Above: Archie Rose spirits with customised labels printed in-house on OKI Pro 10 Label printers
The purchase of a third OKI Label Printer has elevated Sydney distillery, Archie Rose Distilling Co. and its Tailored Spirits Experience.
The Archie Rose Distilling Co. Tailored Spirits Experience was a such a hit with customers its external printer provider struggled to keep pace.
The spirits company crunched the numbers and made the savvy business decision to bring its customised label service in-house, and it has not looked back.
Archie Rose relied on external printing partner Multi-Color Corporation to create its custom labels. However, as the offering grew in popularity, the outsourcing process needed to meet the distillery’s turnaround times.
This was particularly challenging around key holidays or as a gift for weddings and milestone birthdays when prompt turnaround times were a priority for customers.
After some research and experience with its external provider, Archie Rose purchased its first OKI Pro 10 Label Printer for internal use four years ago.
The OKI Pro 10 Label Printer allows for on-demand printing of different roll media types, including uncoated, glossy, textured, and synthetic papers. Roll media can be printed, cut, and quickly exchanged, while consumables have a high capacity and are also easily changed.
By investing in an OKI Pro 10 Label Printer, Archie Rose significantly accelerated the production of its Tailored Spirits offering.
Through the in-house process, customers order via Archie Rose’s website and have their Tailored Gin, Vodka or Bottled Cocktails delivered to their door within three to five business days— cutting their initial turnaround time in half.
Archie Rose’s head of marketing, Victoria Tulloch, says having the printer in-house has enabled greater design flexibility, allowing for experimentation and trial and error for limited edition runs.
“We’ve been able to robustly test its capabilities, which has led to new ways to include custom prints for customers and corporate clients, including QR codes, printing photos onto labels, and more,” said Tulloch.
The distillery has also noted bringing the process in house has increased customer satisfaction. When customers make a mistake or need to edit a label, quick changes have effectively streamlined this offering.
The OKI printer has enabled Archie Rose to provide multiple test prints for corporate clients who order in bulk, allowing reviews and approval throughout the creation of their labels.
“We can scale, quicken, and streamline the experience for customers ordering Tailored Spirits and other overprint label products, as well as improve sustainability measures related to freight, paper wastage, and test prints,” said Tulloch.
In 2022, Archie Rose purchased a second OKI Label printer, this time the Pro1050 model, adding printing with white to their repertoire. In 2023 it introduced its third.
Last Christmas, Archie Rose brought its Tailored Spirits process to life at a pop-up service at the Myer Chadstone Melbourne gifting emporium for the first time.
Christmas shoppers interacted with the Tailored offering and created personal labels printed on the spot on the OKI Pro10 printer.
The nature of liquor labels required Archie Rose to choose a label printer fit for purpose. Speaking with OKI channel manager Stephen Richards, he said the OKI product delivers on the distillery’s needs.
“They chose the OKI because an inkjet printer wouldn’t have been suitable. They would have had to change too many things,” says Steven Richards, channel manager for OKI.
“They needed software that could communicate with their website to make variable changes,” he added.
“Being toner-based, you can take their existing label and overprint it without any extra coatings, no treatments. It’s going to stay on the page. It can go in the fridge, it can go in the ice bucket, you put it in the freezer, take it out, and it’s still going to be the same. That’s not the case with inkjet now,” explains Richards.
Richards says the distillery sector represents an untapped opportunity for growth for the OKI printer business.
“One recent distillery customer purchased a printer before Christmas last year and gained a return on investment in six weeks. They are now putting another two devices in over the next two months in another two locations, says Richards.
‘It’s one of our verticals we see as a strong point for us because our printers are so versatile.”
With distilleries, we fix two problems. We can personalise, and being digital, they can also overprint on export labels.”
OKI has several distilleries on their books, and the client list is growing.
Richards attended the annual Australian Distillers Association Conference in Brisbane this year and said many spirits producers approached him eager to talk about the benefits of the OKI product.
“Many people were interested in getting more information because we have two devices. We’ve got one that’s smaller and affordable, and then we have our 10 Series if you want press quality.
If you are a growing business, then I suggest the 10 Series. It’s an investment, but it is worth it. If you sell your bottle of gin for $50 and personalisation is $20 extra, that’s a thousand bottles to pay off your investment.
“Most see a fast return on investment,” Richards says.
This article appears in the June edition of ProPack.Pro magazine
