South Africa’s Rooibos Tea from Kromland Farm has a new look courtesy of London-based brand identity and design firm Pearlfisher (www.pearlfisher.com). The design brief focused on creating a premium pack that conveyed a rich heritage, rooted in the natural and the medicinal. “This is a simple but beautiful piece of design that has enormous shelf standout. We wanted to capture the magic and energy of South Africa and this fresh youthful design perfectly fits the bill,” says Pearlfisher’s Natalie Chung. While the graphics create a look and a feel for the brand that is quirky, edgy and contemporary, the visual equities also allow the flexibility to move into the future and potentially extend the portfolio. The product will be launched at the end of the month in health food stores. —LP

Swedish rock group The Ark will offer the first 5,000 copies of its latest CD in a special cover, called JakeBox. Made of 100 percent paperboard, the system holds the disc in place with a folded “claw” when the cover is closed, and releases the disc when the cover is opened.

“We think it’s fun to be able to offer an exclusive form of packaging to the very first buyers of our album,” says singer Ola Salo.

Normally rock stars don’t get so intimately involved in the design and production of packaging, but the designer of JakeBox, Jakob Skarin, is also Salo’s brother. Skarin says that the packaging speaks volumes about the contents inside. “I believe the same thing happens in music shops as in other shops—attractive packaging that can reflect exciting contents will arouse interest and curiosity in the customer.”

Many brand owners are turning to glass packaging as a way to add a premium look and feel to their products. At the leading edge of this trend are two Peruvian brands. Traditionally, Peruvian olives have been exported in bulk, but many brands are investing in premium packaging for their offerings. Agroindustrias Nobex has introduced its plain and stuffed olives in flint glass containers from O-I Peru (www.oiperu.com) in a variety of sizes. Sociedad Agricola Viru, the largest producer of canned vegetables in Peru, made a similar move recently. To support its entry into new market channels in Europe, Australia and the Americas, the brand turned to O-I Peru for new glass jars that would compete with cans, launching a line of roasted red peppers in flint glass packaging with a twist-off closure.

In a bold move to promote its new line of wines from south of the equator, Don Sebastiani & Sons released Kono Barú—complete with an upside down label.

“It’s well known that we like to market our wines with nonconforming labels,” says marketing director Don Sebastiani, Jr. “I guess you could say we really went head over heels with this one.”

The initial release of Kono Barú wines will feature six varietals (Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec and Shiraz) grown in noteworthy appellations such as Mendoza (Argentina), Casablanca (Chile) and the Barossa Valley (Australia).

“Kono Barú was inspired by the Latin corno baru, which translates to ‘horned fool’ — it is pirate slang for someone who does something crazy,” Sebastiani explains. “We thought it was rather fitting, considering our own reputation for off-beat, funky names and contemporary label designs.”

The line eventually will be expanded to feature additional varietals from other exotic southern hemisphere locations such as Marlborough (New Zealand) and Stellenbosch (South Africa).