Overview
The beverage industry makes up some of the most eye-catching designs. They’re like flagships for eye appeal; everyone wants one when it’s in the impulse-buy section. And, as expected, there are plenty of award opportunities and prestige for the beverage label design category.
Earth-shattering designs are not always possible (sometimes, clients don’t want that), but you can incorporate good taste and judgment across all design concepts. And while they might not wind up leading to instant accolades and immense riches, they can lead to improved purchase intent on retail shelves.
This article explores five ways to make your drink designs stand out. You will learn what separates the winners from the lowers in the beverage market. We also include real design examples on store shelves, featuring strong drink branding and the most important purchase drivers.
Here are the 5-keys to award-winning beverage packaging designs.
Make It a Talking Point
The best beverage label design starts conversations. Whether on soft drinks, beer cans, or sparkling tonics, the most effective product packaging gives consumers something to notice, remember, and share.
Award-winning beverage branding often comes down to one thing: intrigue. A bold color palette, unexpected design elements, or clever copy can transform an ordinary label into a visual statement. Even subtle humor or personality in your wording can drive emotional connection and purchase intent, because when packaging makes people smile, it makes them buy.
Every detail in your beverage brand design should tell part of the story. From bright colors that pop on the shelf to textures that invite touch, your packaging should make people pause and engage in conversation.
In a crowded aisle, conversation is currency. Create packaging that makes your drink more than a product; it makes it an experience worth mentioning.
Make It Distinct
In a category where every brand is shouting for attention, distinction is your most significant competitive edge. Great beverage design doesn’t follow the trend; it challenges it. If every drink design in your category leans towards a sporty and aggressive look, take the opposite route. Go minimal. Go nostalgic. Go bold in a different direction that instantly helps your brand stand out from its competitors.
The best beverage packaging design strikes a balance between visual restraint and strategic risk. Whether it’s an award-winning label design or a subtle design cue that surprises at the shelf, the goal is the same: to command attention and create recall.
Consider elevating the experience with a multi-sensory label, textures, finishes, and tactile cues that make shoppers want to pick it up and engage.
Work with the best drink branding expert to translate your differentiation into design that connects. Because the most powerful beverage brand development isn’t just about how your beverage can be designed, it’s about how it feels, performs, and sells in the real world.
Make It Delicious
The best drink branding and packaging design makes consumers crave the product before they even open it. A successful beverage label doesn’t need to shout “delicious,” it needs to look and feel that way through imagery, color, and storytelling.
Highlight the freshness of natural ingredients and show what’s inside through smart visual cues. For a non-alcoholic beverage, that might mean vibrant fruit illustrations and language that evokes refreshment. For richer drinks, such as iced coffees or flavored milks, lean into creamy textures and warmth.
Every detail matters, from the soft drink label design to the copy that captures flavor and experience. The right design style can make a product feel crisp, indulgent, or comforting, depending on what you want consumers to feel.
And remember, modern drinks branding goes beyond taste; it’s about trust. Show transparency in sourcing, nutritional value, and sustainability. When design and storytelling align, your brand doesn’t just look appetizing, it becomes irresistible.
Make It Sexy
Not every beverage label can or should be “sexy” (infant formula immediately springs to mind). Still, for beverages with an adult palate, it’s crucial to give the label alluring lines, graphics, and colors to capture any appeal. The sex aspect should be subtle; gratuitous cheesecake graphics are only desperate and misguided, although they’ll probably be pretty effective talking points.
We can’t promise you immediate recognition and boundless glory, but we can promise you that award-winning beverage labels have incorporated most, if not all, of the above qualities. When designing a beverage label, it’s necessary to consider the type of label that would cause you, personally, to buy that drink.
Examples Of Winning Beverage Designs
Let’s look at designs within different CPG categories and see how they leverage these 5-keys to unlock shelf success.
Responsibly Rain
Plastic bottles are still the predominant seller of bottled water, but attempting to compete in the commoditized plastic bottle market is a bad idea. We see many start-ups entering with glass or aluminum bottles. The easy low-hanging opportunity for marketing is promoting a sustainable design, but how do you stand out when everyone uses the same purchase driver?
Responsibly, Rain’s decision to integrate a raindrop into the recycle logo and place it front and center was strategically smart. CPG brands should note this water bottle design in how they leave plenty of breathing room, allowing us to understand their message.
TreeTop Fruit + Water
Millennial consumers raising little ones are more aware of juice products and the sugary nonsense they contain. They hope to find a healthier beverage option kids will love. A package design needs to bring excitement to children.
We worked with TreeTop to create a design for their Fruit+Water juice pouch that outperformed the competition with parents and children. The result was 18% greater purchase intent than CapriSun and a 22% increase in preference compared to Honest Kids.
Bizzy Cold Brew Coffee
Not every consumer is looking to pay a premium for better coffee. Many consumers are looking for a premium product at a fair price. A strategy for this type of product is to attack premium without looking overly costly. An aesthetic that balances premium with price removes consumer’s fear of the product being “too good to be true.”
That’s precisely what Bizzy Cold Brew has accomplished with their coffee packaging design. Without looking bizzy, they place organic in two locations, and the font style matches their caffeinated name. It’s what health-conscious consumers want at a price they can afford.
Energy Drink Label
As contrarians to the coffee connoisseur, consumers of energy drinks want more fun from their daily stimulant habit. So when considering how to approach the energy drink label design, boring is out of the question. As a brand known for its relaxed vibe, Alani Nu creates a fun-loving feeling with its electric tie-dye flavor.
Functional Beverage Label
Functional specialty beverages are all the craze and for a good reason. If you drink something for taste, you might as well have a good effect for your body. With plant-based continuing to be a ranking purchase driver, OCA leverages this in their natural energy drink.
USDA organic and plant-based sit side by side, and the brand logo using plant-created words is a supporting element. A great example of how your design can reinforce your messaging.
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Consumer Testing For Beverage Label Designs
Just because a label looks good doesn’t mean it performs well. Just look at the wine bottle section at discount stores. The discounters are littered with beautiful wine label designs, each with its brand expression on the wine label. If you want to perform against the most formidable competitors, you will need more than an artistic look to turn potential customers into actual buyers.
Beverage Packaging Design Agency
Are you a beverage brand looking to create a product label that outperforms the competition? From design to print, we assist CPG brands with brand strategy, packaging design, and consumer testing. Our beverage label designers start with concept designs, which we present in simulated buying experiences with real consumers.
The result is a packaging design that brands and retailers trust to perform on-shelf. Book a time to discuss your project with our team.
Kevin Smith is the founder of SmashBrand, a brand development agency specializing in the CPG and FMCG sectors. Under Kevin's guidance, SmashBrand seamlessly integrates brand strategy, design, and detailed consumer testing, ensuring impactful market outcomes and enhanced sales velocities for its clients.
Key milestones in his career:
Before establishing SmashBrand, Kevin ventured into entrepreneurship with Nutri-Sport at 21. Recognizing the untapped potential in sports nutrition, he rapidly expanded to seven retail locations within a year. This success led to the formation of a distribution company serving all nutrition stores throughout Arizona.
Subsequent ventures included pioneering e-commerce stores and launching Athletic Xtreme, a globally distributed sports nutrition brand. Notably, Athletic Xtreme won BodyBuilding.com's Brand of the Year in 2006 and found its place on the shelves of major retailers, from GNC and Vitamin Shoppe to Walmart successfully exiting in 2014.
Apart from brand milestones, Kevin's journey includes commendable service as a Marine Corps veteran, where he was honored as a DOD Marine of the Year in 2001.
While leading SmashBrand and investing in budding brands, Kevin is committed to mentoring aspiring CPG entrepreneurs. His profound industry knowledge, from grasping retail trends to understanding shelf dynamics, serves as invaluable guidance for brands striving to carve out their niche.
Central to Kevin's approach is a consistent philosophy: Marry actionable, data-centric findings with proven strategies to ensure brands stand out and succeed in retail.
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