Newsletter - January 2012 | Global Package | Wine, Spirits and Food: International Packaging Solutions

Newsletter - January 2012 January 11, 2012

To stay up-to-date with packaging news, please make sure globalpackage@mail.vresp.com is white-listed with your ISP. News for the New Year It's show time again! This year we're excited to be showcasing two new beautiful bottles—the Fiona (photo below) and Claire—at the upcoming Unified Symposium in Sacramento January 24 – 26 (Booth 942) and at the Annual Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco January 15 – 17 (Booth 655).

- The Fiona boasts a daring look with a bar top and strong shoulders. It has the presence of a heavy, stately bottle, but is part of our Elegant Light line and weighs only 600 grams. The top can accommodate a traditional tin foil and the height is comfortably just a bit taller than a standard bottle. It’s a perfect addition to other tapered bottles and for partnering with an elegant new Burgundy Claire. - The Claire is an elegantly appointed Burgundy bottle that will be available in Spring 2012 as an addition to the handsome line of lighter-weight, larger-neck bottles in the Elegant Light lineup. Its curvaceous lines make it sensually appealing, with a label area that’s extended to satisfy your labeling presence. Samples of both bottles are available upon request. Hope to see you at Unified (http://bit.ly/zmlJ1Y) and at the Fancy Food show (http://bit.ly/yZNgav) Global Package in the News One of our prestigious customers, Steven Burrows, Chief Operating Officer for Haas Brothers/Cyrus Noble, was featured in not one, but two packaging publications: Package Design Magazine (http://bit.ly/y32NKC) and Packaging World (http://bit.ly/ynwuw2) Check ‘em out. We think the pieces offer some good insight into updating a legacy brand, and we were honored to be a key player in the process. Does Customization Pay Off?

As many of you know, for years I have worked with Barrie Tucker of the Barrie Tucker Company in Australia, who over the course of 30 years has spearheaded the design of many of that continent’s leading wine brands, as well as other leading international brands. He was inducted into the Australian Design Hall of Fame in 2008. Together, we have developed a new White Paper that discusses the value, benefits, and best practices of customized packaging for the wine industry (http://bit.ly/x0fX8E). He also contributed a case study (http://bit.ly/w3EebE) illustrating his design process when he created a propriety bottle and label for two premium Merlots for South Australia’s Smith & Hooper brand. Check out the bottles here: http://www.smithandhooper.com/wines.html Originality Matters Every so often a customer will tell me he wants his wine to “look like” the category leader’s wine …a bad idea in my opinion. Not only does knocking-off another brand invite legal action, it’s rarely a smart strategic decision. Here’s a great article by Marianne Rosner Klimchuk, Associate Chairperson, Associate Professor, Packaging Design Dept., Fashion Institute of Technology that discusses the topic. The Trade Dress Protection Act (amended from the Trademark Act of 1946) states that trade dress—which can include "fonts, font colors, window curvature and packaging dress”— functioning as a mark may be registered and protected without the need to show that it has become distinctive if the relevant public is likely to identify the source of the product or service by reference to the subject matter claimed as trade dress. In 1995, a Supreme Court Case stated that under the right circumstances, trade dress that consists purely and simply of a color can be protected; e.g., the Campbell’s red soup can. “Professional designers seek to design original and innovative strategic solutions to marketing problems. Certainly they want to create a design that beats out the competition for shelf visibility, but they seek originality over mimicry,” Kimchuk says. While marketers may sometimes encourage a follow-the-leader design to grab market share, they need to consider potential legal ramifications. In her view, the best solution is “a design that is a competitive instrument providing strategic results based on innovation rather than imitation.” We agree. Click here for the article: http://bit.ly/wIVe8y Try Before You Buy Tastingroom.com is employing its “Try Before You Buy” program in a partnership with retailer Cost Plus World Market to provide samples of luxury wines in 100ml bottles to customers, who can buy both the 100ml Wines by the Glass product and the full-size 750ml bottles at Cost Plus World Market stores. Tastingroom.com is already known for creating wine samplers that feature six 50ml mini bottles that hold 1.7 oz. of wine each. The Cost Plus partnership will feature the wineries selections—which will retail for $24.99-$34.99 at over 200 Cost Plus World Market stores across the country—in four 100ml bottles of their premium wines. Participating wineries include Duckhorn Wine Company, Pine Ridge (part of Crimson Wine Group) and Boisset Family Estates. Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/xuw9Rx Chinese Wine on the Rise According to Business Insider.com, 10 French judges and 10 Chinese judges spent 40 minutes on December 14, 2011 in a blind tasting of five wines from Bordeaux and five wines from Ningxia, an autonomous region in Northwest China. The wines were all priced between 200 and 500 Yuan (or $30 to $80 USD) and “were wrapped in black cloth and tagged with a number.” When the results were announced the top four wines turned out to be Chinese …a sobering conclusion for wine exporters to China, particularly given the handicap the country’s import tax places on foreign wines. “We used a price range to compare top Ningxia wines with bigger and better-known Bordeaux brands sold here by major distributors—brands consumers are more likely to know and have access to,” said Jim Boyce, organizer of the Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge, and administrator of www.grapewallofchina.com/. But the price difference between the winning Chinese wine (488 Yuan or 80 USD) and the most expensive Bordeaux (350 Yuan or $55 USD) was significant, which presumably would favor the Chinese brands. You can read more and find the winners and losers here: http://bit.ly/w7M6yF News 'n Notes New regulations affecting members of the California wine and alcohol beverage industry in 2012 include clarification on third-party marketing and promotions, a new direct-to-consumer wine retail license, permission for on-premise infusion of wine and spirits with flavors, a change in the definition of “distilled spirits” for taxation purposes, new state Russian River frost-protection water rules and agricultural union elections law changes (http://bit.ly/wkFtDf) …France and Chile currently dominate as major players in the South Korean wine market, with Italy, California / USA and Australia forming an important second tier (see Country Power Chart in South Korea based on Vinitrac® data …62% of the 5.5 million imported wine drinkers in Russia and 72% of the 17.9 million imported wine drinkers in Brazil are under 44 and primarily live in the twin hubs of St. Petersburg and Moscow and Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Download the report here (http://bit.ly/xmNFCN) …Loved this video, “How Chinese Learn to Drink Wine.” Check it out: (http://bit.ly/yFf43E) …Ex-basketball player Yao Ming has started his own wine company, Yao Family Wines, in Napa, California and has appointed Pernod Ricard as its exclusive importer in China (http://bit.ly/yfWDM8) …94% of U.S. wine consumers still prefer natural cork, according to a recent study by to a recent survey by Tragon Corp. PDF can be downloaded here (http://bit.ly/A0GnGy). About Global Package With an astute understanding of the industry and the needs of clients, Global Package sources wine and spirits bottles and packaging worldwide. Bottles • Elegant Light line • Premium, in stock • Ultra-premium • Custom molds • Competitively priced Packaging • Pewter labels • Custom boxes • Spirits bar-top closures Decorations • Silk-screening • Medallions Design We are at your service. Erica Hiller Harrop President Erica Harrop, GLOBAL PACKAGE, LLC, Napa, CA. 707-224-5670 (phone) 707-294-7899 (mobile) 707-224-5683 (fax) info@globalpackage.net globalpackage.net