Craft beers are becoming increasingly popular, with more and more independent brands appearing online and on supermarket shelves. Alcohol aisles are lined with cans and bottles sporting brightly coloured, outlandish and creative designs, each competing with one another to be selected by perusing shoppers. How can you make your product stand out in this ever-more saturated market? Our blog aims to address any questions which may have been brewing…
Material Matters
Selecting a technically suitable material, while also being aesthetically pleasing, is essential when labelling your beer bottles. Necessary legal information should also be considered, such as the legal food name, name and address of the brewery, an ingredients list with allergen information, the alcoholic strength, net quantity, and the best-before date in the design. If the wrong material is chosen, important label contents may become damaged or illegible.
Firstly, paper materials do not react well to moisture and dampness. We would not recommend paper materials for this application as they may become easily damaged or slide off the bottle.
Your label will want to be durable with a strong adhesive, suitable for low temperatures. If refrigerating your beer products, we would recommend a splashproof or waterproof material - safe from condensation or beer dripping onto the label. The most popular materials for drink bottle labels are polypropylene, polyester or vinyl.
Out of the three options, polypropylene is the most suitable. This material conforms well to curves and is splashproof, whereas polyester (though splashproof) is better suited to flatter surface applications. Both polyester and polypropylene materials are suitable for printing with a home or office printer.
If you would like us to print your labels on polyester or polypropylene, consider ordering with a laminated finish. Not only will your print be protected from moisture, but the extra protective layer will provide scuff protection when your products are in transit.
Vinyl is a premium, durable and waterproof material, which has properties beyond most customer’s requirements for beer bottle labels. Although vinyl does have a premium price point, should you require a custom shape, we can easily program our large format machines to create the shape without the need to purchase a tool. Vinyl is not suitable for home or office printing. We recommend uploading your artwork and opting for one of our in-house print services.
Designing Your Labels
Before starting the design process, to achieve a clear, understood and sought-after product, you may want to establish who your demographic is. What kind of person do you envision picking up your product from the shelf or adding it to their online basket? Whose eyes are likely to be drawn to your product? Market research gives a great insight into your ideal customer and what designs attract their attention.
Have you considered popular trends when designing your labels? Currently, colourful and quirky marketing, with a comical product name and unusual flavour seems to be in demand with younger consumers. Ask yourself, “Is this Instagrammable?" Consumers may be more inclined to share memorable branding to their Instagram pages - free promotion could drive new customers to your business.
You may not want to go down that route, though. Lots of people enjoy craft beer, so there isn’t one stereotype that you must cater your product to. You may supply a product to a new market by incorporating a unique selling point. As a society, we are consuming so much more than ever before. People will often buy products just because of the story behind them - marketing is everything!
Premium packaging can raise the retail price of products a significant amount. A consumer is more inclined to purchase a premium product if they believe they are getting value for money. They often want something visually pleasing and well presented on the shelf or in a photograph. How the product tastes will encourage repeat business, but looks will draw your audience in.
Many established companies have in-house designers creating their label artwork for them. We appreciate hiring a designer is a luxury for some small independent businesses and new startups. At Flexi Labels we have free design software available on the product pages, or you can work with our in-house graphic designer for a small additional fee. Please enquire for further information on prices and design requirements you may have.
According to colour psychology, the colours you choose to incorporate into your artwork have a significant influence. It is important to choose these carefully and ensure that the colours used are complementary to the product and brand. This is not something to be overlooked.
You may also want to consider where you plan to sell your beer. Will your product be in a supermarket or an online marketplace? Or is the product exclusive to your website? How does this affect your product design? If you are competing side-by-side with other companies, you need these to establish a clear difference in your design to make your product stand out. Consider a USP to give the consumers a reason to choose your product over the hundreds of other accessible options. Since the pandemic, online marketplaces have become increasingly more popular. With more opportunities to sell online now, the market is still competitive!
Special Finishes
For polyester and polypropylene labels we can offer all special finishes including Spot UV, Lamination, Metallic Foiling and White Ink. Vinyl material only allows for white ink as a premium addition. These embellishments add a premium finish to the labels and add character and individuality to the design, making your product stand out. Once you have understood and determined your brand identity, you can decide which additions will improve the product and draw in your target audience.
For instance, metallic foiling is a popular addition to labels on beer bottles. Drawing attention to design nuances and perfect for dazzling under shop floor lighting, foiling is an addition to the label which can transform a product from standard to luxurious.
Labelling regulations
We highly recommend researching what information is required on your product labels by law. We have made a few suggestions at the top of the blog, but legislation is evolving so we recommend checking with the government website before committing to your label design. You may want to write a checklist to ensure that the requirements have been met.
You may be looking to include a barcode on your label to take your customers to your company website. Please note we are unable to generate barcodes on-site. For barcode-specific queries, please get in touch with us for more information.
Label applications
The shape of the label, as well as where and how it is applied to the bottle, is an important factor to consider. Some beer bottles have a front and a back label, whereas others will have a label which wraps around the entire circumference of the product. If this is what you’re looking for and you’re unsure how to efficiently measure the circumference, we have a help centre article to help you with this.
There is also the neck label which you may want to factor into the design of your product. Having multiple labels spread across the bottle could help you to separate but still include all the information and artwork. The bottle is a canvas, so make sure you really utilise the space you have got.
While we do offer a material sample request service, these samples will not be cut to a specific size. If you are looking to test the size of the label on the application, you could simply print your chosen product's templates to scale, cut out and create your mock-up on paper.
If you are looking to apply your labels using an automatic label applicator, you will need to order your labels on rolls. Using an applicator can save you time and increase accuracy and precision. When creating your order with us, you will need to ensure that you have selected a roll core size that is compatible with your applicator and the correct label orientation. The information for this will be found in your label applicator manual. If you are uncertain about what the requirements and limitations may be when ordering and using a label applicator, please get in touch and a member of our support team can assist.
Get labels fast, don’t stall sales
If you need quick turnaround times on high-quality printed labels then we’re here to help! We always send customers a digital proof of their artwork before we send orders into production. Our designers will aim to send this to you within 24 hours of your order being marked as paid during the working week. Once this has been approved and/ or amendments have been agreed with our designers, the standard lead time of 3-5 working days will begin.
We think this is a very speedy turnaround for a product that is completely bespoke! Our labels aren’t sitting on shelves in a warehouse gathering dust. Whatever product you receive from us has been created just for you. Furthermore, if you are desperate for an order, please get in touch as early in the process as possible and we can do our best to expedite this for you. While we are not able to guarantee anything, we do understand your urgency and we would like to work together with you to make this delivery happen for you.
Ordering plain labels from us without any print can be placed on the next working day or express service. Please note that orders on a next working day service must be placed before 3pm.
If you have any questions about the above information, you would like assistance placing an order or looking for some design advice, please call us on 01733 646 292 or get in touch by email.
