Spirits Packaging 3 Types of Interactive Designs to Increase Engagement

The art of simply applying a label to spirits packaging is dead.

Published
27 October 2020
Updated
29 July 2026
3
min read

Today interactive spirits packaging is king. Whether analog or digital, consumers are looking for something new, interactive, and engaging. Make it worth talking about amongst friends and on social media. Before Living Wine Labels brought us 19 Crimes or Walking Dead, there were interactive packaging designers creating technical unboxing movements by hand.

We’re going to show you how to deploy interactive packaging to get noticed, get purchased, and become the drink of choice for today’s consumer.

What is Interactive Spirits Packaging?

Simply put, Interactive Drinks Packaging encourages active engagement vs passive consumption.

3 Examples of Interactive Spirits Packaging

1. Manual Interaction, Empathy Wines

types of interactive packaging design sustainable luxury elegant design
Photo: Constellation Brands

Empathy Wines is an example of manual interaction, due to the consumer-generated movement that reveals and removes the product. Empathy requires the user to open, lift, and remove the tray containing the individual bottles of wine. The interaction comes in the form of the box’s functionality but also reveals key messaging along the way. It’s that hidden messaging that allows Empathy Wines to make this list.

By having messaging that rewards the consumer for looking under or behind panels, it encourages that behavior.

2. Analog Interactive Spirits Packaging, Eleven Wine

Eleven Wines is a completely analog example of interactive packaging. The packaging uses magnets along the inner walls to repel each other and open as the sleeve is lifted. This action reveals the bottle within slowly and dramatically.

This type of analog interaction isn’t easy. It requires engineers and manufacturers working closely to execute with a high degree of certainty.

3. Digital Interactive (AR) Spirits Packaging, 19 Crimes

19 crimes types of interactive label packaging design AR
Photo: Treasury Wine Estates

19 Crimes is the most recognized wine label using the Augmented Reality app Living Wine Labels which brings the characters to life and engages with other bottles. The labels tell their story, set the tone, and encourage the consumer to invite other characters into the conversation by buying more wine.

Last Word: Interactive Spirits Packaging

Yes, there’s always going to be a place on the shelf for beautiful wine labels, but the drinks aisle isn’t a museum, it’s a battlefield. This competition isn’t won by labels alone, you need every edge you can get to encourage that consumer to pick your bottle up and be driven to try it out. After that, it’s up to the product to make a repeat buyer out of a first-timer.

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Book titled Packitecture: The Packaging Guidebook for Retail Brands resting on a brown leather surface.
Written By
Evelio Mattos
VP of Sales & Design, IDP Direct | Host of Packaging Unboxd