It’s Hip to be Square S T I C K B Y
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WRITTEN BY GEORGE B. CATALLO
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robably the most fun part of marketing your brand is picking your bottles. The bottle often signifies the identity of that product and sometimes an entire brand. The bottle lures thirsty consumers in; in an instant, it tells just enough of your story to sell someone on your product. It is ultimately your most powerful marketing tool. So that means the biggest bottle taking up the most real estate is better, right? That is not actually the case. Sometimes standing out too much leaves you left out.
YO U R B O TTLE N EE D S TO PH YSICALLY F I T O N TH E SH ELF Think about the core support your brand has from a retail perspective. Retailers who have the largest craft selections tend to have larger spirits sections of their store. Unfortunately, this means space is a precious commodity where the most variety of products needs to be in the smallest area to make effective use of space. This means having more shelves vertically in their aisles. With the average height of Americans ranging from 5’4” to 5’9” depending on sex, these
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shelves can only go so high to be effective. In my very limited personal collection of data, most bottles tend to be around or under 12” tall. Bottles that are above that seem to settle around 13-14”. Even that 1-2” of extra height can cause issues and relegate products to the dreaded and inaccessible Everest-like heights of the top shelf. While the term “top shelf” tends to ring as a sign of quality, it is a death sentence to be stuck that high. Your ideal spot for visibility is actually between chest and eye level. People don’t look up, even when they’re not pressing their nose to their phone screen. It is of vital importance to make sure you fit on the self so you have greater odds to land on the shelf at an ideal height.
W E ’ R E NO T L I V I NG I N A ‘90S CAR COMMERCIAL, W I D E R I S NOT B E T T E R An often utilized bottle shape that eliminates the worry of being too tall for a shelf is a squat rectangular bottle. Many of these bottles have a front face with dimensions that are far wider than the width of the side facings of the bottle. Unfortunately, horizontal space is also
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