A luxury wine for our friends.
And our friends of friends.
It’s no surprise that the luxury wine market is dominated by the establishment. The industry trades on old-world names, reputations, and traditions to command a pretty price. Respectfully, these brands are worthy of their iconic reputations, collectability, and ruling status. However should a new player be ambitious enough to compete at the same level, a different approach is needed.
Our client had this ambition. He didn’t hail from a winemaking pedigree, but his passion for wine was as true as his friendships. With money on his side, he could compete with the old school to create a luxury pleasure. He wasn’t there to impress the industry—he just wanted to treat his friends. And his friends of friends.
Happily, winemakers were given an unlimited production budget. They sourced a tonne of exceptional Limestone Coast Cabernet Sauvignon for $20,000 Australian dollars—believed to be a record price paid for grapes in Australia at the time.
Our brief was to spark some fresh conversation with a statement wine brand that would disrupt the fine wine category. At AU$500 a bottle, our fruits should squash expectation and of course, make our friends smile too.
Money won’t buy you friends.
But it will buy you the best grapes.
Seeing our client hijack convention in winemaking, it seemed only right that our creation should do that too. We borrowed from traditional wine cues to create trust and credibility and then we twisted the cap on convention.
We invited Canadian artist Gary Taxali, known for his retro pop characters, to draw his quirky character artworks over the top of a classic luxury label canvas. The different personalities invite us to an altogether different party in luxury wine.
The back label continues to buck convention in the form of a friendship circle Venn diagram. These joyful, experiential layers bring joy, surprise and delight and promise a discussion at the heart of the table. In turn, the Venn icon makes its way to the front label. In Vino Veritas, it says. In wine there is truth. We think the same can be said of good friends.
Friends of Friends won 2nd place in the Dieline Awards of 2017.
