Youthful Appeal

According to a recent report, “China Wine Industry by 2014,” the increasing influence of China’s younger population toward Western culture is fostering a revolution in China’s wine industry. Seen as the “sunrise” industry in the country, the consumption of wine over recent years has taken a radical shift, with increasing sales and an expanding product category. Key contributors to these changes include a fast-growing middle-class population, increased urbanization, and rising disposable income.

Viewed as a fashionable and contemporary way to entertain and impress, grape wine consumption is steadily increasing among a new generation of urban professionals in their 20s and 30s. While rice wine has traditionally been the preferred varietal of choice throughout China, the nation’s drinking habits have changed with the emergence of young, affluent wine drinkers making the transition to grape wine.

China offers an immense opportunity for sales growth within the wine industry over the next 20 to 30 years. According to the “China Wine Market Landscape Report,” a new study from Wine Intelligence—a global company that supports the wine business through consulting, branding, and market research—China is already the eighth largest wine market by volume. Recent data shows the market growing 18.5 percent annually, with current case sales at 72 million annually.

The Chinese wine market offers growth opportunities for new varietals, as well as established brands, like COFCO Great Wall Wine Co., Ltd. Founded in 1952, COFCO Great Wall Wine, located in the Shacheng of Hebei Province of China, is one of three wine-producing enterprises of its parent company, COFCO Wines & Spirits Co., Ltd., which markets four wine brands—Chateau Sungod, Chateau Junding, Great Wall, and Huangzhonghuang.

Great Wall is positioned as a premium wine brand and features varietals such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir. COFCO Wines & Spirits notes that consumers have rated Great Wall as China’s premier wine brand, which has helped make it the number-one best seller in the country. It was chosen as the official wine supplier for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the brand has won many awards in international competitions, such as the Asian Wine Competition and the Brussels International Wine Competition.

“Although ranked number one in annual sales volume, overall market share, and export volume for many consecutive years, COFCO Great Wall Wine set out in January 2009 on a strategic label redesign that would help elevate the Great Wall brand to an even higher level of emotional connection with consumers,” said Qin Ping, branding manager for COFCO Great Wall. “The company hoped to redefine the brand image in an effort to further expand its market share and positioning as the leading brand among its key competitors.

”Eye-catching packaging makes a product stand out from the crowd, while an attractive design fulfills consumers’ demand for high-quality brands that match their lifestyle aspirations,“ Ping said. ”As Chinese wine consumers get younger, elegant label designs are coming to the fore and helping define and establish wine brands.

“Product positioning is key to engaging Chinese consumers,” Ping added. “Each day, more consumers are becoming aware of the importance and power of the product labeling. Shelf appeal is a critical factor in wine selection as consumers develop a greater sense of brand consciousness.”

Switch to pressure sensitive

Great Wall felt the time was right to take advantage of this growing influence and redesign its label, as well as switch to a new labeling technology. The company wanted a new label design that would carry forward its rich heritage of winemaking, but in a graphically modern way. Its branding department worked closely with a local label design house to create a new brand image that it hoped would appeal to the younger generation, as well as its established base of loyal consumers.

To help bring its new label design to fruition, and to increase operational efficiencies, Great Wall departed from traditional glue-applied labels in favor of pressure-sensitive. The company turned to Avery Dennison Corporation and its Fasson® pressure-sensitive labels.

“The design is simplistic, yet delivers a contemporary positioning throughout the full range of wines,” said Vincent Chen, marketing manager for Avery Dennison. “The new labels feature four and five colors, minimal text, and hot stamping. The labels are letterpress printed on a rotary offset press.”

Two types of customized pressure-sensitive vellum labels were developed for the Great Wall wine label redesign, including variations of white and cream vellum. The rough, porous surface of the vellum facestock provides a rich textile feel that also offers visual depth. Semi-gloss, high-gloss, and silver metallized papers were used to provide varietal-specific design cues.

For each of the seven varietals, a slightly different pressure-sensitive prime label was designed. Each of the new prime labels prominently features the Great Wall brand name, along with an image of the Great Wall winery juxtaposed with a backdrop image of the famous Great Wall of China. The varietal is listed under the image, along with the alcohol volume percentage. The back label features additional information about the winery and tasting notes for the wine.

In response to the winery’s request for a localized pressure-sensitive solution, Avery Dennison worked with COFCO Great Wall Wine and its three converters to conduct two pressure-sensitive labeling technology training sessions as a way to expand knowledge of wine packaging and labeling. There were more than 60 people in attendance, including representatives from operations, the label design house, and management.

Since the launch of the newly designed label early last year, COFCO Great Wall has seen a 2 percent sales increase for the Great Wall brand. The success of this initial rollout prompted COFCO Great Wall to announce that it will switch 20 percent of its total label volume to Fasson pressure-sensitive materials. The additional varietals with the new pressure-sensitive labels went to market prior to the 2011 Chinese Spring Festival, held in early February. In addition, COFCO Great Wall has said 60 percent of its total volume will use pressure-sensitive materials to improve its product decoration in the next few years. pP