Wilkins Group re-lights the way for M&S to get in Christmas spirit

A Nottingham packaging firm is lighting up the shelves at M&S Foodhalls for the second Christmas running with its sell-out range of illuminating snow globe liqueurs.

The Wilkins Group has once again been asked to add an innovative sprinkle of magic to Marks and Spencer’s 2021 range of Christmas gin and rum liqueurs.

Last year, the firm refined an idea it had presented several years previously, of adding a special label to the base of the glass bottles, each containing four integrated LED lights that, when pressed, illuminated the flakes of edible gold leaf floating in the gin liqueur.

The result – which effectively turned the bottles to a snow globe and perfect Christmas table decoration – took the nation and social media by storm, with stocks rapidly selling out.

The 2020 product has even led to the Wilkins Group being shortlisted in the Label of the Year category of this year’s UK Packaging Awards, with winners being announced in November.

Now, the Wilkins Group has done it again, with the recent launch of the M&S Clementine Gin Liqueur and Spiced Sugar Plum Gin Liqueur. And, for the first time, M&S has added a Madagascan Vanilla Spiced Rum Liqueur to the range.

Justin Wilkins, sales and marketing director of the family run Colwick-based firm, said: “Everyone at the Wilkins Group is absolutely delighted to be able to assist Marks and Spencer with this Christmas project again.

“On the back of last year – with the M&S gin range selling out and customers really trying their hardest to get their hands on them – there’s already quite a lot of excitement surrounding this year’s range.

“It’s fantastic, as well, to see new flavours and to see rum being added to the mix. The finished products look stunning. I can see why they are so popular with customers.”

In addition to the LED base labels, the Wilkins Group designed the gift tag swing labels that are fastened around the neck of the 70cl bottles.

The part-transparent body designs of three products in the 2021 Christmas range take their inspiration from the classic Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker. And, this year, the bottles contain edible silver leaf in the Sugar Plum flavour, as well as gold leaf in the Clementine gin and rum.

The huge interest in last year’s M&S snow globe Christmas liqueurs spiked almost as soon as the firm announced the product launch on social media. As a result of its ensuing retail success, Wilkins Group was also commissioned to create a Cherry Blossom Gin Liqueur bottle design, which was launched earlier this summer.

To find out more about the services offered by the Wilkins Group, visit www.wilkins.co.uk.