Stag&Hare is a brand experience agency with offices in New York, London, Los Angeles and Atlanta. The agency works with global brands like Coca-Cola, Intercontinental Hotels, and Pernod Ricard, and start-ups entering the market. Stag&Hare is also an agency that believes in developing its own brands to celebrate its creativity. The Stag&Hare limited edition wine collection is just one of these projects.
The wine set is a celebration of Stag&Hare’s creativity and also an agency promotional piece to share with clients and friends. The set serves up one white wine and one red wine, which are cozily nestled inside a mysterious carry case. These limited edition sets were developed as a way to celebrate the studio’s partnership with Neenah Packaging, and to showcase what creativity can do for packaging.
A total of 24 different wine labels were designed through a meticulously collaborative effort, with submissions by all Stag&Hare studios worldwide.
The process began with a collection of personally crafted illustrations: 20 designers developed their individual stags and hares to reflect their personal style. From there, “We created singular graphics that brought together one stag illustration with one hare, creating unexpected yet beautiful pairings that are featured across all 24 labels,” said Andrew Kibble, Founder & Creative Lead, Stag&Hare.
The labels feature orange, gray and black, Stag&Hare’s primary brand colors, and a variety of printing techniques to create an eclectic yet premium collection. Produced on Neenah ESTATE LABEL® Digital No. 8, each label has a different print finish; combining digital printing, letterpress, thermography, embossing, UV varnishes, clear foil, and pigment foil, making each bottle distinct.
A bottle of red and a bottle of white are paired and placed in a carry case, made with a combination of NEENAH® Folding Board, Deep Black, 26pt and Bright White 24pt. Stag&Hare worked with Fey Printing to produce the labels and carry cases. Kibble says there were some challenges in designing the case, due to the considerable weight it would hold, “Thanks to some creative thinking and recommendations from Neenah Packaging and the team at Fey, we managed to develop a structurally sound and beautiful case.”
Though the case was primarily designed to safely contain the wine bottles, Stag&Hare saw it as another opportunity to add a level of drama and mystery to the “unboxing moment.” An eye-catching paper lining inside the box features all of the illustrations created for the labels, so the entire collection is represented in each package.
A spot UV was used to emphasize the illustrations on the front of the box and create a sleek-looking finish.
Kibble says the wines were given to clients and friends, “We are always looking for ways to explore our creativity and bring unique experiences to our clients.”
