Rod McDonald wines scoop international design award

Hawkes Bay wine company Rod McDonald Wines is the only New Zealand winery and business to win a prestigious prize in the 2016 Harpers Design Awards.

The Harpers Design Awards bring together the world’s top beverage brands. Judged by a panel of experts who consider not only aesthetics but how well the design has been tailored to its target market. Only seven trophies are awarded globally.

“The standard was high, with some stunning examples of enticing and engaging design, really lifting those products above the ordinary,” said Harpers editor Andrew Catchpole. “But our brief as judges went beyond purely aesthetical considerations, looking at how well the design of each product had been tailored to the client’s brief and its target market.”

Rod McDonald Wines were awarded the Red Wine Trophy for its Rod McDonald ‘One-Off’ Pinot Noir label, designed by Hawkes Bay based Zoe Chisholm from Font Studio. Only seven trophies were awarded in this year’s competition. 

“We are absolutely delighted with the win and it really puts us on the global map. It’s a huge testament to our unique branding approach and the talented team at Font Studio. The idea behind One Off is that we can make, blend and bottle it with a healthy disregard for brand families, consumer research and marketing fundamentals. The only catch is that it’s a one off, once it’s gone, it’s gone so we basically gave our designers free reign with the brand design and they came back to us with the ‘One Off’ character concept,” said Rod McDonald, owner of Rod McDonald Wines.

The Mr. ‘One Off’ Pinot Noir is one of a group of characters whose adornments reflect the style of wine they embody, in his case; blueberries, peony rose, violets, the deer, a cigar, the peacock and the admiral butterfly. Each of these elements give the consumer an insight to what awaits prior to even reading the back label. 

The judges commented “This Pinot Noir really stood out in the line up, the “beautiful
and slightly mysterious label image “drawing you in”. Design is incredibly important with drinks because it often precedes smell and taste when it comes to encouraging a
customer to pluck a bottle from the shelf, it also adds lustre to the longevity of engagement with a brand”.

“The whole ‘One Off’ concept has developed a bit of a cult following creating high demand for the product range. The release of each One Off is always keenly anticipated with some almost selling out prior to release. Wine is more than just slapping a label on a bottle, there are several elements to consider to get the product right and this win gives us the confidence to continue doing what we are doing. It’s fantastic for a small Hawkes Bay company like ours to be recognized from such a prestigious award,” said McDonald.