case study
- the challenge
- the approach
- the result
It’s not every day we get to do everything for a winery. Le Vieux Pin is an Okanagan winery in the French style. From identity to labels to signage, everything passed through our hands.
It started with a label design requirement that quickly bloomed into a full branding as the story needed to be crafted, the personality needed to be created and a visual identity needed to be addressed.
It really started with a road trip to the Okanagan to spend a few days at the winery. Leaf picking, pruning, coffee at the Cock and Bull, spending quality, one-on-one time with the winemaker, the vineyard manager and the general manager. Truth be told, the first label was designed right there, on the spot.
While there, the entire suite of needs was identified – consumer and trade shipping cases, sell sheets, direct mail, media pieces, trade pieces, directional signage, web skin and, of course, packaging.
The look of the winery took its cues from an old French railway station. So, naturally, did the brand personality: hard-working, simple, honest. Dirt under the fingernails but a stellar wine.
The premise of the packaging was to create a bottle with table presence versus retail presence. When this bottle was placed on a table, the goal was to have it commented on, picked up, engaged with. To do that, the bait was set for the undercover wine geek. Tonnage, brix, date picked, soil type, vineyard location and other information that would arm the average drinker with more than “nice legs” or “good nose.”
With the front label all about function, the back label contained the emotional content, how the sun hit the vines, how the rainfall affected the grape’s personality and other key factors.
For imagery, the location provides a tremendous catalogue of possibility. Black and white photographs provide a tremendous amount of forgiveness. So, during the same visit, we were able to shoot a respectable collection of imagery for use in multiple applications, starting with a very old pine tree – the origin of the winery name. These “vintage” photographs made excellent postcards for visitors and provided some “history” to the winery and its collateral.
Literally taking the brand to the street, the directional signs were made to look like the Michelin road signs one might find on a driving trip through Provençe. Dramatic and striking against their competitive set, there is no chance of missing these.
