Building a luxury brand takes remarkable patience and meticulous attention to detail. The quality of luxury brands allow them to charge a premium price. Whether your business sells premium watches, high-end jewelry, fine wines, designer bags, or luxury cosmetics, the proof is in the presentation and you’ll want to make the best impression with luxury product labeling! Your buyers’ total experience should exude superior quality – from the moment they open the packaging to the moment they use your product.
“Ultra luxury products are differentiated from ordinary products through unique aesthetics. An explanation of the quality is best described through omission of words followed by physical evidence and presentation. The brand’s identity should be easily confirmed through a unique sensory experience.”
― Adriaan Brits, Luxury Brand Marketing: The Globalization of Luxury Brand Cults
Adriaan Brits has the perfect description of how luxury products differentiate themselves. In this blog, we’ll discuss what makes products luxurious, then we’ll dive into the best packaging and labeling practices to achieve luxury status!
What Makes Label and Package Design “Luxury”?
Luxury labeling and packaging boils down to creating an atmosphere of high quality and exclusivity for the brand. A luxury product must appeal to a luxury buyer’s sense of want and desire, not need. Your packaging should convince the consumer they are getting more for their money…It’s all about perceived value and the overall experience!
The materials used on a high end shampoo bottle or perfume will dramatically differ from low end ones. Ditch the uninspiring plastic coverings or boring cardboard enclosures and utilize rigid, textured boxes, embossed metals, and metallic foils that give your product an air of superiority to the competition. The packaging should reflect the idea that your product is exclusive and rare. Consider that your consumer may be buying this as a gift so keep that in mind when designing your offering. Purchasers of your product want to feel an elevated sense of prestige and be proud to display it in their homes. There is a reason many people don’t throw away the boxes their iPhones come in! The sense of perceived value created from their excellent packaging and labeling convinces consumers that the box is too valuable to throw away, despite it just being a simple box.
Luxury Packaging Best Practices
- Make it a Mission: One of the biggest differentiators between standard and luxury packaging is the degree of interaction required. High-end products take consumers on a journey of discovery. They aren’t out in the open, for the entire world to see. Luxury and exclusivity are synonymous. A luxury buyer should never feel as if anyone can get their hands on your product. Give exclusive access to your buyers and entice everyone else to join.
- Let the Packaging Speak: Contemporary luxury brands use a delicate, minimalist touch. There is elegance in simplicity. Search “unboxing” on YouTube or Instagram and you’ll find countless videos of influencers opening luxury packaging for highly sought after products. This is because the best luxury brands understand that the customer’s experience with their product begins the moment they get their hands on the packaging.
- Don’t Make it Tiresome: Every action in the opening of the package should be a smooth experience. Deliver a memorable unboxing experience without asking too much of the customer. Also be sure that your product can’t get damaged during the unboxing!
Luxurious Label Design Best Practices
- Choose Fine Materials: Would people be willing to spend $400 on a rare single barrel bourbon if it had a flimsy, cheap-feeling label? Absolutely not. Luxury buyers expect the luxury experience to apply to both the product itself and the product’s packaging – this includes the label. The label should signal, “This product is worth the premium cost”. Achieve this by choosing label materials that look and feel elegant!
- Use Metallic Foils: Nothing indicates luxury and opulence better than a subtle hint of gold, a flash of silver, or a splash of platinum. Most luxury brands use foils with at least one of these three finishes. There are multiple luxury label printing techniques that can give a product label a metallic appearance. Options include metal foils, metallic ink, and actual metal pieces such as plates or wires. A good example of this is the label for the award-winning Copper Alley single malt whiskey.
- Embossing: Embossing is a process of printing that creates a raised image on the printed piece. If you’ve ever run your hands across a product and could feel the letters, chances are it was embossed. Embossing is a great way to give your custom label a three-dimensional texture that draws eyes and fingers to your product. Most luxury brands emboss their company logo or a custom illustration.
- Choose the Best Label Design Company: The right luxury labeling company will provide intuitive solutions for your branding, label coatings, materials, cuts, and even inventory management for the labels. M&R Label Printers has the tools to guide you from concept to application. With over 30 years of label design experience, we’re the premier custom label service in Chicago. Let us bring your designs to life! Add the finishing touch of an exceptional label that goes well with your exceptional product.
What’s hot and what’s not changes over time, even when it comes to your product labels and packaging designs. What was popular 10 years ago may no longer do the trick. When was the last time you redesigned your product labels or rebranded? Is your packaging outdated? Have you noticed a lull in sales? It may be time to bring your custom product labels to the next level with a new design! The M&R Label experts are ready to help you design or revise the perfect label for your business needs with our Custom Label Design Services.