US-based Affinity Creative Group is the design agency behind the revival of Avissi wine’s brand identity. Their packaging design solution revolutionizes the iconic Italian wine’s visuals while keeping in touch with its rich historical heritage.
Avissi is a 100% Prosecco sparkling wine made in vineyards on the hills near the city of Treviso in the Veneto region. Sandwiched between the Adriatic Sea and Dolomites mountain range, the distinctive climate and region’s exuberant nature produce a unique-tasting wine of floral fragrance. Avissi Prosecco is described by connoisseurs and sommeliers as “sexy and elegant, easygoing and friendly, delicious and delightful.”
These qualities are important to consider when analyzing Affinity’s packaging design for the wine brand. The company carefully dissects the sumptuous regional history and long-standing wine-making tradition and reassembles it into a product that captures the imagination of modern shoppers and wine aficionados alike.
Capturing this bigger share of a dynamic market was the winemaker's objective for the new visual identity. Affinity Creative reimagined the existing brand presentation “from every angle.”
Two major elements play a role in the wine packaging design: the bottle and the label.
Traditionally, Champagne and sparkling wine bottles are thicker and heavier than other wines, because they need to withstand the high pressure from the bubbles within. The Avissi bottle has a recognizable silhouette with gently sloping sides and a punt in the bottom which reinforces the bottle.
The bottle’s color is dark green, as this shade protects the vintage wine from sun-induced damage. Affinity’s contribution to the bottle design is the silver foil at the top, showcasing the brand name in embossed typeface while shielding the cork.
The foil and the label itself are a big departure from the previous design. The prior label and foil featured gold/yellow tones and a classic serif font. It was a “paint-by-numbers" wine packaging design: nothing essentially wrong with it, but nothing exceptional that would aid the product’s recognition, either.
The reworked label helps Avissi stand out much better on store shelves in the overcrowded market. A much more recognizable brand has stepped into the contemporary era that challenges the notions of wine packaging design.
Upon first glance at Avissi’s new label design, the eye moves immediately to the interplay between colors and shapes.
The wine red and sea blue palette is typically uncommon in the wine industry.
But it is the geometrical pattern of famous Venetian tiles and mosaics that truly gives these colors a purpose. Affinity Creative’s own designer took photographs of these artisanal Venetian tileworks that take up the majority of the label.
The tile design evokes memories of Venetian Doge’s palaces and hallways of old. The label is very much rooted in the legendary architecture of the region, made famous by the likes of Palladio and Brunelleschi.
The geometric pattern surrounds the Avissi name, now in updated typography. The new font is more approachable and more current, while still evoking vintage emotions.
The rest of the copy was given a more low-profile treatment. The “product of Italy” and wine type disclaimers are made secondary with much smaller font size. They also come in more ordinary typography than the name “Avissi” which now takes the center stage.
The label’s edges and the background for the wine name are in lush silver undertones, lending an extremely premium character to the bottle.
The label design pays homage to the glory days of the Venetian Republic, one of the most affluent and culturally influential nations during the Renaissance and post-Renaissance period.
A label design typically doesn’t leave a lot of space for linking the wine’s defining properties with regional cultural excellence – and yet Affinity’s rebranding succeeds in this.
Redefining a visual identity of a wine brand is always a risky business: consumers may be traditionally-minded and mildly conservative, with strong opinions on change and any deviation from tradition.
Treading the ground carefully, Affinity Creative’s packaging design for Avissi Prosecco balances the obligatory paying of respect to tradition with today’s market realities.
The resulting label is best appreciated when the old and new design are looked at side by side. There is a definite outburst of individuality and character about the new design that the old label lacked. The label stands very distinctly against the mixture of the bottle’s green color and the wine’s own brilliant straw-yellow hue.
In the packaging design agency’s own words:
“The assignment was to create a luxury-laden Prosecco package that could stand out from the increasingly crowded field while conveying a sense of excitement and projecting celebratory, Italian imagery.”
The winemakers themselves state that “a mid-week dinner deserves to shine just as much as a black-tie affair.” With a “fresh approach to Italian Prosecco,” the brand’s overall attention to detail “gives a nod to the unmistakable aesthetic of the art and architecture of northern Italy,” as proclaimed on the wine’s official website.
As far as food and beverage brands go, this packaging design is one of the classiest and slickest we’ve seen, and it may mark a likely direction that the wine label design industry will take on in the years to come.
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