Bottles of Yellow Tail will look a little different this summer.
After it launched in 2001, Yellow Tail quickly garnered a following for its wide range of options and budget-friendly price sticker. The label didn’t hurt either, with bright colors and an illustrated kangaroo standing out among the sea of bland wine labels that lined store shelves in the early aughts. The Yellow Tail kangaroo’s popularity kicked off a new category of wines with small animals on the label. The “critter wine” phenomenon ended up defining an entire era of Australian wine.
For over 24 years, that label has gone relatively unchanged — until now. This June, Yellow Tail will roll out a brand new label in an attempt to recapture consumers who may have turned their attention away from wine.
It’s no secret that the wine industry is struggling, with global consumption recently hitting its lowest point since 1996. And Casella Wines, Yellow Tail’s parent company, has felt the effects. From 2021 to 2022, total sales dropped 8 percent from $500.53 million to $461.16 million while net profit fell a whopping 56 percent to $25.38 million. Much of this decline is pointed at Millennial and Gen-Z consumers who are said to be opting for seltzers, canned cocktails, and non-alcoholic products, which often come in flashy packages.
“Yellow Tail’s pack design is iconic, remaining largely unchanged since its launch. However, after more than 20 years, it was time for a strategic update, one that enhanced the design without losing its distinctiveness,” Yellow Tail general manager of marketing and export sales Libby Nutt said. “The wine market is increasingly competitive, making shelf standout and strong branding more important than ever. This refresh builds on our existing brand assets, making them even more recognizable.”
As a part of the new design, the Yellow Tail label now appears directly above the kangaroo logo rather than in a colorful box above the illustration. According to the brand, the new placement is intended to make it easier for consumers to be able to identify each wine’s varietal, which now appears in the colored box. The brand also added flavor descriptors to each bottle.
Perhaps the most notable refresh is the kangaroo itself, which the brand affectionately calls “Roo.” The new Roo has a slightly more rounded back, elongated tail, vibrant colors, and bold outlines, giving the appearance of an animation rather than a colored pencil sketch. “In this refresh, we’ve made [Roo] bolder and more dynamic, better reflecting the brand’s free-spirited, easy-going nature,” Nutt said.
Yellow Tail’s rebranded bottles are expected to hit shelves in the U.S. this June, so it remains to be seen how the refresh will influence consumer behavior. That said, it’s unlikely that Roo’s trip to the plastic surgeon will do much. According to the IWSR, the standard and below-standard price bands (below $9.50 per bottle) are among the wine sectors struggling the most, with “long-term decline” expected in the coming years. Priced at approximately $10, Yellow Tail is firmly embedded in this section of the market, but the brand still has hope.
“Yellow Tail has always been about making wine approachable, easy to choose, and easy to enjoy, which gives it broad appeal across different types of consumers,” Nutt notes. “While overall alcohol consumption is declining globally (including wine), we see Yellow Tail as well-positioned to meet the needs of today’s drinkers.”
