labels Sam&Oliver sauce company - sample label, bottle render soon

Sam & Oliver

Sam & Oliver

Previously on TheHotPepper.com
 
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 "Should I just start over?" 
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 "There has to be a point where you stop taking advice and roll with what you like."
 
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 "It's the pride of trying to do everything yourself..."
  
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 "...if you have a vision you want to achieve, hiring an artist can be a great way to go..."
 
--------------------- 8< *snip*
 
So here's the product design that the marketing firm and I settled on after discussing our company vision and direction.  Aside from minor edits (I see a few even now) I wanted a product packaging that would appeal to a broad general population audience from young to mature, with a bold look that could be easily identified and used by back-yard-grillers to sandwich shops to restaurant tables without losing it's charm.
 
Sam&Oliver is committed to only using the best wholesome ingredients to create healthy and fun condiments for anyone who wants to enjoy them with their food creations, and as such the packaging should also reflect this ideal with a clean label.
 
Sample Label:
 
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Bottle Render by the design firm:  Finished product will use black caps and a black tamper-evident shrink band:

(coming soon)
 
Here's the Brand:
 
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and
 
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Colors used for the logo:
 
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So that's what I've been doing for the last few weeks.  Once this is finalized I can start my Kickstarter, and then look into production, then product liability insurance and trying to figure out how to actually sell and/or ship the stuff for a fair price.
 
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Kalitarios said:
My understanding of a logo and brand are they are two different elements.  A logo is a recognizable design that people can easily recall.  A brand is the experience they get or come to expect.  My brand is high quality small-batch food sauces that not only taste good but are healthy to boot.  My Company name is Sam&Oliver.  My Logo is the S&O sauce drop.
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Do you want to be called Sam & Oliver, or S&O? You have S&O right smack in the middle where the brand NAME would be.

If you want people to call it S&O sauce, great! If you want people to call it Sam & Oliver... remove S&O. Did the branding people tell you that you would also need a multi-million dollar ad campaign to let people know you want to be called Sam & Oliver? So on your TV spots you call it Sam & Oliver but you show products with the S&O logo. This is instructional, and is driven into the minds of consumers with $$$$$. Not sure why this firm would suggest this to you knowing you are a small startup. You are a brand new company and are adding brand confusion out of the gate. Dave and Buster's has D&B in their logo, BUT they also have Dave and Buster's in the ring around it. They also have millions of dollars to let people know you call it Dave and Buster's.

dave_and_busters.jpg


Just trying to help man. Seems like you are adding brand confusion when the ONE THING you want to do at this point is get your brand out there. And all you have to do to solve that is remove the S&O. Which doesn't have a nice ring to it anyway.

If Texas Creek had a TC in the middle of the bottles that looked like a logo, like a cattle brand on wood, don't you think people would call it TC sauce? Maybe we who know her would call it Texas Creek, but that's us. Not new people. But why even add that confusion, unless she was actually TC sauce? Companies who have been around forever, and have $$$$$ can do this, and let you know which they prefer to be called with $$$$$.
 
That's my take.
 
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My $0.2 ....most has been covered, but S&O or Sam & Oliver, just pick one and go with it. I find the label a little disjointed, the paint can exploding at the bottom and the teardrop at the top. Why is it crying? is it because it's hot or sad? Either way, for me it makes a negative impression.
 
What heat is your sauce? Spicy Hot? What does that mean exactly? How do customer's know how hot it is? Perhaps use the arrow on the side as a heat gauge?
 
Romance Panel...this is the secondary sell....who are you? Why is your sauce the best out there? What would it go great with? Why should they keep that sauce in their hand and take it to the register?
 
We found the labels to be the hardest thing to get right (and we are still ironing out some deficiencies). Infact the labels you see today is actually the second designer/artist we retained and I believe from start to finish (with the switching of the designer), it took 5/6 months for a logo and the first two labels we were happy with.
 
another $0.2 LDHS is right, pugs are awesome happy creatures and people LOVE them!
 
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Lucky Dog Hot Sauce said:
Regarding "pexberry" - if you are planning on making a sauce but there's no source for the ingredient you're setting yourself up for failure.
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Well at this point it seems that every thing I do is setting myself up for failure, so why try, right?  I plan on having Pexberry 6 months AFTER my first released product, If no one can supply brainstrain mash, then I'll simply use another recipe instead.  I picked cinder since it's a component of more than one other recipe I make and good base as an ingredient.  That's not what this thread is about, so I'll worry about logistics and other things after getting production underway.  I'm just 1 guy here, There are elements of my business I considered and tackle once the production is locked in.  Logistics is one of them.  I'll have a few weeks to tackle that.
 
I had a design on this 'romance panel' with text offering food suggestions, a bit more elaboration on the company but it was just way too much text.
 
From www.ct.gov/DCP
3.  Declaration of responsibility, including the name and address of the processor or distributor, e.g., "Processed by," "Manufactured by," or "Distributed for" followed by the name of the processor/manufacturer. Name and full address including street address are required unless the processor is listed in a telephone directory. If so, the processor's name, town and state is an acceptable format.
 
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So yes, it has to be there, which I didn't quote my source when I said I looked at other packaging and my notes from the State Inspectors I had a meeting with back when I wanted to produce it myself, my bad.
 
RE: more info about Sam and Oliver the pugs.
I don't see where it would be possible to fit more info about pugs on a bottle that will be on both a grill patio and a restaurant table.  If I had more room I'd be all for it, but when we tried a revision with that stuff, the text was so cramped it looked like a word jumble.
 
I'll tell the designer to go back and delete the SAUCE DROP, and move the Sam&Oliver part from the black up top and see if that looks better. It's not a tear drop, or sad.  In fact, of the roughly 4 dozen people I've shown in person, every single one saw it as a sauce drop and identified it as sauce.
 
I have no words for this paint can/white paint association with the colors.  It's nothing more than a color design element that broke up the white space between the logo and the black bar under it, as simple as that.  I'll turn it into a flat line and see how that goes.
 
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But that's just it. If it's "nothing more than a design" why use it?

That's the missing piece here in my opinion - some sort of vision that only you can come up with that speaks to the company.

Maybe that's where the pugs go. Maybe it's 2 pugs in a heart. Maybe it's a silhouette of 2 pugs. Maybe it's a pug paw print. Who knows what it is , but if it means nothing it has no business on your product label taking up precious real estate.

As for the "why bother" comment, I don't operate well with defeatist attitudes - I spent time posting helpful things. If you don't want help, don't ask and I won't waste my time.

Cheers
:cheers:
 
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It's a frustrated response to being told it sucks from one side and it's awesome from the other side, if you haven't noticed.
 
Nearly every one I've shown the printed label to in person thought it was outstanding, even when I asked them to be openly honest.  Yet it gets torn apart here, which is bazaar to me.  Granted the people I were showing it aren't producing product... but they are the 'general public none the less.
 
Trust me, if I was dissuaded I would have just packed up and quit last year when I hit the mountain of red tape from the CT DCP.  I'm just trying to get a product in my hand, sooner than later so I don't miss yet another year here.  I can't get a product without a label, and I can't get a label without a design, which is what I'm working on currently.  After the deal gets locked in to production, I will focus on logistics and other elements. ;)
 
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Everyone has they're opinions. The only one that matters in the end is yours - it's your money.

But that said, mistakes in branding can have lasting ramifications and can be very costly.

My primary feedback is that your branding lacks identity. And since that's the point of branding I think this revision is a miss.

I get that it's frustrating - good, that means you care. Use that frustration to power your drive in making the best possible label to identify your brand. Taking it out on those who are taking valuable time out of their day to help you isn't cool.

I'm standing here at my festival booth - time isn't the biggest luxury but I wanted to help.

Best of luck.
 
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That's an illusion.

I heard the same. I thought "I'mma launch and sell 10,000 bottles!!!! ZOMG everyone wants this!"

Then (and to add to Salsa Lady's commentary), people are generally full of crap.

You're losing nothing by taking your time and doing it right. You're losing way too much by rushing a product to market.

It's your product - that bottle is full of a lot more than pepper and ingredients, it's full of your heart & soul.

Take your time and make it special. Make sure it represents that passion - otherwise there's no point in doing it. You're not gonna get rich overnight regardless of what your label looks like and the $50 in sales you've lost by delaying is meaningless. Food businesses take time to grow - you'll build it 1 customer at a time.

Make "making the best label possible" your driving force, not "making a few bucks by selling NOW!"

Do it right or don't do it. That's my point.
 
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Kalitarios said:
 
Well at this point it seems that every thing I do is setting myself up for failure, so why try, right?  I plan on having Pexberry 6 months AFTER my first released product, If no one can supply brainstrain mash, then I'll simply use another recipe instead.  I picked cinder since it's a component of more than one other recipe I make and good base as an ingredient.  That's not what this thread is about, so I'll worry about logistics and other things after getting production underway.  I'm just 1 guy here, There are elements of my business I considered and tackle once the production is locked in.  Logistics is one of them.  I'll have a few weeks to tackle that.
 
 
Most of us here are one or two person operations. There are a lot of people here with a lot of experience who are just trying to help. No-one wants you to fail.  Logistics are something we ALL worry about and this never changes, what changes is the mode and or scale of logistics
 
I have to source all my own peppers myself, my manufacturer helps with none of this, of course this has it's good and bad points....the good being that the peppers come from the local farmers wherever possible, the bad is that this is A LOT of time and the buying power for a small sauce run as opposed to the buying power from a large manufacturer means higher production costs. There will be someone with Brainstrain mash (or fresh pods), you just have to hunt.
.
 
RE: more info about Sam and Oliver the pugs.
I don't see where it would be possible to fit more info about pugs on a bottle that will be on both a grill patio and a restaurant table.  If I had more room I'd be all for it, but when we tried a revision with that stuff, the text was so cramped it looked like a word jumble.
 
I'll tell the designer to go back and delete the SAUCE DROP, and move the Sam&Oliver part from the black up top and see if that looks better. It's not a tear drop, or sad.  In fact, of the roughly 4 dozen people I've shown in person, every single one saw it as a sauce drop and identified it as sauce.
 
OK, here's the thing, this is your company, your sauce, your passion and your story. If you like it then run with it. I merely expressed my opinion which by posting on here is what you are asking people to do. I honestly meant no offence....besides can you imagine what people said to us when we showed up with a cartoon parrot :crazy:
 
I have no words for this paint can/white paint association with the colors.  It's nothing more than a color design element that broke up the white space between the logo and the black bar under it, as simple as that.  I'll turn it into a flat line and see how that goes.
Again, it's your company and your label. Why not print one out, tape it to a bottle and pop down to your local hot sauce store. Ask the owner (after all they know all the brands!) what they think...put it on the shelf next to other sauces and see what you think.
 
Just take your time and try not to get upset because others see things differently to you, try to take a step back and look a it from an outside perspective :)
Click to expand...
 
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Not tearing it apart, it has gotten compliments, and it is clean. I like a clean look, but the things we mentioned, in our opinion, miss the mark. If you yourself defend a shape by saying it's just a shape... then where is you in this? I thought it was supposed to represent the dogs somehow. And your passion for sauce. If you just need a divider line put a line. If you put drips and you said they are not supposed to be drips... some people are getting the wrong idea. There should be a reason behind every design choice. Like you said there is limited space. Another thing is, if you don't have room on your bottle for the romance, you could go Boston round or 10 oz. woozie. Anyway, here is an idea I had. I thought it told a story well.
 
sam_oliver.jpg
 
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A conversation I just had with someone who saw my phone.

Did you design a hot sauce label for somebody?

No, just an idea.

Somebody has two dogs and named their hot sauce company after them? Two pugs?



Boom. No joke. This happened at brunch. Thought it was worth telling.
 
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Ha! Well, it's your logo I used, though it would really pop in bright orange. I removed the splashes as they were on the dog's face. And I googled the two different silhouettes. If you dig it your designer can do it easily and use the rest of the elements you already have.
 
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I'll email you the file.
The designer could use it as a guide or tweak it so it wasn't copying.
Since it was borrowed imagery.
 
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