In one of her recent experiments, she and her team showed two groups of people ads for potato chips. “Eating and drinking isn’t just about taste, but it’s a combination of all our five senses - smell, touch, vision and even sounds,” she says. A study several years ago found that when people think that they’re drinking a $90 bottle, pleasure centers in the brain are more active than when they’re sipping on a $5 wine - even when the two wines are actually identical.Īnd what about all those fancy descriptions on the back of bottles describing a chardonnay’s buttery aroma and creamy mouth feel? They also work their magic on your mind, says Aradhna Krishna, a marketing professor at the University of Michigan. “The more they like the label, they more they like the wine.”Īlthough Schuemann isn’t a psychologist, there’s some real scientific evidence to back up his ideas. “We’ve done some consumer research in which we poured the same wine for people, but from different bottles,” he says. Then the consumer says, ‘Oh! That looks like it’s going to taste good.’ ”Īnd that label can trick your tongue, too. “A red foil communicates berries, while a green or yellow foil says buttery or tropical flavors are inside. The foil’s color on cheaper bottles helps beginners know what flavors to expect, Schuemann says. “Then people tend to perceive the wine as more expensive because so much care has gone into even the foil,” he adds. Even that little piece of metal at the top of the bottle gets jazzed up with a fancy print, a sophisticated stripe or subtle sparkles. No part of the bottle is wasted for these subliminal mind tricks. “And we’ll still add a bit of gold foil to show the quality.” “They’re whimsical in a clever way,” he says. So his team makes the labels more colorful and louder for wines under $10. Otherwise, experienced wine drinkers think it looks cheap.”īut for less-accomplished oenophiles who are still experimenting with wine, the bottle needs to “pop” off the shelf more, Schuemann says. “More expensive labels tend to have a cream or white background with a simple logo. In general, people associate minimalist, uncluttered designs with high-end vintages and sophisticated flavors, Schuemann says. We emboss the label or add a third dimension to give it a rich texture or tactile feel.” “We add gold foil to the label or a gold stamping. So then it appears like an even better value,” Schuemann tells The Salt. “We always make a wine look about $10 more expensive than it is. The book is also a feast for the eyes, with about 100 photographs of the sleekest, most eye-catching wine labels in the business. Seriously, who can resist the “see no evil” monkeys on a bottle of Pinot Evil? But the tricks that get us to buy a $9 bottle of chardonnay - or splurge on a $40 pinot noir - are way more sophisticated than putting a clever monkey on the front. A carefully crafted label can make us think the bottle is way more expensive than it is, and it can boost our enjoyment of the wine itself, says David Schuemann of CF Napa Brand Design, who has been designing wine packaging for more than a decade. In his new book 99 Bottles of Wine, Schuemann spills the industry’s secrets about how wine labels tickle our subconscious and coerce us into grabbing a bottle off the shelf. Even if we don’t want to admit it, we’ve all been suckered into grabbing a bottle of wine off the grocery store shelf just because of what’s on the label. A splash of gold adds richness and elegance. Shelf pop: Brilliant red ink and an arresting illustration make Scarlett stand out in a sea of Napa cabernet sauvignons. Drinking With Your Eyes: How Wine Labels Trick Us Into Buying
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