The field of alcoholic beverages, which includes beer, spirits, wine, cider and coolers, is a particularly competitive one.
In a world where retail shelves are overflowing with product, rarity and exclusivity are concepts that consumers find appealing. Creating limited edition products is a way to encourage consumers to purchase “while there is still time”.
Whether it’s celebrating a special time of year like Christmas, a social cause or to promote a special brew, alcoholic drink producers can use the shrink sleeve to convey the message that the product won’t be around forever. It is a versatile medium, which has impact, and it’s worth the investment.
Limited edition products
In the craft beer category, it is common to offer stronger spicy Christmas brews. Often given as gifts, well-dressed quality bottles with a sleeve highlight the special and exclusive appeal of the product.
Although an embossed paper label can also do the trick, a shrink sleeve has the advantage of covering the entire surface of the product, allowing the message to become a 360-degree experience.
Known brands and collectability
In a very different category, big brands are fighting each other for mere percentage points of market share. Associating a brand with an event, a cause or a yearly highlight can attract consumers.
To do this, the sleeve is valuable asset. It allows the preservation of the brand, while making it possible to propose multiple product packaging concepts.
Take Heineken the world famous beer, for example. Just mention the name and you immediately picture the green bottle and red star. That’s what you call a known brand. It immediately evokes a clear, strong image.
Heineken often dresses their bottles for events, or yearly highlights or just to be different. Their varied designs have even prompted several people to collect the bottles. In any case, we note that the brand maintains its integrity.
Dare!
When creating a special brew available for a limited time for capacity reasons, or any other occasion for that matter, you can “create scarcity” and attract customers to your product with a design that celebrates the event or simply has multiple variations. In such situations, dare to create bold strong designs, whether highly artistic, formal or a combination of both.
The sleeve will give your design definition, rendering it with a high degree of accuracy, taking advantage of you bottle’s unique shape.
So if you fancy creating limited editions for your products, talk to one of our advisors. They will guide you through your choice of sleeve, labels and other elements to make your product more attractive to consumers and more successful
P.S. This is a good example: did you know that in 1963 Heineken released square bottles made to be used as building bricks after use, in developing countries? Read the details here.
