UK-based packaging manufacturer Wilkins Group has developed a new light-up label for Marks & Spencer’s gold-leaf-infused Christmas liqueurs.
The company, which produces packaging for several of the UK’s best-known supermarkets, spent six months collaborating with Marks & Spencer to refine the design before manufacturing the labels for the company’s special ‘Light Snow Globe’ gin liqueurs.
Justin Wilkins, sales and marketing director for the family-run Wilkins Group, said: “We came up with the original concept about five years ago.
“We were exploring the idea of creating a label that would illuminate Prosecco bottles with coloured lights, but it never came to fruition. So, when we got the chance to develop the concept with the guys at M&S, we were really excited by it.”
When the customer pushes the button at the centre of the base panel, four integrated LEDs cast a warm glow through the glass and up into the body of the bottle, illuminating the floating gold leaf as it swirls in the liqueur.
Each panel is designed to last around 700 presses at 45 seconds per press, enabling a bottle of festive liqueur to serve as a decoration for the full duration of the Christmas period.
Wilkins added: “In terms of developing the product, sourcing the components and assembling and sealing the components, there’s a lot of work and complexity involved in these labels.”
“That said, work is already in progress for a summer season, so hopefully there will come a stage when these beautiful bottles become quite sought after as collector’s items.”
