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OCTOBER 2011
Beer Me
Craft brewers nd new ways to stand out on the shelf
Main Headline
Sub Headline
ALSO:
Chasing Correct ALSO: Colors Focus onSecondary Aluminum Lines & Metal Materials Spirited Designs Secondary for Lines Liquors Secondary Lines
PACKAGEDESIGNMAG.COM Secondary
Lines
Contents
october 2011
Vol. 9 No. 8
COLUMNS
12 Designers Corner
by Michael Osborne Evolutionary package design attracts new consumers and encourages brand loyalty.
14 Sustainably Speaking
by Wendy Jedlicka Wine pouch offers modern approach to a historic wine package format.
10 Features
16
DEPARTMENTS
4 Editors Letter 6 Front Panel 9 Snapshots 29 Product Focus:
Metal and Aluminum Containers
24
Change Is Brewing
Consumer buying habits are changing how craft beers are packaged and marketed.
27
Successful Rebels
Brand owners challenge category conventions to create stellar packages.
32
14
Chris Cockrell, an IoPP member since 2005, completed Fundamentals of Packaging Technology in January, 2006.
More success.
When I started at FUJIFILM, I had limited packaging experience. I needed formal training focused on packaging that would give me the right tools to make better decisions about packaging and product development. IoPP offered the best educational program to help me gain applicable packaging skills. Fundamentals of Packaging Technology increased my proficiencies and, since completing the course, I was promoted from Engineering Technician to Packaging Engineer. Chris Cockrell Packaging Engineer Graphics Arts Products Division FUJIFILM Manufacturing U.S.A., Inc.
For more information about IoPP and its educational programs, call 800-432-4085. Or visit www.iopp.org.
by Linda casey
11262 Cornell Park Dr. Cincinnati, OH 45242
Editorial Department Editor-in-Chief Linda Casey linda.casey@stmediagroup.com Contributing editor Patrick Henry pat.henry@stmediagroup.com Art Director Laura Mohr laura.mohr@stmediagroup.com Production Coordinator Linda Volz 513-263-9398 linda.volz@stmediagroup.com Sales Department Publisher Julie Okon 317-564-8475 / Fax: 513-744-6909 julie.okon@stmediagroup.com associate Publisher John T. Lyons III 770-955-2923 / Fax: 610-296-1553 john.lyons@stmediagroup.com Corporate Staff President Tedd Swormstedt Design group director Kristin D. Zeit Package Design Subscription Services P.O. Box 1060 Skokie, IL 60076 P: (847) 763-4938 F: (847) 763-9030 PD@halldata.com Reprints / e-Prints / Plaques Mark Kissling 513-263-9399 mark.kissling@stmediagroup.com
PACKAGE DESIGN (ISSN 1554-6772) is published 10 times annually by ST Media Group International Inc., 11262 Cornell Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242-1812. Telephone: (513) 421-2050, Fax: (513) 362-0317. No charge for subscriptions to qualified individuals. Annual rate for subscriptions to non-qualified individuals in the U.S.A.: $48 USD. Annual rate for subscriptions in Canada: $76 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $98 (Intl mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2011, by ST Media Group International Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Package Design, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to Package Design, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. For single copies or back issues: contact Debbie Reed at (513) 263-9356 or Debbie.Reed@STMediaGroup. com. Subscription Services: PD@halldata.com, Fax: (847) 763-9030, Phone: (847) 763-4938, New Subscriptions: www.packagedesignmag. com/subscribe.
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FRONT PANEL
Innovative spray can designs point to a bright future for graffiti artists.
hat would a spray can look like if it were designed around a professional graffiti artists needs? That question, reports Scott Power, founder and managing principal of Man One Design, Los Angeles, led to a creative collaboration between his company and Chicago-based package design firm Studio One Eleven, a division of Berlin Packaging. It was renowned graffiti artist Man One who inspired the collaboration, but he says after a few initial meetings he was kept in the dark until two prototypes were unveiled at his Crewest Gallery in L.A. on September 8. The cans are designated Paint the Future and are part of the gallerys annual Canceptual exhibit, which features used spray cans turned into art. Scott Jost, vice president of innovation and design at Studio One Eleven, says one prototype has a rotating nozzle that offers the user fine motor skills and fingertip-level motor control traditionally employed by an airbrush artist holding an object like a pen. This can and actuator allow artists to hold it with the center of gravity behind their hands, giving them a lot more control and possibilities to apply spray pattern directly to the surface, Jost explains. The nozzle can rotate 45 degrees, allowing the artist to hold the can in a traditional configuration in which the spray direction is parallel to the axis of the arm. Jost says this model has an actuator that operates on that same axis, so when you pull back, like the trigger of the gun, youre actuating the nozzle. Its much more intuitive and a lot less fatiguing to use than a traditional spray can, says Jost. The exhibit also features what Jost calls ideation sketches, representing the evolution of the thought process involved in creating the prototypes, two possible stopping points in the journey. Man One likes both versions. Graffiti artists, he says, have always adapted spray cans from the hardware store. For example, we get oven cleaners with very wide tips and use their packaging, he explains. Aerosol pressure is often too high, so we hold the can upside down and remove almost all the aerosol to create lower pressure. If the prototype cans of Paint the Futureor others like themeventually are manufactured, theyll benefit spray paint users of all types, not just graffiti artists. Deborah Donberg
Vic Macias
An exhibition wall at the Paint the Future show displays spray can prototypes and the thinking behind them.
october 2011
Packing Interest
Packagings influence grows at Graph Expo 2011.
Graph Expo, the largest graphic communications exhibition in the Americas, returned to Chicagos McCormick Place in September. The show hosted more than 475 exhibitors overall and, for the third year in a row, featured the PackPrint Pavilion. This year, though, packagings influence could be found far beyond the 53 exhibitors in the special interest pavilion. Packaging themes abounded, starting with Xpedxs booth at the front of the south hall. Xpedx designed all its signage to look like prototype packages. The company has recently renewed its interest in this market, with the opening of several package design centers in the U.S. On the other side of the south hall entrance, Xerox was showing its iGen digital printing press with its automated packaging solution. The system enables in-line converting of paperboard cartons directly from the digital press delivery. Shortly before the show, Xerox announced FDA approval for its iGen toner. Paul Butterfield, iGen business manager for Xerox graphic communications/inplant group, noted that the approval was largely a legal accomplishment because the technology basically had remained the same. What it does for package designers, he says, is help them feel confident about using digitally printed paperboard cartons for food and pharmaceutical products. Across the aisle, traditional litho press manufacturing behemoth Heidelberg was highlighting the first digital press under its new partnership with Ricoh. The company previously had a noncompete agreement with Kodak after it developed the NexPress. With the expiration of that agreement, Heidelberg is now looking to digital printing technologies as part of its growth strategy. But that doesnt mean that it believes digital printing is the best solution for packages. Customizing every package is exactly what you do not want to do, says Jorg Dahnhardt, product management director for the companys very large format group. When most package printers are talking about shorter runs, theyre talking about 10-, 15-, and 30,000 impressions. The Roland booth featured packaging samples that played up coatings used for tactile effects and metallic inks for high-impact results. Metallic packaging was also the highlight at the GMG booth, where the company unveiled its new rapid prototyping machine that uses a metallic substrate as a base. (continued on next page)
Attendees stream into McCormick Places South Hall in Chicago for Graph Expo 2011.
PACKAGEDESIGNMAG.COM
Other inkjet news comes from Mimaki, which demonstrated its tabletop size UJF-3042 and unveiled the UJF-3042F model. The compact UJF flatbed printers use eco-friendly, low-VOC inks and are compatible with white and clear inks for printing on transparent, heat-sensitive, and noncoated materials up to 2 inches thick. The FX model introduces the ability to use flexible ink for added applications. Epson brought its WT 7900 printer, with a new EFI raster image processor and a significantly lower suggested retail price of $6,995. The printer can produce physical prototypes on clear film, rigid plastics, and paperboard as thick as 18 points. Digital printing debuts were not limited to carton converting. INX International Ink Company unveiled its NW140 UV digital narrow web press, with an integrated Spartanics X140 laser cutting station. Package designers creating labels with this system can produce applicator-ready, full-color labels. Rich Egert, general manager of the strategic technology provider business group for OKI Data Americas, showed Graph Expo attendees the short-run, just-in-time possibilities of the companys proColor printers. This included the OKI Datas pro510DW digital web press, which he says is ideal for brand owners who are frustrated with minimum orders for labels and their associated economic and environmental costs. According to Simon Lewis, director of strategic marketing for the Indigo digital press division of Hewlett-Packards graphics solutions business, the digital label market has not yet reached saturation,
at least not for the 10-year-old HP Indigo press. (HP first announced its intention to acquire Indigo N.V. and its technology at the PRINT 01 tradeshow.) Since the acquisition, HP has greatly expanded the Indigo acceptable substrate range. Labels and packages printed using HP Indigo presses can include flexible packaging, shrink sleeves, paper labels, and cartons. Lewis remarks that HP Indigo presses are helping package printers more effectively use their flexo press time by letting them dedicate longer run jobs to those presses. Another company thats looking to further the smart use of flexo printing is Kodak, which showed package printing applications that used their Flexcel NX plates. John Anderson, from Kodaks graphic communications group, noted that more brand owners and package designers are losing gravure printing options. In North America, theres not a lot of gravure left, he says. The companys Flexcel NX plates enable designers and printers to expand the color gamut of flexo-printed package designs. This enables brand owners to chose from more print providers and can result in faster speed to market and more flexibility in run length. Not all the package design solutions shown were squarely in the manufacturing arena. EskoArtwork showed its Studio Toolkit for Shrink Sleeves, which recently won a Printing Industries of America InterTech Technology Award. The software enables package designers to create 3-D mockups of shrink-sleeve packages, unitize them, and draft the shrink wrap for the units.
BOOKS
SNAPSHOTS
hen premium wholesale liquor distributor Haas Brothers set out to recreate its Cyrus Noble Bourbon brand, creating the ideal packaging was top of mind. The San Francisco-based company, a family business, still had the original recipe and a single bottle of pre-World War II Cyrus Noble that had been ready for sale in 1948. The brand had survived for nearly a century before finally falling out of favor in the mid-twentieth century as consumers tastes changed. For the relaunch, the family wanted to convey that Gold Rush-era spirit of opportunity, says Philippe Becker, creative director of PhilippeBecker. But they ultimately decided to add a modern twist to make it even more compelling. The process started with the label. The server needs to read the label from across the bar, so we wanted more visual impact than the original, says Becker. We ultimately created an engraving effect, like old currency, to build that idea of wealth and prosperity. The design team also devised a new brand seal of a crown atop crossed miners tools for both label and bottle. Cameo Crafts ran the self-adhesive labels on a Gallus press as an eight-color job with overall varnish, embossing, spot UV, and gold foil. The method is rotary offset, which gave us much better quality than we would have had in flexo, Becker says. The job was all run inline, so what came off press was the finished label. For the capsule surrounding the synthetic cork, the team wanted to replicate hand-applied excise tax stamps. We ended up going with all plastic, but we werent happy with the shrink wrapping. So were redoing them as paper over foil, Becker says. The new bottle, supplied by Global Package LLC, also adds contemporary flair while honoring the originals spirit. Erica Harrop, founder of Global Package, explains: Todays interesting bottle shapes werent available then, so we decided not to be limited by that. The biggest issue was how to emboss the new seal on the bottle so that the label would line up correctly. I had to reverse-engineer the bottle and eventually figured out what we needed: An IV notch, so named for when hospitals used glass IV bottles, Harrop says. Now the label lines up perfectly every time. The initial run of 5,000 cases of Cyrus Noble was filled early this year and will launch for the 2011 holiday season. Darcy Lewis For articles on similar topics, visit the Wine & Spirits channel on PackageDesignMag.com
While inspired by the pre-World War II bottle, the new package has contemporary features that would have been difficult to form using 1950s glass-blowing techniques.
PACKAGEDESIGNMAG.COM
SNAPSHOTS
Distinctly Buckeye
This elegant bottles a celebration of state pride.
At xpedx, we extend design strategy beyond the physical package, by helping you find smarter ways to market your products and generate profitable sales concept to production, distribution to consumption. We call it Packaging Expertise.SM
xpedx.com
xpedx, an International Paper Company 2011
s a new company launching its first product to market, Crystal Spirits Distillery of Dayton, OH, wanted a bottle for its Buckeye vodka that would stand out at retail while still reflecting its identity as a smallbatch, premium product. Its ultra-pure premium vodka at a midrange price; thats what makes it unique, says Jim Finke, co-owner and CEO of Crystal Spirits Distillery. The 80-proof vodka uses distilled water from the Daytonbased Crystal Water Company, owned by Tom Rambasek Finkes brother-in-law and Crystal Spirits president. The packaging for the Buckeye bottle was put together by Saxco International, Horsham, PA, a global packager for wine and spirits. Jimmy Owens, new product representative at Saxco, says the shape of the 750 mL bottle was selected from a number of stock molds the company presented to Crystal Spirits. The bottle is Bordeaux-shaped with a flat bottom and was coated with an organic spray frost; the labeling used a UV organic spray print. The bottles very attractive, Owens says. The white frost gives it a very contemporary, crisp feeling. Saxco sourced the bottle itself from Owens-Illinois Europe, and the closure from Amcor, St. Cesaire, Canada. Saxco handled all sourcing for the packaging, including the 30x60 steel cap, which is a metal roll-on with customized artwork. It features a red buckeye leaf against a blue cap, and the same red leaf is prominently displayed on the bottle, above the letter k in Buckeye. The rest of the bottle text is in blue, as is an image of the state of Ohio, which has a red, white, and blue ribbon behind it. The text utilizes both print and script writing. The font is elegant but not overstated, and we put the buckeye leaf on top to show our state pride, Finke says. We also used the patriotic theme with the red, white, and blue. According to Dan Matauch, founder of Flowdesign, which designed bottles graphics, limiting the colors to three also kept packaging costs in check. Buckeye vodka, which still sells only in Ohio, retails at $19.95 for 750 mL, and Finke says the company is planning to release a 1.75-L size early next year. The brand debuted April 1 throughout Ohio, and Finke says sales had already bested the companys projections by September. PD Jeff Fleischer
DESIGNERS CORNER
by Michael Osborne
Spirited Improvement
Evolutionary redesign can be both fresh and familiar.
n evolutionary redesign can be a difficult assignment. What changes are necessary and, more importantly, why? How much visual equity does the original package design have? The impetus for an evolutionary package redesign is typically flat (or declining) sales. Yet brand managers naturally want to protect the loyalty the product has earned with retailers and consumers. Such was the case with FRe, an alcohol-free wine from Trinchero Family Estates. The vintner sells more than 15 million cases of wine every year, through 26 brands including Sutter Home, Mnage Trois, and Joel Gott.
Difficult to categorize
FRe alcohol-removed wines are the product of a dealcoholization process called the spinning cone column. This two-step procedure separates and collects a wines fragile aroma and flavor essences while removing its alcohol. The result is more than grape juice, but not quite wine. Because FRe occupies an interstitial place between the wine and juice markets, it can be challenging to stock and find in the retail outlets. We found that FRe had been shelved in a variety of aisles, store by store. In different stores of one major grocery chain, for example, we found FRe shelved near the varietals, next to kosher packaged products, on a shelf by the boxed wines, and even in the juice aisle. The good news was that FRe varietals were already being shelved together at most retailers, giving the brand block more strength on shelf. According to the brand manager, the wine aimed to appeal to four types of female consumers in the 30-60 age groups: retirees, pregnant women,
after
The capsules placement of the FRe logo provides a contemporary look while remaining identifiable.
BEFORE
FRe went through a small package enhancement in 2009 to brighten up the label/ capsule and make it have more shelf impact in-store.
athletes and other health-conscious customers, and designated drivers and other thoughtful entertainers. The redesigned packaging also needed a clean look with easy-to-read nonalcoholic/alcoholremoved messaging. It needed more traditional wine cues, plus a look that would help support a price increase to $6.99 per bottle. We needed to make FRe look like a $10-$12 bottle of wine.
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october 2011
The Category
Nonalcoholic wine is a very tough, declining category. The biggest challenge is category awareness and being able to find the wines in-store.
The redesigned packaging for FRe sparkling has a color palette that better conveys the light nature of the wine.
consumers convenient opening and resealing. Unlike the still wine packaging, the sparkling wine received a completely different color palette from its previous packaging. Most notably, the black capsule was replaced by a light gold capsule, supplied by C&E Capsules. The new color palette conveys the sparkling light nature of the wine better.
We started with minor changes to the existing packaging elements. The color palette already gave the brand the necessary pop to draw the consumers attention and helped her identify the different varietals. So while the redesigned wine labels have new type and graphic treatments, the vivid coloring stayed the same. For example, FRe Merlot still sports a large blue color block as a primary graphic element; we worked with label printer Collotype to ensure that the label colors are vibrant and bright. The color coding is carried from bottle label to capsule, where the FRe logo received new placement. The capsules are spun onto screw caps supplied by Amcor, to offer
Return-on-investment
When we started this project, the brand manager vowed shed kill us if the million-case brand sold 999,999 cases the year after the package redesign. Were still here, and shes been promoted. Wed call that ROI. PD For articles on similar topics, visit the Beverage channel at PackageDesignMag.com.
Michael Osborne is president and creative director of the San Francisco-based graphic design firm Michael Osborne Design, Inc.
PACKAGEDESIGNMAG.COM
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SUSTAINABLY SPEAKING
which are made from infinitely recyclable materials, and lightweight aseptic cartons converted by Tetra Pak for Cordier Mestrezat that contain a high percentage of renewable materials. Others, such as the Climber Pouch by Clif Family Winery & Farm, have a small pre-fill footprint, fitting more packages into each truck to the winery, as well as requiring less food-safe dedicated space at the winery before filling. While some purists obsess over whether wine should be delivered in anything other than a glass bottle with a natural cork, emerging winemakers (and established brands looking to penetrate new markets) are eagerly experimenting with the wide variety of options opening up to them. More and more consumers, too, are receptive to new packages. Owned by the same people who deliver environmentally conscious Clif Bar products, Clif Family Winery & Farms new Climber Pouch is a good example of innovative wine packaging. Taking advantage of the companys profile in a more progressive consumer market, the firm looked for a way to better connect their product with their target marketphysically active adults. Putting themselves in their customers shoes, the company realized that after spending the day hiking, canoeing or otherwise soaking up the great outdoors, a bit of wine by the campfire might be just the thing. Going beyond convenience, the Climber Pouch is a double-gusseted, stand-up flexible pouch supplied by Astrapouch. It has an 80% lower carbon footprint and makes 90% less waste than two glass bottles. Its also lighter to carry than glass, recloses easily, and allows air to be released, which helps the wine stay fresh for up to one month after opening. When the wines gone, the package folds down into a fraction of its filled size, making it easy to leave the campsite (or wherever your trails lead you) better than you found it. Its also a nice nod to ancient solutions for flexible wine packaging, and a good inspiration for all sorts of liquids packaging options. PD For articles on similar topics, visit the Wine & Spirits channel on PackageDesignMag.com.
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october 2011
This webinar will explore strategies for designing packages that protect the product, the environment and the bottom line.
Look for additional information each month in Package Design or visit packagedesignmag.com.
Sponsored by:
THE
olor
always simulates, as faithfully as it can, the eventual output of the press. In a work ow lacking the guidance of color management, the picture on the screen could be misleading. Worse, the press run might have to be tweaked to make the nal product conform to an equally misleadingbut client-approvedcontract proof.
t wouldnt be correct to call color management a solution in search of a problemthe problem is well de ned, and the technologys ability to solve it is beyond dispute. Packaging professionals whove seen the bene ts for themselves say that no quality-control technique does more than color management to bring about a pleasing and thoroughly predictable outcome on press. The tools are certainly there, and so are a host of good reasons to take advantage of them in all forms of printed
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OCTOBER 2011
packaging. Color management is a blanket term for software applications, instrumentation, and prepress procedures that, when used systematically, assure that the appearance of color will be accurate and consistent at every stage of reproduction. That means keeping in close touch with press color at all times, never displaying or outputting to proof any color that the nal printing device isnt also capable of producing. In a color-managed work ow, the proof or the image on the monitor
By Patrick Henry
basic routines have been elements of package design and production for decades. Because its a discipline as well as a technology, color management rewards its most scrupulous practitioners with the most consistently satisfying results.
Advances in color management bring accuracy and consistency to color workows for packaging.
expectations with what the process can do, says Patrice Aurenty, global leader, SmartColour group, Sun Chemical. In accomplishing this, he adds, it also eliminates redundant loops of approval that complicate work ows where color management isnt used. A digital technique, color management happens in a mathematically de ned space that the color characteristics of monitors, scanners, proofers, and other prepress devices can be mapped to. Once their individual color gamuts
have been mapped and reconciled, the devices can work together to render the same press-accurate color throughout the work ow. Part of the goal, as Aurenty puts it, is to manage color without visual assessment, thereby eliminating the uncertainties that creep into the process whenever people make subjective judgment calls about the appearance of color. Software tools for color management are relatively new, but some of their
17
know that color management is about managing color all of the time, not some of the time. At CSW Inc., which specializes in brand solutions for packaging, no project runs through the house that isnt somehow color-managed, says Marek Skrzynski, director of graphics R&D. Color management doesnt stop in prepress, and in the pressroom, Skrzynski says, it means more than simply controlling densities and dot gain.
Color management also comes into play, he says, as a means of supporting the fusion of art and science that continues to define the prepress operators job. He also notes that color management is more than just a guarantor of color fidelity: Its a broad strategy for process improvement that shortens package development cycles, reduces running waste, and moderates ink consumption as it underscores brand image and product appeal.
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october 2011
Without predictable and consistent output, color management wont satisfy anybodys expectations.
Mark Causey, director of color technologies, Beck
as plug-ins for other softwarewhatever format best suits the end users workflow requirements. EskoArtworks primary offering for color management in packaging is Color Engine, a technology that measures color using both colorimetric and spectral data. Spectral analysis, according to Moore, provides more detailed profiles of ink behaviors in specific printing conditions than colorimetric measurement alone. He says that a packaging prepress workflow built around Color Engine takes the ambiguity out of achieving uniform results from press to pressa key benefit for designers trying to assure the consistency of branded and spot colors. At the heart of color management is color space transformation: essentially, sending profiled color data from device to device in the reproduction chain and finding the nearest equivalent of the look of the desired final output at each stop. Mark Welch, director of strategic accounts at GMG, says that the companys color-space transforming ColorServer software lets package designers and printers achieve consistent color under different press conditions. In this way, the creative intent can be preserved wherever the printing takes place.
Managing metallics
Metallic effects are gaining in popularity among package designers, but the printed appearance of metallic inks and substrates can be hard to envision in prepress. Color-Logics answer is its Process Metallic Color System, a color communication tool that lets designers create and proof metallic-enhanced images using familiar process inks. Mark Geeves, Color-Logics director of sales and marketing, explains that the products software plug-ins let designers create the look they want in files that printers licensed and certified by Color-
Logic can output onto whatever substrate has been selected for the package. By laying down CMYK over a silver ink from Color-Logic, printers can provide color charts of 250 metallic effects. These charts serve as swatch books that let the designer know what to expect in an actual production run. A variation for digital printing produces the effects with CMYK and white ink over a metallic proofing substrate. In purely technical terms, color management is about measuring and sharing color data in ways that machines can understand. But ink is a physical product, and in a color-managed workflow, a machines best guess about how ink will perform when it hits a printable surface isnt sufficient. With Sun Chemicals SmartColour system, says Aurenty, its possible not just to predict, but to really know how an ink color will look in combination with a specific substrate. SmartColour is a library containing 250,000 combinations of ink, substrate, and printing process. These data sets, Aurenty says, represent about 80% of the color printed in offset, flexo, and gravure packaging. SmartColour combinations can be displayed within color management applications from EskoArtwork, GMG, and other partnering software providers. Aurenty says that designers working with SmartColour will find that theres no guess hereits not a projection, but a reliable replica of the final printed result.
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ability to print on a wide range of packaging substrates, its reputation for print quality still has room for improvement. According to Welch, you can hardly find two flexo processes that look alike, and the inherent variability of the method sometimes stymies color management products when theyre applied to flexo packaging. That is definitely the master course, he says. But, says Causey, whose company does about 75% of its packaging print management for flexo, the times are changing from the days when designers had to dumb down their expectations because of the shortcomings of the print process. Today, he says, advances in flexo prepress, platemaking, and inks make it possible to color-manage the process to a point where its quality is starting to rival that of offset and even gravure. In Skrzynskis view, proof that most software vendors dont recognize the packaging world as a business opportunity can be seen in the fact that their color management solutions are built primarily for offset applications, not flexo. He says that even the packagingspecific color management software hes used is not flexo-friendly because its parameters dont represent the specific color requirements of a typical flexo press out there. Nevertheless, Skrzynski thinks that flexoformerly a puzzle full of unknown missing piecesis becoming more amenable to color management thanks to improvements in inks, plates, and anilox composition. Better tools and tighter process controls make it possible, he says, for package designers and printers to get closer to an accurate forecast of what ultimately will come out of a flexographic press. Flexography has seen many technical advancements, and inks, says Aurenty, have to adapt to it. Sun Chemical continues to seek better flexo ink performance with improvements in rheology (flow), resins, and pigmentation. The company also has introduced WetFlex, a high-resolution printing
20
october 2011
Color management is about managing color all of the time, not some of the time.
L arry Moore, director of sof t ware services and business development, EskoArt work
method that Aurenty describes as a wettrapping, electron beam-cured process carried out on a specially adapted Comexi flexo press.
ceptually and gain an understanding, early in the project, of how their color requirements are going to be met. They know they cant afford color-related production problems that might slow down the delivery of a branded package to its marketplace. Competitive pressure has made it impossible for designers to overlook their roles in color management, Higgins says. Estudio Ray, specializing in branding and package design for Hispanic and multicultural markets, works with package printers based both inside and outside the U.S. Christine Ray, visual strategist and manager of client services, says that some of them are much better than others at maintaining color consistency. As for color management, Ray says its her impression that people havent been talking about it as much as they once did. A Chicago-based printer recently visited the studio with a pitch for the method, but they were three times the cost of those who dont offer color management, Ray says.
21
bility for assuring common monitor calibration should lie. Ray thinks that as long as everyone understands the limitations of color reproduction, expectations can be managed. But, she notes, given the fact that printer A never does anything in exactly the same way as printer B, the best advice for a package designer sometimes is, keep your fingers crossed.
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mandate, which applies even more urgently to globally distributed brands, is one of the strongest arguments in favor of adopting color management.
printers, to replace the Matchprints she can no longer obtain. For Causey, the holy grail of color management would be the ability to repurpose and recalculate data sets from one condition to the next: from press to press or from inkset to inkset, for example, without having to reprint to capture new data from specific output conditions. A standard for ensuring that all spectral devices measure color in the same way is high on Aurentys list. He says that his big wish is for a proofing system for special effects, which remain difficult, if not impossible, to render in hard copy. Aurenty thinks that even with technical progress on all fronts in color management, the industry still has a long way to go before it arrives at a complete digital communication color workflow that everyone can understand and trust.
1 9/22/11 4:08 PM
When that tipping point is reached, predicts Moore, color management will be one of the biggest hot spots for the industry to improve productivity. PD For articles on similar topics, visit the Prepress & Workflow channel on PackageDesignMag.com.
CM
MY
CY
CMY
By Linda Casey
Change Is
A shift in consumer buying habits is fueling package design innovations for craft beers.
Brew
L
ove craft beer, but dont have time to make an extra stop to buy your favorite brew from your local pub? If you prefer to buy your suds from a retailer, youre part of a growing trend. Craft beer sales are shifting from on-premise and keg sales to packaged products at retailers, according to Patrick Rowell, brand strategist at Hornall Anderson. The last statistic I saw showed about 5% more retail shelf space for craft beer in 2010 than in 2009, agrees Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association. All were hearing is that craft beers keep getting more and more of that shelf space. This is changing the way breweries are valuing their package designs. The conventional wisdom has always been that craft beers win on product, says Rowell. Breweries are starting to come around to see that every craft beer brand out there has fantastic products. When there are so many choices and theyre all good, thats when brand expression becomes crucial. It becomes the only way you can win categories like this. Rowells agency recently helped Redhook Brewery redesign its packaging for this new reality. A major component of the redesign was creating striking secondary packaging for retail. To create a positively disproportionate impact in the retail aisle to the number of case and carrier facings, Hornall Anderson designed the secondary packages so they formed a continuous graphic no matter which way the packages are facing. The agency also found that Redhook, like many other craft beers, were effectively turning away potential customers with its messaging on pack. The craft category had become so entrenched in pushing back against domestic beer that it became sort of an arms race of who
Ben Finch represented both the agency and the brand when designing the packaging for Finchs Beer Companys blonde and pale ales.
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could tell the longest, most flowery, overwrought story on where the hops came from and who brewed it, Rowell explains. In the vast majority of the occasions, thats not how consumers are thinking about it. So Hornell Anderson stripped away much of the romance copy and simplified the beer description with four keywords stacked in the upper left-hand corner of the bottle.
nies and community organizations, Boulevard created the recycling company Ripple Glass. Ripple constructed a state-of-the-art cullet processing plant. Cullet is crushed, recycled glass, and its a major component of most beer bottles made today. To supply the project, Ripple places highly visible glass collection containers throughout Kansas City, then cleans and delabels the bottles and jars, crushes them into furnace-ready cullet, and sells the cullet to its bottle supplier, Verallia, to make into beer bottles. We felt some complicity being a part of the [packaging waste] problem, and wed analyzed it enough to think that we understood what was necessary to fix it, Krum says. So we gave it a go. Boulevards concerns are part of a greater conversation in government and the packaging industry about extended producer responsibility. The thought behind this philosophy is that packaged goods companies and their designers take responsibility for the end-of-life impacts of spent packaging. This strategy aims to increase more sustainable packaging choices in initial package designs. Boulevard was especially committed to making its glass more sustainable because of its affinity for the material itself. Glass is hands-down the premier material for preserving a quality product, Krum says. Cans are fine as far as quality goes, but they dont present the kind of image or the kind of tradition inherent in glass. Traditionally, better beers come in glass bottles as opposed to cans or any other packaging material. He concedes, however, thats changing a little bit because in the last year or two craft brewers have been coming out with products in cans.
The continuous graphic on Redhook Brewerys secondary packaging creates a multiplicative effect with every adjacent facing.
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a co-owner of Finchs Beer Company. Like Boulevard, Finchs Beer Companys primary criteria for its beer packaging are sustainability and performance. Our head brewer, Richard Grant, whos also an owner, suggested we do cans, Finch says. Richards argument early on was that cans are better for the beer. I realized very quickly that cans are not only better for the product but also more environmentally friendly. Theyre more recyclable and lighter than brown glass, he says. While theres still a stigma that cans affect the taste of the beer, Finch insists thats not the case. The can liners used today are far superior to those of yesterday. A can also offers a full-body, 360-degree deco-
rating area. To maximize use of this space, Finch worked with Meredith Reshoft, creative director and co-owner of Finchs other business, the design agency the Killswitch Collective, and Ball Corp., which converts and prints the cans, to create prepress-ready files of the cans upscale design. Finch also joined the growing number of brewers using specialty carriers to showcase the design. We utilize an open-top carrier [supplied by PakTech] with a plastic ring that each can clips to, he explains. It costs more, but its worth every penny because you save on the costs of a tray or paperboard box. Ours is translucent plastic because it allows the design to speak even louder because they dont have the solid color on top of your cans.
More options
Choices for craft beer packaging include more than just glass bottles and aluminum cans. A hybrid of the twothe aluminum bottleoffers the portability of aluminum with the reclosability and consumer drinking experience of a bottle. Legends Premium Lager uses aluminum bottles to gain entry to places where glass isnt allowed. McLean Design, the agency that created the packaging for Legends, notes that the aluminum bottle is especially suited for sports arenas. Then there are the growlers, adds Harry Woods, partner and creative director at Woods Witt Dealy & Sons. Consumers primarily use the 64ounce refillable jugs to purchase beer from local pubs. But convenience stores are looking to change that. Gatza notes that some Sunoco gas stations are experimenting with growler filling stations, and Woods was shocked to see growler filling stations in Duane Reade stores in New York City. Now you can go to your drugstore to pick up some toothpaste, toilet paper, and get your growler filled, Woods says. I guess that just speaks to how far the craft beer thing has penetrated our consciousness. The Brewers Association reports that monthly, craft beer sales volume in September 2011 was up more than 20 percent. Gatza believes that growing sales volumes and the very nature of craft brewers will continue to change craft beer packaging. More innovation is going to come because this is the hallmark of craft brewers. Theyre small, theyre nimble, and theyre always thinking about whats new and differentiating what they do. So where we are today is not where were going to be in five years. PD For articles on similar topics, visit the Wine & Spirits channel on PackageDesignMag.com.
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Legends Premium Lager decorated its aluminum bottles with images of legendary sports figures, designed to deliver the brand to passionate fans at the height of a sporting experience.
Successful
Daring brands defy category conventions with winning packages.
Rebels
By Ted Mininni
s it set in stone that cereal has to come in paperboard boxes with a billboard front? Malt-O-Meal didnt think so. Thats why its cold cereal line nixes boxes and is packaged in resealable plastic bags instead. Its colorful packaging stands out in aisles filled with boxes of cereal in familiar packages. Every once in a while, packaging breaks the category mold, conventional wisdom, and every rule in the book. When it does, everybody takes notice. And if the packaging and product quality live up to consumer expectations when they use it, chances are good it will be a success. While revolutionary package structure is terrific, especially if it refers back to the brand and its assets convincingly and substantially differentiates it, theres more here than meets the eye.
The Orville Redenbacher Pop Up bowl is designed with a clear PET window that allows consumers to watch the snack pop in the microwave.
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product costs more than regular microwave popcorn, but this definitely offers more value for consumers. Think about the convenience when taking this product to the office, for example. Easy to serve; no bowl necessary.
doesnt it make Kleenex the tissue to buy? Whimsy makes consumers smile and elicits an emotional reaction that encourages them to buy.
Well-executed, ground-breaking product packaging actually becomes the first consideration for purchase not the product.
lors and national brands could generate using packaging like this. Does this make their brands more desirable? You bet it does. Orville Redenbacher rethought packaging in a similar vein. The premise is simple: The bag that pops the corn also turns into a serving bowl. When used up, the heavy paper gets tossed. A host of videos popped up on smart structural packaging as a result. The
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tures a non-poly window, its 100% recyclable. Wisconsin-based Trinova Design developed the necessary converting equipment to create the Wedge carton. Kimberly-Clark uses the services of a local contract manufacturer to produce the packaging. Better yet: The shape is conducive to evolving designs that denote summer. The seasonal packaging looks good enough to eat! And
PRODUCT FOCUS
Mesmerizing Metals
Aluminum and metal materials offer product protection while attracting consumer attention.
1 Beverage Cans
www.Rexam.com Rexam SLEEK tall, narrow aluminum cans come in 8-, 9.1-, 10.5-, and 12-oz sizes. The manufacturer says the shape provides superior distribution, lling, and retail display economics.
2 Custom Tins
www.crowncork.com Custom-shaped and standard metal tins are available with a variety of decorative and printing enhancements, such as embossing, de-bossing, metal perforation and holographic, pearlescent and sparkle nishes.
w x
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PRODUCT FOCUS
y
5 Personalized Tins
www.onestoptins.com Custom-labeled tins can be ordered in low minimum order quantities even as low as one package. Tins are customized using an online tool in four steps: choose a tin, select a label, add any custom art, and submit the order.
7 Heart-shaped Tin
{ }
www.independentcan.com The 10-in. tin is designed for food packaging projects where the designer intends for the package to be retained as a keepsake after the product inside is consumed.
8 Custom-length Tins
www.planetcanit.com Patented metal cover can be constructed to any length without tearing or malformation. The Fairytale Brownies package was manufactured with an elongated cover that exactly mirrors the height of the body at 1.25 in. Complex and intricate designs can now be printed on a covers vertical surface without distortion or ink degradation. Similarly, the embossing contour is maintained on all surfaces.
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9 Stick Packages
www.constantia-hueck.com Multi-layer stick pack has a laser perforation below the seal for easy opening by the consumer. The PET or paper in the area of the laser seam is partially removed so the aluminum layer remains intact through the perforating process. This technique helps retain the impermeability of the stick pack to water and oxygen.
10 Foil-polymer Tube
www.wwpinc.com Dual-chamber tube is designed for cosmetics and skin care applications where two formulas need to be dispensed from a single portable package. Engineered to offer a simple, fashionable package that doesnt require new packaging machinery investment, the tube can be lled and crimped on any hot-jaw style tube ller.
SHOW PREVIEW
ore than 6,000 packaging decision makers representing premier brands are expected to descend upon the Mediterranean this fall for the 24th edition of Luxe Pack Monaco. The show, which will be held from October 19-21 at the Grimaldi Forum, provides packaging solutions, material options, and inspiration for luxury brands. Six out of 10 exhibitors plan a product launch specifically for Luxe Pack Monaco; the exhibition floor has once again sold out, with 340 exhibitors expected. Beyond the show floor, attendees can learn more about forward-thinking packaging at the Innovation Forum, held in a dedicated space in the Atrium. Exhibitors will use the space to offer 15-minute presentations to explain the finer points of their innovations. Because eco-conscious packaging has become the heart of package design, Luxe Pack Monaco also features the Luxe Pack in Green exhibition space. The space provides a place for luxury brand stakeholders, who are increasingly interested in developing and embracing sustainable solutions. Its also where the The Luxe Pack in Green Award will be presented at 5:30 p.m. on October 19. The show includes a networking platform, as well, with conferences and roundtable debates on current topics led by renowned experts. At
2:30 p.m. on October 19, Kacper Hamilton, Luxe Pack Monacos special guest designer, details how he approaches design work with luxury companies in the session Ritual and Narratives within Luxury Design. At that same time on October 20, international designer Marc Rosen leads a panel discussion on the enormous possibilities represented by the words innovation, sustainability, and creativity in Buzzwords or bywords? He will be joined by SGD America president & CEO Peter Accerra; P&Gs prestige global leader of innovation Sumit Bhasin; Este Lauders senior vice president of global package development Henry Renella and vice president of global product innovation Arlette Palo; Milbar Laboratories global strategic development president Guz Bezas; and Family Three Ltd. perfume designer Azzi Glasser. At 10 a.m. on the last day of the show, the Luxe Pack Trends Observer returns. This session promises a deep analysis of the state of the industry, decoding the launches of the year to identify areas of future development by a roundtable of experts. The full schedule of conferences, with themes such as inventive design, current luxury codes, future trends, the expansion of spirits packaging, sustainability, and the development of Asian markets, can be found at www.luxepack.com. PD
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DATEBOOK
October 2011
October 19-21 Luxe Pack Monaco Grimaldi Forum, Monaco www.luxepack.com | +33 4 7473 42 33 October 18-20 The Shopper Marketing Expo Navy Pier, Chicago www.shoppermarketexpo.com | 847-675-7400 February 14-16 WestPack Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA WestPackShow.com | 310-445-4200 February 23-26 Contract Packaging Association Annual Meeting Gran Melia Hotel & Resort, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico www.contractpackaging.org | 630-544-5053
December 2011
November 29-December 2 Labelexpo Asia Shanghai New International Expo Centre, China www.labelexpo-asia.com | 262-754-6931 Nov. 30-Dec. 1 Printed Electronics USA 2011 Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA www.idtechex.com/printed-electronics-usa-11. | +44 12 2381 02 70 December 6-8 Packaging Design & Innovations Omni Orlando Resort, ChampionsGate, FL http://www.marketgate.com | 440-542-3027
AD INDEX
EskoArtwork HBA Global Expo HLP Klearfold Inland Label IoPP Luxe Pack Monaco Mimaki Mutoh Packagedesignmag.com Roland DGA Sustainable Webinar Xpedx
January 2012
January 15-17 Winter Fancy Food Show Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA www.specialtyfood.com | 212-482-6440 January 18-20 13th IC Packaging Technology Expo Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan www.icp-expo.jp/en | +813 33 49 85 02
February 2012
February 6-8 The 2012 Packaging Conference ARIA Resort at CityCenter, Las Vegas www.thepackagingconference.com | 866-509-6001
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GLOBESPOTTING
BY LYNN DORNBLASER
VITAL STATISTICS
CONTENTS
THE PRODUCT
In case you need proof that companies will go to almost any length to create and maintain interest in their products, allow us to introduce you to Turbo Tango. This truly different concept is just crazy enough to work.
THE INNOVATIONS
The package functionality is not anything new at allit dispenses just like shave cream does. But its the translation of the technology to a completely different category that makes this product so fascinating. The package itself has a full body shrink-sleeve label (with some great package language), and a push dispenser with an overcap. The bottle has an indented shape, making it easy to hold (and aim).
375mL
GOALS
THE PERSPECTIVE
The beverage category is a tough one. Its crowded with avors and functionality, and consumers tend to be quite loyal to the brands they like. So how do you attract new consumers and keep the existing ones? Perhaps with a product like thisa twist on a mainstay U.K. beverage that transforms a liquid beverage to a spray foam.
WHY WE LOVE IT
Besides the novelty factor, the real reason we love this one is because its such a good example of how a technology can translate from one category to another. The different technologythe foaming deliverymay not provide a true functional bene t, but it certainly does provide an enhanced sense of fun. For a product thats positioned to teens (especially teen boys), thats an essential consideration.
Plastic PET
LABEL TYPE
THE MARKET
We normally see innovations like this from a small company (self-heating cans of coffee, anyone?). Turbo Tango, though, is part of the venerable Tango brand from Britvic Soft Drinks in the U.K. Tango (along with many of the other beverages in the companys portfolio) comes in the usual packaging of PET bottles. Just open and gulp. But the trick for carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) is to stay relevant to a ckle consumer. For CSD brands that arent Coke or Pepsi, the drive to use innovative packaging is also about being sure that your brand can maintain or grow your market share. Britvic has done that with Tango. In the U.K. market, Tango is about 1.3% of the total CSD market (that was about $48 million in 2010) and has increased its market share by one tenth of a percent each year (which is signi cant).
FUTURE PROSPECTS
What other products can bene t from this type of foaming dispensing? Sauces or avored stocks to deliver the of-the-moment concept of foam on a plate of food instead of a drizzle of sauce? A new way to dispense a lightened version of a popular ingredient? For that, Im wondering if an aerated peanut butter or chocolate sauceor mayonnaise evenwould work. PD
Lynn Dornblaser (lynnd@mintel.com) is the director of CPG Trend Insight at Mintel International.
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ve packaging i t a e r c r o f w sho T h e p re m i e r
C R E AT E A U N I Q U E L I N K
www.luxepack.com
Information / FRANCE Idice T. +33 (0)4 74 73 42 33 - info@idice.fr USA KX Associates Inc T. + 1 212 274 8508 luxepackny@kxassociates.com
Creation :
S H A N G H A I
N E W
Y O R K
- Photo : D. Combet