Description:

The People’s Wine is a well-established brand. Constellation Brands tasked us with creating a new luxury tier to grow its presence, shifting the existing Central Otago Pinot Noir into a newly created premium range alongside a Marlborough Pinot Noir Rose and a Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay. This new premiumised range was briefed as the sophisticated older sibling to the current range.

Wine buyers shop by varietal, with different cues working to drive purchase — for example, appellation is key for Pinot Noir while look and feel is a strong driver for Rosé. We leaned into this by creating a masculine Pinot Noir design and a more feminine Rosé, with the Chardonnay balanced between the two.

Crafted inside and out, The People’s Wine has always been about delivering great wine to a wide audience. The range’s long standing collaboration with artist Martin Popplewell is a prominent part of the brand so, for the new premiumised tier, it made sense to utilise this unique relationship to showcase the artistry in each bottle. Winemaking as artmaking became the guiding idea for the brand.

The idea of an artist sketching field studies inspired the design concept. For the Pinot Noir Popplewell documented the vineyards and landscapes where the grapes are grown, in his unique style, to appeal to appellation followers. For the Rosé, the study is of a single rose laying on its side, to create a more emotive look and feel. These distinctive sketch studies carry across the bottle labels and onto cartons and other branded elements.

To elevate the packaging into the luxe tier, special attention was paid to print finishes. A combination of sculptured emboss, gold foil and pearlescent foils were all utilised to give the labels a rich tactile quality and enhance the artwork.

With The People’s Studies, Constellation Brands have been able to extend The People’s Wine brand into a more premium tier, without cannibalising their existing sales for the core range. We’re particularly proud that with the new brand, we’ve been able to continue elevating the value of New Zealand art, through Martin Popplewell’s illustrations, and celebrate and promote the country’s key wine regions on a global stage.