labels Rethinking labels

[HellfireFarm]

I'm getting ready for my first production runs with a copacker, and thinking about labels again.

This past year, I revamped the labels to go with a white background instead of the original burgundy:

One of the original labels (obviously without the ingredients - this was just dried peppers):

But when I was at the copacker's office where they had a bunch of their customer's products on display, I noticed there were not a lot of white labels. So I looked in my spice cabinet at the various big name and local brands:

And now I'm thinking mine seem rather plain by comparison. Looking at the sauces in my pantry, I'm seeing much the same.

These are going to be on store shelves, either specialty NC stores or larger chains on their "Local Products" display.

I will also most likely be displaying the "Got to be NC" logo on the bottle too:

SO, I'm trying to figure out what to do and looking for some input from the experts around here! Should I go back to the burgundy? Stick with the white? Add something to "spice" it up some?

 

[salsalady]

Yes, what THP says about local buyers v national.
Locals will appreciate the NC label. Heck, probably the rest of the country will struggle to figure out what "NC" is! The wording "Got to be NC" outside of the east coast could be...
Got To Be Naturally Colorful
Got To Be Non Caloric
Got To Be Neighborhood Collective

I think most states have a Made In program. I know WA has one. I guess I have a bit cynical attitude that people of a certain age and older actually know the state abbreviations, and people of a certain age and younger don't send letters, don't write cursive, don't know what NC stands for....let alone know what a zipcode is.


But that label with the NC logo will get you into a lot of statewide markets that can be profitable and semi-local so shipping might be a bit more tolerable.

Having something like...."made from Grammy Grizelda's secret recipe" gives you a link to customers that this ain't no Kraft recipe and it is not location specific. The Secret Recipe blurb can be in the romance panel also.

I get what you are saying about the no-salt item. I have a salt free southwest spice blend that I make occasionally. People on a salt restricted diet appreciate it. When I use it for our own foods (taco meat, soups, quesadilla) , I add salt. Our salt tolerance is way less than what I think most people's is. We don't have fast foods available where we live (other than the grocery store deli fried foods) and we cook 97.8% of our meals at home. Sometimes when we have to go to the BigCity we will eat out and many times we are just 'WOW this is salty'. Recently I had to buy a Taco Meat spice packet (Lawry's? McCormick? don't remember) but that was exactly our response.

 

[Bou]

Ask your wife, your best friends and even your children for their opinion, sometimes the best ideas can be closer than we can think of!

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Ask your wife, your best friends and even your children for their opinion, sometimes the best ideas can be closer than we can think of!

Also bring some to the supermarket and ask shoppers what they think. Stay in the aisle where the product would be.

 

[HerbCasa]

I like the Ghost image but I guess it isn't the mascot?

I like the labels with more colors images and shapes

 

[HellfireFarm]

There's been talk about the reaper as the "face" of HFF, but we never really went with it. It might be a bit much for our milder offerings!

GTBNC is a great local program. They have a pavilion at the State Fair that we can get into, several meet-and-greets with buyers, stuff like that, and it helps with getting in to local grocery stores. There's also quite a few stores that specialize in GTBNC products.

Definitely been getting feedback from all over, thanks everyone!

 

[The Hot Pepper]

I like your logo but having both words in flames and caps looks a bit excessive to me. It's like you are on fire screaming "HELLFIRE FARM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!," which is fine (lol) but if only HELLFIRE was in flames/caps and Farm was first letter caps only, and a script/calming/less intense font, it would help covey the Farm portion of it. Farmers, growing, plants, etc. The dichotomy would help convey your brand's message imo. Not all products are HOTTTTTTT and we are a farm. Also in white letters it would contrast nice with the maroon label and match the ghost, etc.

 

[HellfireFarm]

@The Hot Pepper
Filled in that space on the top left