Launching a New Variant

“As the biggest cider brand in South Africa, Hunter’s has been delivering on its crisp apple taste since 1988,” says Banele Msimango – Brand Manager (Hunter’s Cider) at Distell. “We have seen the rise in popularity of non-alcoholic ciders, driven by the trend towards moderate drinking and people becoming more health conscious. We decided to develop our own non-alcoholic variant, so Hunter’s fans could get that refreshing gulp whenever, wherever.”

Because the brand wanted to stay true to the distinctive crisp refreshment that Hunter’s Cider offers, they chose a process of dealcoholisation. This reduces the alcohol volume of the product and produces a non-alcoholic cider with the same thirst-quenching taste (though it does have 0.3% ABV).

“This is really exciting for our brand and we are thrilled to finally have a non-alcoholic variant in our range. It offers more opportunities for Hunter’s fans to drink their favorite cider and we hope it will also help us to find new Hunter’s fans who only drink non-alcoholic drinks. Hunter’s has always supported responsible drinking and is committed to achieving aware.org’s aim of educating and enabling a culture of moderation and responsible alcohol consumption,” Msimango concludes.

Label design

Launching a new variant also implied accompanying it with a label that would refresh its image, being consistent with its brand distinctive.  Hunter’s worked in collaboration with MCC South Africa to create a set of neck and body labels laminated in clear BOPP to give the appearance of lightness as a non-alcoholic beverage.

The main distinction is in the contrast of the dark and light lines above word HUNTER’S, and secondly, on the dark dots that are translated into a vignette towards the center of this same word.

The 2 x blue colors (dark blue and light blue) were new pantones supplied by the customer, which reoriented a challenge in this project, but which could undoubtedly be solved through the matching of colors with the client’s expectations that was carried out in the press with the representatives of the brand.

Fulfilling expectations

Quick project delivery and technical know-how to guarantee customer expectations are just some of the key points that have allowed MCC to maintain an excellent working relationship with the Distell teams.  This close collaboration has resulted in the Quality of Multi-Color JHB label production. 

We have become the supplier of choice for Hunter’s labels with a good reputation in maintaining the brand standards and expectations of the market.”

Zongamele Keto, Technical Service Representative at MCC Johannesburg