Wine and beer products have universal appeal—from corporate events and fundraisers to wine tastings and retirement ceremonies. Bottle openers, cups, wine glasses, glass charms, and etched bottles are all hot merchandise in this market. These items offer lasting appeal and a long shelf life.
At A+ Wine Designs, Jim Ristuccia says the company sees a strong interest in the custom decoration (etching and labeling) of wine, beer, and liquor bottles. “Gift sets with a bottle as the centerpiece in a custom box along with accessories—such as wine openers, chocolates, scarves, etc.—are popular,” he states. “We see a good mix of interest across bottle types, though red wine remains the most popular product.”
According to Richard Ouellette of Zoogee World, Inc., the beer and wine bottling industries have major marketing dollars attributed to the success of their beverage products and often promotional add-ons or related promotional products are used to encourage point of sale purchases.
Zoogee World’s most popular items are its full-color domed wine glass charms, which Ouellette explains, is primarily because the company can provide customization without any set-up or die charges, in addition to the professional, executive-style clamshell packaging—which can also be customized to provide additional marketing or event information.
While A+ Wine Designs is not seeing any new clusters of interest in any one type of alcohol product, Ristuccia reports that red wine remains the prohibitive favorite, mostly because it best shows off the company’s etching work. “Sparkling wine (champagne) follows red wine, just because it’s so closely associated with celebrations—and there is so much to celebrate all the time,” he comments. “There is such a variety and diversity of options (types, locations, price points, etc.). We see many different projects coming across our desks. It’s hard to say anyone this is getting more attention because the next phone call will be for something completely different.”
Beacon Promotions has a new item, the Magnetic Bottle Opener Coaster, a three-in-one handy party tool with a large imprint area that features maximum ad exposure and a magnet that allows it to have prominent viewing on the refrigerator, Gwen Brey notes.
Josette Bosse at Bay State reports the company has a multitude of wine/beer items that pack a powerful punch. The Companion Corkscrew is a combination corkscrew and bottle opener in a rugged, ABS plastic case. The Host 'n Toast Wine Opener features a polished, heavy-duty, corkscrew, a bottle-opener lever and a 1¾-inch cutting blade for removing foil. The 10-once Stainless Cup is a double-walled stainless steel that insulates hot or cold liquids—keeping drinks hot for eight hours and cold for up to 12 hours. Plus, the Here's-To-You Plastic Wine Glass boasts one-piece construction with a universal design and a capacity of over six ounces.
To promote these items, Zoogee World’s Ouellette encourages distributors to work with major bottling or beverage manufacturing companies and keep an eye out for special event opportunities—and capitalize on them.
Ristuccia at A+ Wine Designs expands on Zoogee’s sentiments. “Selling decorated alcoholic products (wine, beer, and spirits) offers great benefits,” he emphasizes. “Nearly everyone appreciates getting a nice bottle as a present. A decorated bottle is so unique; it really stands out and garners attention because it’s not something people see often, even amongst the plethora of brand products we see in this industry. Decorated bottles have a branding persistence that is longer than any other product. People tend to hold on to their bottles—unopened—for a long time.”
CASE STUDIES
Jim Ristuccia, A+ Wine Designs: Taking a company—such as Planet Fitness—public is one of those unique gifting situations. You want to celebrate, commemorate the event, and share with everyone that got you to that point. That usually means all your employees and key investors. How to do that in a classy yet celebratory manner that will be positively perceived? All without breaking the bank (because now as a public company you’re under more scrutiny).
We’ve faced the question a number of times. The answer: Champagne, of course! On this project, we worked with a distributor representing Planet Fitness, the gym studio that is known for its bold upbeat colors in its branding. When presented with choices, Planet Fitness decided they wanted to go with a name brand wine, and they liked the sleek and clean look of the Freixenet Cordon Negro. This wine is technically sparkling Cava. Cava is the name for sparkling wine made in Spain. Cava means caves, where the wine is stored. The commemorative design chosen was an elegant text design etched into the bottle with their new ticker symbol “PLNT” and “Listed NYSE,” all in silver letters.
With 350 employees and investors in multiple locations, the challenge of this project became the cost, which over-stretched the client’s budget. The solution we presented was to drop down a size to 375 ml bottles, which are half-sized. In reality, these are only about two inches shorter, so they don’t look that much smaller, even though they do contain only half the contents.
In making the choice to go with the less expensive half-size bottles, that freed up a little bit of the budget. We added the options of a custom capsule replacement to silver and a custom neck label, which displayed their distinctive logo. Finally, to top this project off, most of the bottles were packed into black gift boxes to be presented out to employees on the big day.
Gwen Brey, Beacon Promotions: A tourism committee was looking for an event to bring people into town for the weekend. The tourism committee worked closely with the bars, restaurants, and hotels and sponsored a pub crawl in their downtown area. Each bar downtown gave out a different promotional item tying into the event. One bar gave out a tote bag so the participants would have something to hold all the items. One bar gave out the HW47BC bottle opener coaster with a full-color imprint.
Another gave out a Waterford glass with the bar's name on it so they would have a keepsake at home. After the event, each person who received items from all the participating businesses was entered into a drawing. The winner of the drawing received the city's local Chamber Dollars. This would encourage them to return to town and spend their winnings (plus more). The committee members and all the businesses who participated were very pleased with the turnout
Josette Bosse, Bay State: A transportation company that provides Party Buses and Limo Service used these Companion Cork Screws to promote their business at bridal shows. They handed out these corkscrews to brides attending the shows. The corkscrew had their company name, contact info, and website printed on it.
They also had the corkscrews in the party buses and limos for the guests to use and take home as a keepsake item from their fun night out!