TORONTO—Scott Thornley bluntly told wine owner Martin Malivoire on their first meeting that he “loves his wine but thought the label sucks.” Instead of brushing off the comment, Malivoire asked for Thornley’s help. Thornley, principal and creative director of Toronto ad and design agency Scott Thornley + Company, presented Malivoire and his business partner with sketches for a three-year plan of new label designs and descriptions. Impressed with the drawings, Malivoire agreed to rebrand his wine.

“The label didn’t represent the product,” says Thornley. “Our task was to make sure the label equals what’s inside the bottle.”

Eight new looks for Malivoire wine hit stores across Ontario in spring and three more will be unveiled this fall. The revamped labels have created a buzz. Malivoire was the second biggest seller at the LCBO when the new bottles debuted in April.

Before STC's redesign, the wine label hadn’t been changed in a decade. On the old labels, Bank Script, a typeface usually seen on wedding invitations, was used with a cream, gold and black colour palette. The updated designs use brighter colours such as pink and orange and a more contemporary font, Corporate Sans, to give the wine a more modern feel and draw a different audience. Thornley says, “For consumers who don’t know about the vineyard, it’s the label that attracts them.” But STC also wanted to keep the wine’s classic image intact and decided to include the ladybug graphic, a fixture in the original Malivoire labels. STC also released designs for a non-drip wine spout and tote bags and is currently in the process of creating new designs for Malivoire’s ice wine. Contact: www.stcworks.ca