Animal labels twice as attractive to wine consumers
March 24, 2006
By Panos Kakaviatos
Putting an animal name on a bottle of wine will more than double its sales in the United States, say market analysts AC Nielsen.
According to research conducted by the firm, just over 400 of the 1,000 wine brands introduced in the last three years remain in production. Of those, wines with animal pictures, names or brands outsold those that didn't by a proportion of more than two to one.
Animal-branded wines, such as the Kangaroo-labelled Yellow Tail or Smoking Loon (a duck-like bird), represent about 18% of the 438 wines introduced successfully into the US market, but their combined sales amount to over US$600m (£346m).
'While placing a critter on a label doesn't guarantee success, it is important that winemakers realise that there is a segment of consumers who don't want to have to take wine too seriously,' said AC Nielsen's Danny Brager.
'Not only are they willing to have fun with wine, they may just feel good about an animal label presentation.'
AC Nielsen said that the trend may have been set by Yellow Tail wine – the biggest-selling wine brand in America.
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