The Dip is the name of wine retailer Laithwaites’ new red wine release that happens to be their darkest red wine. Creative agency LOVE designed the identity for the wine that’s as dark and enticing as the liquid within. The result is stunning, inspired by the dark skin and bright red flesh of the grape used; the label is ominous, imaginative, and most definitely dark.
Manchester creative agency LOVE has helped wine retailer Laithwaites create a new identity for The Dip – their darkest red wine release to date.
Hot on the heels of the agency’s rebrand of the business earlier this year, the project continues a close working partnership to evolve customer comms and develop new and existing products.
LOVE was asked to create the identity for Laithwaites’ latest Black Red after the online wine retailer saw a gap in the market for a new Spanish blend. The ask was to look beyond the usual red wine category norms and create something altogether darker and more enticing in proposition and design.
Inspired by the dark skin and crimson flesh of the Tintorera grape, which adds wild fruit flavours and turns the liquid almost black once added, LOVE explored the wildest, darkest Spanish folklore before arriving at The Dip.
Red wine with a black heart
Not one for the faint-hearted, The Dip recalls the terrifying story of a blood-thirsty demon dog with an insatiable taste for human flesh. In name and in character, this black-hearted beast was just right for a red wine with a deliciously dark side.
Backdropped by the light-sucking Tintorera-centred blend, LOVE have turned the shadow-stalking Dip into the perfect protagonist: the personification of a rare and unusual liquid; and a bold invitation to brave Laithwaites most intense Black Red release to date.
A taste of the unexpected
While red wines are traditionally bottled in green or dark glass, The Dip comes in a heavy-shouldered transparent bottle for good reason. Firstly, to hero the semi-opaque liquid. Secondly, to reveal – glass by glass – a nightmarish illustration of the devil dog on the reverse of the back label.
LOVE commissioned renowned artist Maria Octavia Russo for the gruesome task. Obsessed by canine forms and faces, she was able to channel her intense and unnerving illustrative style into an image that brought the legend behind the liquid to life.
