New Unity Marketing research shows that luxury wine consumers are looking for familiar product when shopping at retail, the challenge is for wine brands to stand out in crowded market.

A few years back, 'critter labels' - wine labels that feature depictions of animals - were all the rage. And while it seems counterintuitive to place an image unrelated to wine on a bottle in order to sell the product, the practice is well-supported by research, including a new study on the "Luxury of Wine" published by Unity Marketing.

Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the new study, explains the psychology behind the critter labels.  "These labels create unexpected and memorable connections between the consumer's perception of the image and their identification of the wine. Consumers find it easier to process an image if they have already viewed the image in another context or if they associate the image with something in their personal lives. And, with the proliferation of new wine brands crowding the shelves, it is more important than ever that wine brands facilitate consumer identification of their favorites," Danziger explains.

New research from Unity Marketing backs this up. "According to our latest study, The Luxury of Wine, affluent consumers rate familiarity with a wine as the top reason that they purchase it at retail.  Tasting and enjoying the wine previously, familiarity with the brand, and preference for the varietal are the top three reasons affluents purchase a wine at retail, meaning that helping the consumer identify a favorite is critically important," Danziger notes.

"Luxury wine consumers willing to pay $25+ for a bottle are busy; they don't have time for sorting through hundreds of bottles on a shelf to find a favorite. That's why an easily-identifiable label that has positive associations for the consumer is so important," Danziger says.

"However, the back label is just as important. An informative back label that includes information about flavor profile, food pairings, growing methods and region of origin will help those consumers who look a certain varietal or region, or those who want to try something new."

"The important truth is that affluent consumers make wine purchases for a variety of different reasons. Young affluents are drawn to different characteristics and messages than are mature affluents, and the same is true for different ages, genders, and income levels. Cute critters may draw attention, but it is a savvy understanding of the underlying psychographics that will make a wine truly stand out on the shelves," Danziger concludes.

More about the Luxury of Wine:  A Unity Marketing Trend Report

As each wave of Unity Marketing's Luxury Tracking study is fielded, special topics of interest to luxury marketers are researched in more depth and published in a separate trend report. For the fourth quarter 2011, fielded in early January 2012, luxury consumers were asked about their enjoyment of wine. A total of 795 out of a total sample of 1,201 luxury consumers (66 percent) report enjoying wine once a month or more often. These active luxury wine drinkers were asked to share more about their wine drinking and shopping experiences.

Wine Marketers: Take Action>>

This trend report is prepared for marketers that need to better understand the luxury consumers and how wine fits into their lifestyle

• It provides insights to help marketers position their wine brands better to meet the desires of the luxury wine consumers.
• It provides data relevant to pricing wine, as well as insights into what wine varietals are in the greatest demand among the luxury wine consumers.
• This is a report prepared for any marketer that makes or sells wine targeting the luxury or high end wine segment or affluent wine consumers.

More about the trend report

Questions included in this special investigation on wine focused on:

• What occasions luxury consumers typically drink wine, such as when dining out, relaxing at the end of the day, with informal meals, etc.
• Type of wine regularly enjoyed, including domestic or imported, and if imported what countries they choose for imported wines.
• Purchases of wine in restaurants, including how often wine is order when dining out; if order wine by the glass or bottle; what factors most influence one's wine selection when dining out, such as brand, matched food, recommended by sommelier, etc.; how much one typically spends buying a bottle of wine in restaurant.
• Purchase of wine at retail, including how often shop for wine at retail; what factors most influence one's wine selection at retail, such as brand, favorite varietal, shelf label, promotion, price, etc.; how much one typically spends buying a bottle of wine at retail.
• Wine varietals favored, including red varietals and white varietals.
• Reasons why one drinks and enjoys wine, such as health aspects, taste, with food, affordability, etc.
• What wine magazines, if any, do they read, including Decanter, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator
• Wine activities participated in during the past year, such as visiting a vineyard, attended a wine tasting, searched for wine information online, used mobile to access wine information, etc.

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