It’s time to think outside the box, here are Global Package’s techniques to improve your wine packaging. But, why is packaging for wine important, you ask? With the increase of “unboxing reveals” across social media and the fierce competition for on-shelf dominance in the wine industry, packaging has become crucial to gain a marketing advantage. Your customers will not only anticipate the quality of your beverage by the label and bottle design but also by the packaging (or lack thereof) your product is in.  What Is Wine Packaging? Packaging means so much more than just the bottle, and in this case when we are specifically referencing outer packaging, can also include wooden boxes, decorated gift boxes, wine totes, gift bags, storage containers, and more. Outer packaging has three main functions: to enhance the branding, add prestige, and keep the wine safe during transport and delivery. The packaging often includes a brand’s name, logo, colors, and messages about the produ

By Laurie Millotte, Founder, Outshinery At Outshinery, we render winery product images. No cameras, no shipped bottles. Photorealistic 3D images of your wine, built from the label file, ready before the wine is even in the bottle. We have made images for more than 2,000 brands across the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. After that many bottles, you start to see patterns. The same five mistakes show up on winery product pages over and over, regardless of region or size. None of them are about the wine. They are about how the bottle is presented on screen. That matters more than it used to. Direct-to-consumer wine shipments fell a record 15% in volume in 2025, the steepest decline since the channel began tracking in 2010 (Sovos ShipCompliant). The brands holding ground are the ones whose product pages read instantly at thumbnail size on a phone. Here are the five mistakes, and the fix for each. Mistake 1: Your Library Looks Like Five Different Brands Five years of vendors. Three photog

Outshinery has launched a free Visual scorecard, a self-serve assessment tool that lets beverage brand marketers, brand owners, and image managers see exactly where their visual library stands and what to fix first. The scorecard is live now at outshinery.com/visual-scorecard. The tool runs on six standards drawn from a decade of Outshinery client patterns: library completeness, visual consistency, channel readiness, production process maturity, image type diversity, and a qualitative read on the gaps a score alone cannot catch. Each one is a checkpoint that beverage brands of every size tend to underestimate, the same blind spots showing up again and again across briefs. Two paths are available. The full scorecard takes 20 minutes and walks through 23 questions across five scored sections plus one open prompt. A quick pulse takes 3 minutes and gives a directional read on the same six standards. Both end the same way: a maturity tier and the priorities to fix first. Tiers are named hon

We’ve worked across custom bottle projects for wine and spirits long enough to see where they break. Most brands assume failure happens at retail. In practice, it’s set much earlier, during design, tooling, and production planning. A concept gets approved on visual appeal. It signals quality, ambition, and brand intent. Then the friction starts. Sampling reveals inconsistencies. The bottle doesn’t behave on a filling line. Freight costs climb. By the time these issues surface, timelines have shifted and margins are under pressure. Custom glass is not a surface-level design exercise. It is an engineered outcome. The brands that succeed treat it that way from the beginning, aligning design ambition with production reality. At Global Package, we support that process end to end. From initial sketch through to final delivery, we work across quoting, design, mould development, manufacturing, quality control, decoration, and supply. That continuity is what prevents early-stage decisions from

Why Wineries Need Influencer Marketing Now Here's a number that should reshape how you think about marketing: 69% of consumers trust influencer recommendations more than information coming directly from a brand That's not a slight edge. That's a fundamental shift in how people decide what to buy. For wineries, this matters more than it does for most industries. Wine is a considered purchase wrapped in uncertainty. Your potential customer is standing in a tasting room or scrolling through an online store, wondering: Will I like this? Is it worth the price? Am I making the right choice? Influencer content answers those questions in ways traditional marketing cannot. When a trusted voice says "I tried this Pinot and it's incredible with grilled salmon," that carries weight. It's a peer recommendation disguised as content. Instagram and TikTok now drive wine discovery among younger audiences, and 87% of Gen Z consumers say they're willing to buy products

The wine and spirits industry is standing on the precipice of a major design evolution. For years, “premium” was defined by weight, excess, and tradition. For 2026, a new definition of luxury is emerging; one that values intelligence over mass, and tactile storytelling over simple visual appeal. For brand owners and procurement leaders, staying ahead of these glass packaging trends in 2026 is no longer just about aesthetics; it is a matter of strategic survival. From the rise of “quiet luxury” and right-weighted glass to the complex pressures of global supply chains, the packaging decisions made today will define brand resilience tomorrow. In this forecast, we explore how sustainable luxury, ergonomic innovation, and smart supply chain strategies are reshaping the premium landscape, and how Global Package provides the specialized glass solutions needed to help you navigate this future. The State of Glass Packaging for Wine & Spirits At Global Package, we&r

For founders Michael and Perry, the launch of Wild Mannered wasn’t just a new name; it was a new expression of identity, culture, and community. But as their brand evolved, they quickly realized that a powerful story needs a package that tells it. With the support of AWT Labels & Packaging’s ASL team, they transformed their updated brand vision into a physical product that felt just as intentional and expressive as the story behind it. A Brand Rooted in Representation Originally launched as Neat, the company was known for its ready-to-drink soju cocktails. But over time, Michael and Perry found that the name “Neat” didn’t quite capture the cultural specificity or personality they wanted the brand to reflect—a modern beverage brand inspired by cherished memories of sharing drinks through the lens of being Asian Americans. As a brand, they value representation and embracing identity, community, and quality with no exceptions or shortcuts.  &

I spend an embarrassing amount of time every January reading year-end recaps, trend reports, and “culture in review” pieces. It’s part professional habit, part curiosity, part doomscrolling with a notebook. But as I started flipping through 2025 retrospectives, something felt… off. Not alarming. Not exciting. Just oddly muted. Nothing was shouting. Nothing felt particularly sharp. Even the topics that usually come with big opinions seemed softened, neutralized, turned down a few notches. So I pulled the thread. And the more I looked, the more I began noticing the same quiet signals emerging in places that had no connection to each other: design trends, language, social behavior, media content, fashion, and even travel preferences. Different industries. Different audiences. Same emotional temperature. Meh. Which led me to a question I couldn’t shake: Is this increasing indecisiveness a new form of rebellion? A sign of boredom? Or are we just culturall

HOW TO KEEP YOUR BRAND TOP OF MIND WHEN CUSTOMERS ARE DROWNING IN HOLIDAY EMAILS The inbox in December isn’t a communication tool—it’s a full-contact sport. Every brand, from the global megastore to the local dog bakery, is shouting their way into people’s attention span with flashing subject lines, endless exclamation points, and “40% OFF” hysteria that blurs into static. Consumers don’t read; they scan for relief. According to Mailjet’s 2024 BFCM report, holiday email volume jumps nearly 80% between Thanksgiving and Christmas, while average open rates drop to 13–15%—a statistical cry for help. But the real problem isn’t quantity—it’s tone. Every brand is talking at their audience instead of with them. The louder the messaging, the less people listen. Leading with prices and panic doesn’t inspire trust; it triggers fatigue. That’s your opportunity. The brands that win the inbox aren’t the

Meta Ads, Miracle Results If your holiday Meta ads felt like lighting money on fire in a festive candle, that’s not because social is dead. It’s because your targeting and flighting were built for wishful thinking, not gifting intent. The fix isn’t magic. It’s method. You can absolutely turn Meta into a gift-selling machine between Thanksgiving and New Year—if you understand what actually drives intent and how to spend wisely when every other brand on earth is screaming for attention. What follows is a ruthless, winery-specific playbook for the six-week window between Thanksgiving and New Year that prioritizes intent, protects margin, and leans on real benchmarks instead of folklore. First, reality: volume is there, but it clusters Holiday ecommerce keeps breaking records, with online spend hitting roughly $241.4B from Nov 1 to Dec 31 and mobile responsible for the majority of transactions. (Adobe Newsroom) Translation: your customers are buying on their