labels Need Help Critiquing Label

PepperDaddy

PepperDaddy

I just received the first draft of the Red Thunder label and would love some community input.  I have thoughts of my own but will hold off to see if others independently have the same.  Here it is.  Thanks in advance.
 
Ken
 
KPW_Label_Draft_1.jpg

 
Oops.  I didn't realize there were more coming.
 
KPW_Label_Draft_2.jpg

 
 
 
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Also I'm assuming your nutrition panel is something you lifted from another product to mock this up? Otherwise I can't imagine why you'd have 3% of my daily fat intake with those ingredients. ?
haha good assumption, I'd be afraid of an 8oz serving size of hot sauce!!
 
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This is not something I would pick up off the shelf. It looks cluttered and generic, the passion of what you are trying to do with sauce is not being conveyed. Go simple and bold. Remove the brand confusion. Which is the brand? Tabasco is a brand. McIlhenny is the company. Is Ken's or Red Thunder the brand?

"Hot" is for salsa, Hot Hot sauce is redundant. Use a scale or other unique wording. Red Thunder... three lightning bolts, four lightning bolts, etc. Tie it into your theme.

Colors are muted. Font is not the best on the lettering, I'd go sans-serif and narrower.

Start the story on the side with "Like a fine wine..." and cut the top out. Not needed and not an attention grabber... sound... color... no.

Shield shapes look weird. On the second one the shadow cuts off half way up the right side.

Gourmet Hot Sauce sounds pretentious. Hot Sauce is enough. IMO. Your call. If Red Thunder is your "brand" it could work.

I actually like your Ken's logo all black better. It pops, and you can really tell that pepper is an N. Color, it's a little busy and draws your eye away from what is important. The sauce.

The wood is better than the saw blade or whatever that is. But does not say anything special about your sauce. Red Thunder. A storm brewing, a dark red and black skyline, lightning bolt heat scale on the bottle. Bold and simple, reds, whites, blacks, and yellows. Make it pop.
 
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Lucky Dog Hot Sauce said:
Also I'm assuming your nutrition panel is something you lifted from another product to mock this up? Otherwise I can't imagine why you'd have 3% of my daily fat intake with those ingredients. ? 
Click to expand...
 
It was taken from a web site that provides them.  I don't have nutrition info yet.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
This is not something I would pick up off the shelf. It looks cluttered and generic, the passion of what you are trying to do with sauce is not being conveyed. Go simple an bold. Remove the brand confusion. Which is the brand? Tabasco is a brand. McIlhenny is the company. Is Ken's or Red Thunder the brand?

"Hot" is for salsa, Hot Hot sauce is redundant. Use a scale or other unique wording. Red Thunder... three lightning bolts, four lightning bolts, etc. Tie it into your theme.

Colors are muted. Font is not the best on the lettering, I'd go sans-serif and narrower.

Start the story on the side with "Like a fine wine..." and cut the top out. Not needed and not an attention grabber... sound... color... no.

Shield shapes look weird. On the second one the shadow cuts off half way up the right side.

Gourmet Hot Sauce sounds pretentious. Hot Sauce is enough. IMO. Your call. If Red Thunder is your "brand" it could work.

I actually like your Ken's logo all black better. It pops, and you can really tell that pepper is an N. Color, it's a little busy and draws your eye away from what is important. The sauce.

The wood is better than the saw blade or whatever that is. But does not say anything special about your sauce. Red Thunder. A storm brewing, a dark red and black skyline, lightning bolt heat scale on the bottle. Bold and simple, reds, whites, blacks, and yellows. Make it pop.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the input.  I agree and did give ideas for lightening, shaking text, etc but it did not show up.  I'll get it right.  I see how it can look in my minds eye.  I just have to communicate it well.
 
Ken
 
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Cool.

I did not read the others first, but skimming them, I see others seem to be saying the same. So go with a consensus, and your gut.

What do you want people to call it?

"Have you had Ken's hot sauce?"
"Have you had Red Thunder hot sauce?"
"Have you had Ken's Red Thunder hot sauce?"
"Have you had Ken's Pepper Works hot sauce?"
"Have you had "Ken's Pepper Works Red Thunder hot sauce" <-- this sounds awkward but that is how the bottle looks. No one will say that it's too long, they'll pick one of the above, so you do the picking for them, and adjust accordingly. Don't add brand confusion or no one will know the sauce.
 
PepperDaddy said:
I like the clean fonts like the Blair's Death Sauce labels (http://extremefood.com/Death-Sauce/) - my favorite labels
Click to expand...
Company:
Blair's Sauces & Snacks

Front of bottle:
Blair's (logo)
Death Sauce

He does not have Blair's Sauces and Snacks Death Sauce.

So, even though you are Ken's Pepper Works, just use Ken's on the FRONT:

Ken's
Red Thunder

(The Ken's Pepper Works full logo, on back.)
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
Company:
Blair's Sauces & Snacks

Front of bottle:
Blair's (logo)
Death Sauce

He does not have Blair's Sauces and Snacks Death Sauce.

So, even though you are Ken's Pepper Works, just use Ken's on the FRONT:

Ken's
Red Thunder

(The Ken's Pepper Works full logo, on back.)
Click to expand...
 
That's a different twist.  I never considered using my name like that.  Food for thought.  Although I'm not sure if his logo is "Blair's" or the skull.  
 
Ken
 
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By logo I mean where it says Blair's in that script.

The brand is usually not the actual company name. Sometimes it is, but in your case, you are also branding the sauces themselves with names. Just like Blair's Death Sauce product line (correct?). So if the company name is wordy, shorten it and brand it. IMO.

Other examples:
(I'll use some hot sauce people we know)

Gunther's Gourmet Groceries (company) on back.
Gunther's Gourmet (brand) on front

Some companies have the word hot sauce in them, so it works, because it is in their name, and it also tells you what the product is. You can write your name big and hot sauce little, and it looks good. Like:

Lucky Dog (big at the top)
Hot Sauce (small and in the horseshoe)
 
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Just playing with the idea lol.
Anyway, just an IDEA, like I said not a designer. Could be cool.
 
red_thunder2.png
 
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PepperDaddy said:
Damn, that's good.  Are you for hire?  Hell, I want to use that image!  Do you mind if I send that to the designer as an example?
Click to expand...
 
LOL trust me not a designer. You need one, and to make it more labely. These are standard fonts, and you can find stock images just like that, yeah send it on in! Any designer can replicate that, and do much better.
 
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Are you planning on using "Red Thunder" on the label for every sauce or is Red Thunder the name of your first sauce? 
 
Your business name can be different than your brand name.  What I have listed for business contact information is " A & J Enterprises, LLC" but all my labels have-
"Texas Creek".....(and whatever the product is)
 
I also have another line of products that aren't hot/spicy.  Those have the same A & J contact information with a brand of "Methow Valley Gourmet". 
 
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salsalady said:
Are you planning on using "Red Thunder" on the label for every sauce or is Red Thunder the name of your first sauce? 
 
Your business name can be different than your brand name.  What I have listed for business contact information is " A & J Enterprises, LLC" but all my labels have-
"Texas Creek".....(and whatever the product is)
 
I also have another line of products that aren't hot/spicy.  Those have the same A & J contact information with a brand of "Methow Valley Gourmet". 
Click to expand...
 
No, Red Thunder is the name of the sauce, not the company.  However, I hope to have a Red Thunder wing sauce, Red Thunder spice rub, Red Thunder BBQ sauce, etc.  So Red Thunder will be branded across multiple products.  It seems a lot of successful products do that.  
 
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I think if you want "Red Thunder" to be a brand name and use it across multiple products, you need to come up with a logo for it and use that same logo across all products. Keep the "Ken's Pepper Works" only for where you would put the address and contact info. If you put both, you are confusing your brand. What does someone call it? Ken's? Red Thunder? Who knows. Don't give people the ability to get confused. 
 
If I go into a store and ask someone where the "Red Thunder" sauce is. I want them to know exactly what I am talking about. Just think about this. If they don't know what I am talking about, and I spend a few minutes searching the store for it, my chances of buying it are probably very slim now as opposed to going directly to it and putting it in my basket.
 
I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but that is what I thought about when I formed Texas Tears. I highly doubt anyone will ever forget the name of my company or what the product is called. Texas Tears Habanero Sauce. Simple. If I ended up calling my company name "Dustin's Gourmet Sauces" I definitely wouldn't be putting "Dustin's Gourmet Sauces - Texas Tears - Habanero Sauce".
 
You should definitely keep the Red Thunder as a brand. It is a cool name, and people will remember it. Just make the logo stand out. Something you won't be able to forget once you see. If you need a logo done for it, I have a guy that is amazing. Let me know if you want his info.
 
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Thanks for the info Dustin.  I like Teaxas Tears.  It has a good ring to it.  My only concern about this branding method is what happens when I have a produc in which t I want my company to be the brand name, not the product.  For example, a cole slaw dressing, snacks or a hot sauce w/out a catchy name, like Mango Habanero Hot Sauce?.  Maybe I can only put out products for branding?
 
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PepperDaddy said:
Thanks for the info Dustin.  I like Teaxas Tears.  It has a good ring to it.  My only concern about this branding method is what happens when I have a produc in which t I want my company to be the brand name, not the product.  For example, a cole slaw dressing, snacks or a hot sauce w/out a catchy name, like Mango Habanero Hot Sauce?.  Maybe I can only put out products for branding?
Click to expand...
Maybe I need another cup of coffee before attempting to understand this one, but you lost me here....
:confused:
 
 
 
What's wrong with Red Thunder Cole Slaw Dressing?  There's lots of companies that make fruit/habanero hot sauces, what makes yours stand out is your Brand Name.... Red Thunder Mango Habanero Hot Sauce.
 
Seems like the feeling is most people like Red Thunder as a brand name.  If you do want to go with Ken's Pepper Works (which is fine, the name will work) drop the Red Thunder and go with more generic product descriptions. 
 
Ken's Pepper Works Mango/Hab Hot Sauce
Ken's pepper Works Creamy Coleslaw Dressing
 
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Here's whats happening here. You are trying to do way too much with the double branding. This seems to be because you have a cool company name... Ken's Pepper Works, and you want people to know it. But then you have the brand Red Thunder, a line of sauces. Chose the one you really want people to know! Right now you're a nobody and your first order of business is trying to get people to remember two brands. This will most likely cause them to forget, counter-productive. Put the KPW on the back, or just use the "Ken's" before all your products, and put the full name and logo on the back. IMO the that's the best way to tie company to brand, if you must. Ken's Fiery Cole Slaw? Still works. Who makes Ken's? Ken's Pepper Works. The company name. Done. (Just make sure you do not violate the TM of Ken's Salad Dressings.)
 
Renfro Foods uses Mrs. Renfro's as the brand. Renfo Foods appears only on the back. They are not forcing people to remember it, and it is not on the front.
 
If Mrs. Renfro's was NOT the brand, and it was a single salsa made by her in the line, then Renfro Foods would work as their brand and both would appear on the front.
 
If Red Thunder is exactly the same recipe except for heat levels it can work. That's not a brand that's a sauce name. But it sounds like Red Thunder will be all your sauces, and rubs, BBQ, etc. In this case that is the brand. The company is just the company. The logo and all is cool, but I'd slap it on the back and not worry if people don't see it. You want them to see Red Thunder, right?
 
Did you know Ragu is Unilever? Frank's RedHot is Reckitt Benckiser? Okay those are company buyouts, so not really fair. But still, you only see one brand on the front. People know brands. Only the food giants can do the double branding, because people already KNOW the company. Like Nabisco. But people don't say "Buy me some Nabisco Oreos" they say Oreos. But originally Nabisco was the brand, and Oreo was just one cookie, not a line of cookies. Still though an Oreo is an Oreo, there are variations, but it is still an Oreo. There is no Nabisco - Oreo - Pasta Sauce. Weird!
 
Okay so you want to release a cole slaw. That's cool! Nothing is stopping you! If you immediately want people to know this is YOUR cole slaw you have to release it under that BRAND. I guess you need to choose here which brand you want people to know.
 
Another thing to note here is, there is LIMITED SPACE on a hot sauce bottle. Jumbled, double-branding does not work. It works for Tabasco because they started with one sauce, not a line. McIlhenny was the brand of "a" Tabasco (pepper) sauce. That became so popular it became the brand, and now they have a line. McIlhenny is small and part of the diamond around the name, and the general public doesn't even see that. Ask around and see who knows it.
 
Point being nobody double brands at first. But products can become brands later. That is when you are successful, and the world knows the company as a brand. Not to start with.
 
Okay, good luck! 
 
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