What 3 million trees and 3 million cases proves about purpose-led brand building
In 2019, we created a brand that where sustainability wasn’t a veneer, but its foundation. We made it commercially viable. We made it resonate with Millennial (and now Gen Z) drinkers. We made it work at retail. We made it culturally relevant. We gave it the foundations that would allow it to endure.
Tread Softly was launched with a campaign promise to plant one native tree for every case sold. This became the commercial engine of the brand - a mechanism that scales with success and becomes impossible to separate from the product itself. Now, six years later, Tread Softly has sold over three million cases of wine, planted over three million trees in the Tread Softly Forest, and become the number one wine brand launch of the past decade at Endeavour Drinks, Australia's largest liquor retailer.
Every packaging decision was made through our Futureproof model. Tread Softly uses light weight bottles with a high content of recycled glass. UPM Raflatac Forest Film, made from gum residue, is used for the spirits range. All paperstocks are FSC certified with high recycled content.
The design logic: deliberately tiny
The branding is small by intention. In a retail environment that rewards loudness, we took the opposite position. The restrained typography invites consumers to stop and read rather than be sold at. It reflects the brand name itself: something that moves with care. And it created a shelf presence that is genuinely distinctive in a category full of noise.
Restraint like this isn’t safe: it requires conviction. It’s Intelligent Bravery in its purest form, knowing which rules to break, and which to respect.
What the retail performance tells us
Tread Softly holds the number one position in Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, and wine in can at Dan Murphy's and BWS. It is sold in nearly 4,000 independent stores across Australia and in over 20 countries, including Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's in the UK, and SAQ and LCBO in Canada. On its current trajectory, Tread Softly will soon be planting one million trees a year.
A joy to collaborate with
“Denomination’s strategic vision, clarity and design expertise have been pivotal in creating our number one wine brand Tread Softly. This brand has not only become one of the most successful wine launches in Australian retail history, but we are also seeing it being retailed in some of the world’s leading retailers. Every touch point of Tread Softly has been carefully crafted by Denomination, and their insights, creativity and passion truly shine through in our wines.””
Nicholas Crampton, Director, Fourth Wave
Tread Softly began as a brief about doing less harm. Six years later it is one of the most commercially successful wine brand launches in Australian retail history, sold in 20 countries, with a forest to its name.
