The inner gift box has been hand wrapped in black linen book cloth revelling in its sophisticated use of negative design space.
The label stock for each individually torn label and the dust jacket on the accompanying vintage booklet are presented on stock specially sourced from an Italian mill founded in 1717. Both the front label and the dust jacket feature a large blind sculptured emboss of the Taylors seahorse crest.
The hand sewn vintage booklet that accompanies each bottle of The Visionary details the history, vintage conditions, vinification and maturation of this exceptional wine.
“This is a wine that people will keep for many years to come and so we wanted to ensure that the design was at once timeless, classical and elegant yet ultimately very sophisticated.” Mitchell Taylor

Design Challenge

The primary design challenge was time. From naming and concept development through to production, commercialisation and launch were required in less than 10-months. A name was established in February 2013 and the whole product and campaign launch was released on 1st November 2013.
Collotype Labels Griffith was selected to print and supply the labels given their significant expertise in the production of highly technical prestige wine labels. Significant time and investment were then required to identify, source and trial the unique Manter Cotone Bianco label stock. The team then developed a world’s first technique to allow the individually torn label feature at the base of each label to be brought to life in scale production. Finally, the team sourced a unique hand engraved sculptured emboss die from the United States to bring the large blind emboss seahorse crest on the front label to life.
Hornet Group was selected to manufacture and supply the gift boxes given their proven expertise and local manufacturing capability in mainland China. The limited production window created significant pressures with respect to material sourcing, prototyping, manufacture and QC. Perhaps the most significant design challenge was mastering the dry-laser die-cutting technique to create the unique seahorse crest die cut on the outer sleeve.

User Experience

To mark the launch, Taylors executed a highly considered and integrated PR, Social Media, Global Travel Retail, Trade and Consumer Advertising campaign including:
- Prominent displays in Duty Free outlet in International Airports
- Luxury PR Press Kits sent to 250+ media contacts.
- Premium trade communications materials in English and Mandarin.
- A launch video.
- Consumer advertising.
- A prominent display in London’s leading fine wine outlet, Hedonism Wine & Spirits.
The Results:
Since the launch in November 2013, success can already be measured by:
- 5,800 750ml bottles sold globally (AU $150 each).
- Seven 6-Litre The Visionary Artisan Cabinets sold internationally (AU $5,000 each).
- Selected by Huon Hooke and Bob Campbell MW in Australian Gourmet Traveller WINE Magazine as one of Australia’s Top 100 New Release Wines (May 2014)
- Packaging Design awards: 1 x Gold (IDA International Design Awards for Best Packaging) and 2 x Trophies (International Beverage Testing Institute, Australian Wine Industry Label Design Competition Awards).
- Wine Label Design awards: 2 x Platinum Medals (International Beverage Testing Institute), 4 x Gold Medals (International Beverage Testing Institute, 2014 LATMA National Print Awards).
- Consumer advertising reaching 334,000 people.
- Social media reach via Facebook of more than 100,000

Marketing - Branded Experience

This award celebrates creative and innovative design for branded experiences intended to persuade an audience to purchase or take some action upon products, ideas or services. Consideration given to the technical, conceptual and aesthetic elements, user experience, audience engagement and message delivery.
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