Challenge

Accolade Wines, came to DAf with a cutting-edge new product, a range of carbon-neutral wines in 95.1% recycled packaging, an 100% post-consumer recycled glass. Their name is based on wolves, the apex predators that define an ecosystem. The asked us to create a look and feel for their social media and produce the brand’s lead photography in this style. The challenge was to avoid generic claims and predictable imagery around sustainability, while communicating the technical specifications of its impressive recycled glass bottle, using facts and clarity as guidelines.

Photography

With this concept of redefining recycling, recycled material appears in surprising and visually striking ways. For example, recycled paper hangs draped in the background of one photo, and recycled cork acts as a podium for the bottle of Wise Wolf as scraps of recycled paper become a beautiful bed of confetti, and recycled glass a glistening backdrop of crystal. Stop motion was used to create video content, including videos where we see each of the three bottles emerging from the material that they’re made of. Lifestyle photography was taken of a group of three friends casually consuming the wine in a home that has recycled furniture such as tables made of recycled wooden pallets.

Stop Motion

We made a series of stop-motion videos for Wise Wolf where we see the shadow of wine pouring into a bottle, wine bottle shards forming the shape of a bottle, two where bottles appear to break the surface of a pool of glass shards the same color as the bottle, and another where the bottle surfaces amid pieces of corrugated cardboard and paper.

Making Of

Challenge

Pinnacle Drinks approached DAf with a quest to rebrand a Tennessee whiskey they sell in Australia, rethinking the brand, including searching for a new name and storytelling to better position the whiskey. They wanted to capture the history of Tennessee whiskey, and the unique process by which this particular whiskey is made to strongly appeal to its target market. Whiskey is a product with strong category cues and it was important to use these cues to make it clear to the consumer what the product would deliver, a Lincoln-process whiskey suitable for mixing with mixers and enjoyed by young to middle-aged singles and couples at casual get-togethers.

Brand Story

We created the mysterious but loveable character of the Wanderin’ Rogue to name the brand. We imagined him as a person who wandered the width of the state, crossing it from end to end over 452 miles, possibly on an old steam engine.

Packaging

On the front of the bottle, the dark label on a square bottle for Wanderin’ Rogue closely follows the strong visual cues associated with the category, and lends support to the whiskey’s authenticity. At the very top of the label is the text “I’m a restless soul enjoyin’ being free.” Below that, a large typeset font was used for the name, written in off white with turquoise highlights and gold foil accents. The fonts used give a sense of historical presence, along with corner flourishes evocative of signs from the 1800s. There is a seal on the label with the letters WR surrounded by the words “Wanderin’ Rogue” and “Unique Bold Flavor,” and there is a train in homage to the state and protagonist and a barrel full of charcoal to evoke the process by which the whiskey is made. At the bottom of the label there is rectangle that says that the whiskey is made in small batches, along with the bottle volume, alcohol content and proprietor’s signature.

The back of the bottle has a cream-colored label with fewer details than the front, including flourishes and the train, and labeling required by Australia, where it will be sold, including volume, alcohol content and a warning against drinking during pregnancy.

The strip label that goes over the capsule is turquoise with black outlined white lettering reading “Tennessee Whiskey.”

Challenge

Australian producer, Accolade Wines, approached DAf to create new packaging designs for their Anakena range, and devise fresh brand strategy, naming, storytelling, and creative for the line. It was important for Accolade Wines that this redesign and creative recognize both the terroir of their wine, which is Alto Cachapoal, in central Chile, and also the origin story of the Easter Island birdman that appears on their label.
Anakena sought to appeal to the millennial market as an exciting option within New World wines. Their goal was to increase global distribution to build the brand in the US, Canada, Latin America, Japan, Korea and China, and relaunch completely in Europe.

Brand Strategy

DAf identified the ideal consumer profile for Anakena as a millennial who seeks out new experiences and excitement, they take pride in their conversation-starting discoveries and like to share their zest for life. Seeing this, we developed a brand purpose, essence and promise for Anakena: the most exciting New World wine that stops at nothing to achieve greatness. A wine so powerful, not even lava can stop it.

Brand Story

We wanted to share the symbiotic relationship that lava has with this wine; the lava escaping from within the earth’s crust, eventually forming the terroir from which Anakena was crafted.

Storytelling

Chile is a land of extremes,
The Pacific island of Rapa Nui,
May seem a distant world to our home in Alto Cachapoal,
Yet we are connected by what’s inside.

Both are lands defined by fire,
Where lava once flowed, irrevocably changing the landscapes bringing depth and richness to our very existence
And its fire spirit lives on beneath the ground we walk on.

CAN YOU FEEL IT FLOW?

Our vines plunge into the depths,
Straining through the volcanic soils,
Harnessing the fiery force of what’s within and infusing our wines with heated spirit.

When you try our wines, go deeper.
Feel what’s inside.
Trace the taste back to the embers of these ancient lands
And soar from there.

Packaging

DAf designed six new wine labels that use a volcanic color palette to tell the story of Anakena’s powerful origin. Different concentrations of hot red, igneous black and bright gold were selected to reference the lava, volcanic soil and precious organic material contained within the earth’s surface. Each bottle is connected by the jagged silhouette of the Andes Mountains which runs along their lower half and also symbolizes Anakena’s mountainous terroir in Alto Cachapoal. For the wines Alwa and Khana, we used bright gold foil to reference Pacific sunrises; for Ona, a wine named for an indigenous people from Tierra del Fuego, rustic stripes of red and gold were used, inspired by the body paint once used by this community; while Tama uses a stone background reminiscent of anthropomorphic, pre-Columbian carvings. For Nuna, which means soul or spirit, we designed a black-to-red gradient with bright red strikes running through it, as if a spirit was running through a night sky like lightening. Lastly, for the range’s hero product, Birdman, we created a layer of fiery red underneath a layer of intriguing, mysterious rongorongo glyphs, ancient icons from Easter Island whose exact meaning is unknown to this day.

Naming

We took into consideration the importance of recognizing the native lands and peoples of Chile, and developed names in accordance with these conventions, opting for short, two-syllable words that are simple to pronounce and convey attributes associated with the wine, using terms for light and community for example.

Key Visual

DAf produced two key visuals, both heavily volcanic in nature. The first features Anakena’s iconic Birdman figure with a tagline inspired by the words of our storytelling: “Wine from Within”. This is set against a backdrop that shows a vineyard and sky in tones of grey, and transitioning into hot, lava red. Emblazoned on the lava, representing fiery magma, is another instance of the birdman figure. The second key visual consists of the magma-colored birdman burning through a surface of pahoehoe lava flow, which is smooth and ropy-looking, and has the same claim as above. Both have at the bottom the creative phrase “Profound Wine Grown From Chile’s Volcanic Soils”.

Challenge

Pernod Ricard Winemakers (PRW) approached DAf about an exciting project, launching new brand I Am George, a range of Australian wines named after George Wyndham, known as the father of Australian Shiraz. PRW wanted to develop visuals for elements of the brand´s storytelling, recounting the adventures of Wyndham, who left a comfortable life in Britain to put down roots in Australia and cultivate wine in the mid-19th Century.

Result

The images produced by DAf were used to the launch the brand in Australia. PRW was pleased with the creative process, with Global Senior Brand Manager Activation Adele Nowakowska concluding:

“This agency is the only creative agency that truly understands and appreciates the wine category. I’m always confident that the team will interpret the brief correctly and supply us with a creative strategy that reflects the original brief. I Am George was an unusual brief and I wanted DAf to work on it. I am always pleasantly surprised when I see work from them.”

Challenge

Hogs 3 is a ready-to-drink bourbon and cola mix from Pinnacle Liquor Group in Australia. DAf developed a brand video for the product’s launch, combining the bright pop world of soda with bourbon’s southern archetypes.

Brand Video

The inclusion of rustic, natural materials, namely large oak barrels, helped to reinforce the traditional aspects of the bourbon and align Hogs 3 with long-standing southern archetypes. We used bright colors, playful shapes and a fun sound scape to inject the essence of the world of soda into the mix.

The final phrases, “It’s smart, it’s smooth, it’s ready to drink” really hone in on the millennial target consumer. Pinnacle Liquor Group was aiming to connect less with traditional bourbon drinkers and more with consumers looking for a neat solution to bourbon and cola in just a single can.

Target

Millennial spirits consumers in Australia.

Challenge

Jacob’s Creek’s brand ambition is to be the leading premium wine in the world. Drawing on 160 years of winemaking heritage, it has stayed true to its values, beliefs and passion for making great quality wines. The challenge was to find an interactive way of immersing wine lovers in the brand’s rich history; to tell the story of Jacob’s Creek’s true origin, whilst at the same time introducing wine consumers to its new logo design.

Creative Process

Taking into account the brand’s strong pillars, DAf responded with a creative proposal for the development of a campaign that would establish the ‘Always Stay True’ positioning. We crafted a brand video and interactive iPad app to express the synergy between Jacob’s Creek’s brand values and the personal values of its target consumer.

Interactive iPad App

DAf developed an interactive iPad app to further share Jacob’s Creek’s story of origin. Through touch screen technology, we invited the target audience to learn about the brand, the vineyards and the wines. One of the challenges was to offer an all-round experience for interested users, which is why some sections relate to brand history and other sections focus on the brand’s collection of wines.

Target

Sales force and distributors of Jacob’s Creek across the globe.