Background:

Chris Hammond had a vision, a former general manager (the youngest at that time) of a baseball expansion team, entrepreneur and a sommelier was ready to remove the snobbery of wine tasting and make them less pretentious. With his partner Sonny Barton, a successful real estate business man and entrepreneur, they created an event of pairing wine tasting with great music. They wanted everyone to enjoy wine and tastings without the perceived symphonic, Black Tie affair that usually follows wine tasting. The vision would transform wine tasting into a spectacle. An affair just as enjoyable as going to a rock concert. The name--The Tasting Room, LLC--had to go. “It was a horrific logo that stemmed from the era of clip art that was not so cool, and I need a designer who understands the passion of our company” stated Chris. Hence RockN’RollWine was born. They needed an identity that expressed the passion and that would elevate merchandise.

RockN’RollWine started from small acoustic jam sessions of 30-45 people into concert envy gatherings of over 3,000 fans! From simple iPod playbacks over the loudspeaker into live concerts featuring name acts like Everclear and Dashboard Confessional.

Before:

The Challenge:

We evaluated how we could capture the energy and passion of both wine and RockN’Roll and combine these active elements into a logo that would adapt into a marketing tool, retail merchandising, a TV Show, book and various products of future applications. How do you create a static non-moving logo into a representative of high-energy, impactful and passionate event-generator of Las Vegas?

Solution:

Everyone loves and understands rock concerts, stage diving and action sports! The solution was to establish a character that personified these outings. Make him leap, jammin’ a guitar to represent the rock era from punk to alt, from classic to metal, from big hair to big sound tonality. Then remove his guitar pick and replace it with a bottle of Merlot! Splash! Action, motion, and a savory wine to boot! The character would be devoid of detail in honor of the “Michael Schwab Style” except the guitar and the wine would be enhanced with color. Future custom wine labels would play off the character in a series of themes from reggae to hippie. Each adaptation would broaden and reinforce the brand.

Hammond sees great potential in terms of marketing. "We've got a great logo that people love … We've sold the &*it out of merchandise so far with ‘Wine Amplified' and ‘Rock out with Your Cork Out' T-shirts. We're coming out with thongs that say ‘Rock Out with Your Crack Out.' Just some fun %&it."

After:

Alina's Feedback:

Dan's new identity for RockN'RollWine is exactly that... a total new identity... and what a fun and memorable one at that! The name, the image, the use of color, the movement, all work together perfectly. In a sea of thousands of wines, this one definitely stands out and captures the imagination and intrigue of the viewer. I can see this being a huge success.