The hard working Gnarly Head wine label, originally designed by Auston Design Group in 2003, helped propel this powerhouse brand toward becoming the #1 selling Zinfandel brand in the world. Not wanting to sit on its laurels, and with continued growth in mind, DFV Wines hired ADG to evolve the design with the goal of increasing sales through strengthened shelf presence, and by making the original “Old Vine Zinfandel” label design work better with other varietals; most importantly, white wines.
Changing the label design of such a wildly successful brand as Gnarly Head is tricky business. The intent was to increase perceived value with existing consumers and to insight trial with consumers who are not currently Gnarly Head drinkers. It was imperative that the core equity elements of the package be maintained. Any adjustments to the brandmark, illustration and color scheme had to be done with such subtlety that the average consumer might not notice that something had changed. A big part of the success of the original package was a somewhat crude, unpolished look that appealed to consumers. We call it “The Funk Factor”. The funk factor was another key element of the original design that had to be maintained and represented in the new design. Our client, and we, believe we have achieved these goals and watch closely as this new design continues to filter-in on store shelves across the globe.
We are very pleased with the top quality reproduction of our artwork. The labels were printed on the state of the art Gallus EM 410 S flexographic printing press. A special thanks to Mark Grigsby of Grigsby Label in Eldorado Hills, CA. for seeing the job through.
