labels Please critique our new label

This is the label for our next sauce (due out sometime in January). Unfortunately the picture has posted a little washed out, the colors are much more vibrant.
 
There are a few corrections that we can see, but we are interested to hear what everyone else thinks.
 
Thank you for taking the time to help us.
 
Feisty Parrot
 
 
uNq7P77.jpg
 
It's an interesting angle on "scotch" for the scotch bonnet peppers, but one I'm not sure works.

My 1st impression is that this is going to be a Scottish sauce - and the Scots aren't exactly known for heat? I'm not even sure what I would expect it to taste like - maybe haggis?

99.99999999% of the time the theme for a scotch bonnet pepper is going to be an island theme - rasta colors, tropical. And you have a parrot as your mascot/logo which would seem to lend extremely well to that theme as a slam dunk.

In all honesty I'm not really feeling this one for those reasons - from the perspective of a consumer looking at this on a shelf I'd be a little confused by it. The branding is great - I think the parrot is adorable in his little kilt. I just don't make a connection to a spicy food from any of the imagery. The tartan background and Scottish theme throws me off.

Don't mean to be a naysayer, just my gut impression.
 
Lucky Dog Hot Sauce said:
My 1st impression is that this is going to be a Scottish sauce - and the Scots aren't exactly known for heat? 

True, we built the label more around the personification of  traditional clans, who were known for fiery tempers, being cantankerous and ready to fight for their beliefs...think William Wallace.
 

99.99999999% of the time the theme for a scotch bonnet pepper is going to be an island theme - rasta colors, tropical. And you have a parrot as your mascot/logo which would seem to lend extremely well to that theme as a slam dunk.
 
Yep and that's the point 99.99999999% We wanted to pull in a different twist, perhaps it's a little too out of the box?!? Yes the parrot logo will lend itself well to a tropical theme and believe me we have just such a theme in the design phase for the future.
 
 
 from the perspective of a consumer looking at this on a shelf I'd be a little confused by it.
 
Always a concern of mine to create product confusion, which is why we decided to put the label out to ask before making the final decisions.

Don't mean to be a naysayer, just my gut impression.
 
No offense is ever taken by constructive criticism...we value the opinions of people on THP site which is why we chose to load up the label to ask what people thought.
Bootsieb said:
No chili on it! Feathered Fury could be a chili.
 
True and this is actually one of the concerns...the other idea was to make the bagpipe into a pepper.
 
I love the labels you guys have.  While thise one could have something chili related on the front I think it's still obvious what it is.  I like the idea of a pepper bagpipe over the idea of peppered background for "Feathered Fury."
 
Maybe if/when you change the bagpipe to a peper, have the parrot in a more aggressive stand like he's squeezing the pepper hard in his arm to try to keep his contained sort of how the parrot is doing on the label for Savage Beast?
 
A chile shape for Feathered Fury would be long thin red, not the typical Scotch Bonnet shape, as far as I know.  The bag pipes would go with the round shape of hab chiles. 
 
I was also thrown off by the plaid.  I get the correlation of "Scotch" bonnet, but you're going to get a LOT of people confused thinking the chile is from Scotland.  Non-chile people won't get how Scotch plays into it, and probably even moreso after you explain the chiles are from the Caribbean.  How about bringing the Scotch into it by having the parrot in the tartan playing a chile-shaped bagpipe on a tropical beach?
 
The non-symmetrical shape of Feathered Fury could be the tropical island, couple palm trees on either side... the blue plaid background as sea and sky...? 
 
1. The parrot's tail needs to pass behind the silver gate, otherwise, it looks like he is floating in front of it, not standing on it. It's minor, and more noticeable on some of your other labels, but if you look at the tail here, it looks like he's standing on the red bubble.
2. As noted before, I don't like the bubble that houses the sauce name. It looks like it is circled in Sharpie. I told you both these things in a PM last time. :)
3. I'm with the others here, it looks too much like Scotch tape. I think SL hit it here. Play into BOTH. The Scotch garb is cool but how about on a beach? You need to tie the pepper in. Tropical AND Scotch. I understand the idea of everyone else doing tropical, but going full Scotch doesn't play into the pepper. Some sand and shells at his feet, some aqua water, but sill dressed like he is... that's the key.

Or wait. What if the bagpipes looked like a crab? LOL. Like each of the bagpipe "drones" were a crab leg. :D
A parrot playing a crab... might work. Birds do eat crabs. :)
 
I still think what you have works. the color combos are going to stand out among other hot sauces. the emphasis of the scotch overtones are insignificant to those of us who know what a scotch bonnet is and understand it has nothing to do with Scotland. Outstanding taste and quality will entice the customer to investigate further what kind of pepper was use to make this fabulous sauce.
 
The only thing that I might SUGGEST, is the addition of the word Gourmet. Gourmet depicts class.
 
 
Fiery Scotch Bonnet Gourmet Pepper Sauce
 
FeistyParrot said:
That's not new LDHS ;-)
Clearly we appreciate all input and are deciding how to move forward without compromising.
Ack...making hot sauce is way easier than labels!
I totally agree - sauce is much easier. Labels are a million nit picky details. And the brain is amazingly good at missing things you've looked at a million times. Like the feather - I've looked at your labels many times including the ones you sent me and didn't recall that at all. See what I mean?
;)
 
HP22BH said:
I still think what you have works. the color combos are going to stand out among other hot sauces. the emphasis of the scotch overtones are insignificant to those of us who know what a scotch bonnet is and understand it has nothing to do with Scotland. Outstanding taste and quality will entice the customer to investigate further what kind of pepper was use to make this fabulous sauce.
 
The only thing that I might SUGGEST, is the addition of the word Gourmet. Gourmet depicts class.
 
 
Fiery Scotch Bonnet Gourmet Pepper Sauce
Us here on the interwhebz are a minute fraction of where Feisty Parrot could and will be selling.  They need to gear their labels and everything for the General Public for grocery stores and farmers market....and that's what we are trying to help them with. 
 
 
 
The label has to be geared to the market.  If you only want to sell to the exclusive chilehead community who actually knows what a Scotch bonnet is.... it's all good.  Go with the Scotch Plaid thread and we'll "get it"
 
 
Scotch Bonnet is not a catch phrase chile for the general public.  Red Savina habaneros are known a little bit out in the general public.  Bhut Jolokia chiles are known probably 200x more that Red Savinas.  Heck most people on the street don't even know if serranos are hotter than habaneros!!!
 
Now-  WHO outside of a chilehead community has ever heard of a ButchT?????
 
If they don't know what a ButchT is....the general public is NOT going to know what a Scotch Bonnet is. 
 
 
Us in the chile community know what a SCOTCH bonnet is..... but no one else in the general public will know.  And trying to make a label using Scottish tartans and bagpipes and such is an uphill battle. 
 
Think about every sale.....sheesh!........I've lived it!!!!!!!!!!  "What's a Chi-POT-el?"......   Chill-Pole-Tee.....CHIT-pot-el........
 
HP22BH said:
The only thing that I might SUGGEST, is the addition of the word Gourmet. Gourmet depicts class.
 
I hate that word on hot sauce! Blair's gourmet hot sauce. That would sound cheesy wouldn't it? In the world of niche sauces and superhots, it has no place. Sounds like some snooty shizz that sells on the same shelf as homemade jams made by some old lady named Edith. :)
 
The idea is to make it EASY for the consumer to know what they are looking at and making it easy for them to want to buy it.  Clear, concise, easy to understand, easy to know what the HEAT level is (I Like the Feather Temp guage!!!  Works with the brand theme!!!!) how it's best used....
 
PS. Minor, but you may want to even out your heat meter. Usually the notches are even, and your third bump is a little bigger of a jump than your second.
 
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