Like a fine wine, one could say Brandever Strategy of Vancouver is getting better with age.

The branding house recently garnered nine Wine Label Design Awards at the 2011 San Francisco International Wine Competition, which is referred to as the largest and most prestigious wine competition in North America.



Those wins include Double Gold Awards for Brandever's label designs for Nagging Doubt wine (in the individual label category) and Blasted Church Revered (for label series).

Part of the win for the Nagging Doubt label was the "creative use of QR codes", noted Brandever. When the code is scanned, a time-lapsed video pops up showing the illustrator, Dana Tanamachi, working on the chalkboard-style label.

"QR codes are not new, we've actually used them on a variety of other wines in the past," said Bernie Hadley-Beauregard, principal of Brandever. "This is the first time we did an entertainment piece in support. I think we're going to go more in this direction in the future."

As for the Blasted Church concept, "for the most part they blend an elegant aesthetic with a lot of attitude ... there's a bit of an edge to them," he explained.



Brandever prefers to have a clean slate when designing a label, said Hadley-Beauregard. "We go out of our way to get an open mind from our clients, we try not to have too many restrictions put on us," he said, adding with a laugh, "we're a bit prima donna-esque."

The design firm doesn't let the wine itself influence its label concepts. "We really try to create identities and storytelling that provides consumers opportunities to remember what the brand is, and a fighting chance [for the brand] to compete in the marketplace," said Hadley-Beauregard. "We ask for a bit of a blank slate from our clients."

It's been a strong year for Brandever, with 20 of its labels exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the spring, noted the firm. Brandever designs packaging for some other high-end consumer products as well, "but wine is our bread and butter," said Hadley-Beauregard.

Brandever began in 2002 and has clients in the U.S., Canada (B.C. and Ontario), France, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina.